Caltech Geometry and Topology SeminarDecember 4th, 2009
Tiny groups and the simplicial volume
Yi Liu, UC Berkeley
Abstract: A group is called \emph{tiny} if it cannot map onto the fundamental group of any aspherical $3$-manifold of negative Euler characteristic. For example, knot groups are tiny. In this talk we show that if a finitely presented tiny group $G$ maps onto the fundamental group of a compact aspherical $3$-manifold $N$, then the simplicial volume of $N$ is bounded above in terms of $G$. This is joint work with Ian Agol.