Scl Danny Calegari
scl Danny Calegari 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 20J05, 57M07; Secondary 20F12, 20F65, 20F67, 37E45, 37J05, 90C05 Key words and phrases. stable commutator length, bounded cohomology, rationality, Bavard’s Duality Theorem, hyperbolic groups, free groups, Thurston norm, Bavard’s Conjecture, rigidity, immersions, causality, group dynamics, Markov chains, central limit theorem, combable groups, finite state automata Supported in part by NSF Grants DMS-0405491 and DMS-0707130. Abstract. This book is a comprehensive introduction to the theory of sta- ble commutator length, an important subfield of quantitative topology, with substantial connections to 2-manifolds, dynamics, geometric group theory, bounded cohomology, symplectic topology, and many other subjects. We use constructive methods whenever possible, and focus on fundamental and ex- plicit examples. We give a self-contained presentation of several foundational results in the theory, including Bavard’s Duality Theorem, the Spectral Gap Theorem, the Rationality Theorem, and the Central Limit Theorem. The con- tents should be accessible to any mathematician interested in these subjects, and are presented with a minimal number of prerequisites, but with a view to applications in many areas of mathematics. Preface The historical roots of the theory of bounded cohomology stretch back at least as far as Poincar´e[167] who introduced rotation numbers in his study of circle diffeomorphisms. The Milnor–Wood inequality [154, 204] as generalized by Sul- livan [193], and the theorem of Hirsch–Thurston [109] on foliated bundles with amenable holonomy groups were also landmark developments. But it was not until the appearance of Gromov’s seminal paper [97] that a number of previously distinct and isolated phenomena crystallized into a coherent subject.
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