Publications of SPP2026
On this site you find preprints and publications produced within the projects and with the support of the DFG priority programme „Geometry at Infinity“.
We prove that $\mathrm{Aut}(F_n)$ has Kazhdan's property (T) for every $n \geqslant 6$. Together with a previous result of Kaluba, Nowak, and Ozawa, this gives the same statement for $n\geqslant 5$.
We also provide explicit lower bounds for the Kazhdan constants of $\mathrm{SAut}(F_n)$ (with $n \geqslant 6$) and of $\mathrm{SL}_n(\mathbb Z)$ (with $n \geqslant 3$) with respect to natural generating sets.
In the latter case, these bounds improve upon previously known lower bounds whenever $n> 6$.
Related project(s):
8Parabolics and invariants
In this work, it is shown that a simply-connected, rationally-elliptic torus orbifold is equivariantly rationally homotopy equivalent to the quotient of a product of spheres by an almost-free, linear torus action, where this torus has rank equal to the number of odd-dimensional spherical factors in the product. As an application, simply-connected, rationally-elliptic manifolds admitting slice-maximal torus actions are classified up to equivariant rational homotopy. The case where the rational-ellipticity hypothesis is replaced by non-negative curvature is also discussed, and the Bott Conjecture in the presence of a slice-maximal torus action is proved.
Journal | Int. Math. Res. Not. IMRN |
Volume | 18 |
Pages | 5786--5822 |
Link to preprint version | |
Link to published version |
Related project(s):
11Topological and equivariant rigidity in the presence of lower curvature bounds15Spaces and Moduli Spaces of Riemannian Metrics with Curvature Bounds on compact and non-compact Manifolds
In this paper, we study smooth, semi-free actions on closed, smooth, simply connected manifolds, such that the orbit space is a smoothable manifold. We show that the only simply connected 5-manifolds admitting a smooth, semi-free circle action with fixed-point components of codimension 4 are connected sums of \(S^3\)-bundles over \(S^2\). Furthermore, the Betti numbers of the 5-manifolds and of the quotient 4-manifolds are related by a simple formula involving the number of fixed-point components. We also investigate semi-free \(S^3\) actions on simply connected 8-manifolds with quotient a 5-manifold and show, in particular, that the Pontrjagin classes, the \(\hat A\) -genus and the signature of the 8-manifold must all necessarily vanish.
Related project(s):
11Topological and equivariant rigidity in the presence of lower curvature bounds
We study the intrinsic structure of parametric minimal discs in metric spaces admitting a quadratic isoperimetric inequality. We associate to each minimal disc a compact, geodesic metric space whose geometric, topological, and analytic properties are controlled by the isoperimetric inequality. Its geometry can be used to control the shapes of all curves and therefore the geometry and topology of the original metric space. The class of spaces arising in this way as intrinsic minimal discs is a natural generalization of the class of Ahlfors regular discs, well-studied in analysis on metric spaces
Journal | Geom. Topol. |
Volume | 22 |
Pages | 591-644 |
Link to preprint version |
Related project(s):
24Minimal surfaces in metric spaces
We prove that a proper geodesic metric space has non-positive curvature in the sense of Alexandrov if and only if it satisfies the Euclidean isoperimetric inequality for curves. Our result extends to non-geodesic spaces and non-zero curvature bounds.
Journal | Acta Math. |
Volume | 221 |
Pages | 159-202 |
Link to preprint version | |
Link to published version |
Related project(s):
24Minimal surfaces in metric spaces
We study geometric and topological properties of locally compact, geodesically complete spaces with an upper curvature bound. We control the size of singular subsets, discuss homotopical and measure-theoretic stratifications and regularity of the metric structure on a large part.
Journal | Geom. Funct. Anal. |
Volume | To appear |
Link to preprint version |
Related project(s):
24Minimal surfaces in metric spaces
Our topological setting is a smooth compact manifold of dimension two or higher with smooth boundary. Although this underlying topological structure is smooth, the Riemannian metric tensor is only assumed to be bounded and measurable. This is known as a rough Riemannian manifold. For a large class of boundary conditions we demonstrate a Weyl law for the asymptotics of the eigenvalues of the Laplacian associated to a rough metric. Moreover, we obtain eigenvalue asymptotics for weighted Laplace equations associated to a rough metric. Of particular novelty is that the weight function is not assumed to be of fixed sign, and thus the eigenvalues may be both positive and negative. Key ingredients in the proofs were demonstrated by Birman and Solomjak nearly fifty years ago in their seminal work on eigenvalue asymptotics. In addition to determining the eigenvalue asymptotics in the rough Riemannian manifold setting for weighted Laplace equations, we also wish to promote their achievements which may have further applications to modern problems.
Related project(s):
5Index theory on Lorentzian manifolds
Geometric structures on manifolds became popular when Thurston used them in his work on the Geometrization Conjecture. They were studied by many people and they play an important role in Higher Teichmüller Theory. Geometric structures on a manifold are closely related with representations of the fundamental group and with flat bundles. Higgs bundles can be very useful in describing flat bundles explicitly, via solutions of Hitchin's equations. Baraglia has shown in his Thesis that this technique can be used to construct geometric structures in interesting cases. Here we will survey some recent results in this direction, which are joint work with Qiongling Li.
Related project(s):
1Hitchin components for orbifolds
Let X be a compact manifold, D a real elliptic operator on X, G a Lie group, P a principal G-bundle on X, and B_P the infinite-dimensional moduli space of all connections on P modulo gauge, as a topological stack. For each connection \nabla_P, we can consider the twisted elliptic operator on X. This is a continuous family of elliptic operators over the base B_P, and so has an orientation bundle O^D_P over B_P, a principal Z_2-bundle parametrizing orientations of KerD^\nabla_Ad(P) + CokerD^\nabla_Ad(P) at each \nabla_P. An orientation on (B_P,D) is a trivialization of O^D_P.
In gauge theory one studies moduli spaces M of connections \nabla_P on P satisfying some curvature condition, such as anti-self-dual instantons on Riemannian 4-manifolds (X, g). Under good conditions M is a smooth manifold, and orientations on (B_P,D) pull back to
orientations on M in the usual sense of differential geometry.
This is important in areas such as Donaldson theory, where one needs an orientation on M
to define enumerative invariants.
We explain a package of techniques, some known and some new, for proving orientability and constructing canonical orientations on (B_P,D), after fixing some algebro-topological information on X. We use these to construct canonical orientations on gauge theory moduli spaces, including new results for moduli spaces of flat connections on 2- and 3-manifolds,
instantons, the Kapustin-Witten equations, and the Vafa-Witten equations on 4-manifolds, and the Haydys-Witten equations on 5-manifolds.
Related project(s):
33Gerbes in renormalization and quantization of infinite-dimensional moduli spaces
Suppose (X, g) is a compact, spin Riemannian 7-manifold, with Dirac operator D. Let G be SU(m) or U(m), and E be a rank m complex bundle with G-structure on X. Write B_E for the infinite-dimensional moduli space of connections on E, modulo gauge. There is a natural principal Z_2-bundle O^D_E on B_E parametrizing orientations of det D_Ad A for twisted elliptic operators D_Ad A at each [A] in B_E. A theorem of Walpuski shows O^D_E is trivializable.
We prove that if we choose an orientation for det D, and a flag structure on X in the sense of Joyce arXiv:1610.09836, then we can define canonical trivializations of O^D_E for all such bundles E on X, satisfying natural compatibilities.
Now let (X,\varphi,g) be a compact G_2-manifold, with d(*\varphi)=0. Then we can consider moduli spaces M_E^G_2 of G_2-instantons on E over X, which are smooth manifolds under suitable transversality conditions, and derived manifolds in general. The restriction of O^D_E to M_E^G_2 is the Z_2-bundle of orientations on M_E^G_2. Thus, our theorem induces canonical orientations on all such G_2-instanton moduli spaces M_E^G_2.
This contributes to the Donaldson-Segal programme arXiv:0902.3239, which proposes defining enumerative invariants of G_2-manifolds (X,\varphi,g) by counting moduli spaces M_E^G_2, with signs depending on a choice of orientation. This paper is a sequel to Joyce-Tanaka-Upmeier arXiv:1811.01096, which develops the general theory of orientations on gauge-theoretic moduli spaces, and gives applications in dimensions 3,4,5 and 6.
Related project(s):
33Gerbes in renormalization and quantization of infinite-dimensional moduli spaces
We show that the complex of free factors of a free group of rank n > 1 is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres of dimension n-2. We also prove that for n > 1, the complement of (unreduced) Outer space in the free splitting complex is homotopy equivalent to the complex of free factor systems and moreover is (n-2)-connected. In addition, we show that for every non-trivial free factor system of a free group, the corresponding relative free splitting complex is contractible.
Related project(s):
8Parabolics and invariants
We develop the theory of agrarian invariants, which are algebraic counterparts to $L^2$-invariants. Specifically, we introduce the notions of agrarian Betti numbers, agrarian acyclicity, agrarian torsion and agrarian polytope.
We use the agrarian invariants to solve the torsion-free case of a conjecture of Friedl--Tillmann: we show that the marked polytopes they constructed for two-generator one-relator groups with nice presentations are independent of the presentations used. We also show that, for such groups, the agrarian polytope encodes the splitting complexity of the group. This generalises theorems of Friedl--Tillmann and Friedl--Lück--Tillmann. Finally, we prove that for agrarian groups of deficiency $1$, the agrarian polytope admits a marking of its vertices which controls the Bieri--Neumann--Strebel invariant of the group, improving a result of the second author and partially answering a question of Friedl--Tillmann.
Related project(s):
8Parabolics and invariants
We prove that if a quasi-isometry of warped cones is induced by a map between the base spaces of the cones, the actions must be conjugate by this map. The converse is false in general, conjugacy of actions is not sufficient for quasi-isometry of the respective warped cones. For a general quasi-isometry of warped cones, using the asymptotically faithful covering constructed in a previous work with Jianchao Wu, we deduce that the two groups are quasi-isometric after taking Cartesian products with suitable powers of the integers.
Secondly, we characterise geometric properties of a group (coarse embeddability into Banach spaces, asymptotic dimension, property A) by properties of the warped cone over an action of this group. These results apply to arbitrary asymptotically faithful coverings, in particular to box spaces. As an application, we calculate the asymptotic dimension of a warped cone and improve bounds by Szabo, Wu, and Zacharias and by Bartels on the amenability dimension of actions of virtually nilpotent groups.
In the appendix, we justify optimality of our result on general quasi-isometries by showing that quasi-isometric warped cones need not come from quasi-isometric groups, contrary to the case of box spaces.
Journal | Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. |
Publisher | Wiley |
Link to preprint version | |
Link to published version |
Related project(s):
8Parabolics and invariants
In this note we refine examples by Aka from arithmetic to S-arithmetic groups to show that the vanishing of the i-th ℓ²-Betti number is not a profinite invariant for all i≥2.
Related project(s):
18Analytic L2-invariants of non-positively curved spaces
Given an S-arithmetic group, we ask how much information on the ambient algebraic group, number field of definition, and set of places S is encoded in the commensurability class of the profinite completion. As a first step, we show that the profinite commensurability class of an S-arithmetic group with CSP determines the number field up to arithmetical equivalence and the places in S above unramified primes. We include some applications to profiniteness questions of group invariants.
Related project(s):
18Analytic L2-invariants of non-positively curved spaces
We review some recent results on geometric equations on Lorentzian manifolds such as the wave and Dirac equations. This includes well-posedness and stability for various initial value problems, as well as results on the structure of these equations on black-hole spacetimes (in particular, on the Kerr solution), the index theorem for hyperbolic Dirac operators and properties of the class of Green-hyperbolic operators.
Publisher | de Gruyter |
Book | J. Brüning, M. Staudacher (Eds.): Space - Time - Matter |
Pages | 324-348 |
Link to preprint version | |
Link to published version |
Related project(s):
5Index theory on Lorentzian manifolds
We show that in each dimension 4n+3, n>1, there exist infinite sequences of closed smooth simply connected manifolds M of pairwise distinct homotopy type for which the moduli space of Riemannian metrics with nonnegative sectional curvature has infinitely many path components. Closed manifolds with these properties were known before only in dimension 7, and our result also holds for moduli spaces of Riemannian metrics with positive Ricci curvature. Moreover, inconjunction with work of Belegradek, Kwasik and Schultz, we obtain that for each such M the moduli space of complete nonnegative sectional curvature metrics on the open simply connected manifold M × R also has infinitely many path components.
Journal | Bulletin of the London Math. Society |
Volume | 50 |
Pages | 96-107 |
Link to preprint version | |
Link to published version |
Related project(s):
15Spaces and Moduli Spaces of Riemannian Metrics with Curvature Bounds on compact and non-compact Manifolds
We relate the existence of many infinite geodesics on Alexandrov spaces to a statement about the average growth of volumes of balls. We deduce that the geodesic flow exists and preserves the Liouville measure in several important cases. The developed analytic tool has close ties to integral geometry.
Related project(s):
24Minimal surfaces in metric spaces
We derive various pinching results for small Dirac eigenvalues using the classification of spinc and spin manifolds admitting nontrivial Killing spinors. For this, we introduce a notion of convergence for spinc manifolds which involves a general study on convergence of Riemannian manifolds with a principal S1-bundle. We also analyze the relation between the regularity of the Riemannian metric and the regularity of the curvature of the associated principal S1-bundle on spinc manifolds with Killing spinors.
Journal | Journal of Geometry and Physics |
Publisher | Elsevier |
Volume | 112 |
Pages | 59-73 |
Link to preprint version | |
Link to published version |
Related project(s):
5Index theory on Lorentzian manifolds
The stable converse soul question (SCSQ) asks whether, given a real vector bundle \(E\) over a compact manifold, some stabilization \(E\times\mathbb{R}^k\) admits a metric with non-negative (sectional) curvature. We extend previous results to show that the SCSQ has an affirmative answer for all real vector bundles over any simply connected homogeneous manifold with positive curvature, except possibly for the Berger space \(B^{13}\). Along the way, we show that the same is true for all simply connected homogeneous spaces of dimension at most seven, for arbitrary products of simply connected compact rank one symmetric spaces of dimensions multiples of four, and for certain products of spheres. Moreover, we observe that the SCSQ is "stable under tangential homotopy equivalence": if it has an affirmative answer for all vector bundles over a certain manifold \(M\), then the same is true for any manifold tangentially homotopy equivalent to~\(M\). Our main tool is topological K-theory. Over \(B^{13}\), there is essentially one stable class of real vector bundles for which our method fails.
Journal | Journal of Differential Geometry |
Link to preprint version |
Related project(s):
15Spaces and Moduli Spaces of Riemannian Metrics with Curvature Bounds on compact and non-compact Manifolds