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Margulis Lemma

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STRUCTURE OF FUNDAMENTAL GROUPS 43<br />

not central in ˆN i one replaces it by [ˆN i , [ˆN i , ˆN i ]]. After finitely many similar steps<br />

this proves the claim.<br />

For each positive integer l put l · A i = {g l | g ∈ A i } ⊳ Γ i . We define l i = 2 ui as<br />

the maximal power of 2 such that there is an element in l i · A i which displaces ˆp i<br />

by at most ρ 0 . Thus, any element in L i := l i · A i displaces ˆp i by at least ρ 0 /2.<br />

After passing to a subsequence we may assume that ( ˆM i , Γ i , ˆp i ) converges to<br />

(Ŷ , Ĝ, ˆp ∞) and the action of L i converges to an action of some discrete abelian<br />

subgroup L ∞ ⊳ Ĝ. Finally we let ˆN ∞ ⊳ Ĝ denote the limit group of ˆN i . Let g i ∈ L i<br />

be an element which displaces ˆp i by at most ρ 0 . Combining d(gi k ˆp i, g k+1<br />

i ˆp i ) ≤ ρ 0<br />

with our choice of ρ 0 , see (23), gives that the sets {gi k ˆp i | k ∈ Z} converge to a<br />

discrete subset in the identity component of the limit orbit Ĝ0 ⋆ ˆp ∞ . Therefore,<br />

{g ∈ L ∞ | g ⋆ ˆp ∞ ∈ Ĝ0 ⋆ ˆp ∞ }<br />

is discrete and infinite. Let K ⊂ Ĝ denote the isotropy group of ˆp ∞. By Colding and<br />

Naber K is a Lie group and thus it only has finitely many connected components.<br />

Hence L ′ ∞ := L ∞ ∩Ĝ0 ⊳Ĝ is infinite as well. Since the abelian group L′ ∞ is a discrete<br />

subgroup of a connected Lie group, it is finitely generated.<br />

We choose a free abelian subgroup ˆL ⊂ L ′ ∞ of positive rank which is normalized<br />

by Ĝ such that the induced representation of Ĝ in ˆL ⊗ Z Q is irreducible. Notice that<br />

ˆL ⊂ L ∞ commutes with ˆN ∞ . Hence we can view this as a representation of Ĝ/ˆN ∞ .<br />

Recall that π 1 (M i )/N i<br />

∼ = Γi /ˆN i is boundedly represented. Let ĝ i1 , . . . , ĝ iβ ∈ Γ i<br />

denote the images of g i1 , . . . , g iβ . There is an epimorphism Γ i /ˆN i → Ĝ/ˆN ∞ induced<br />

by sending ĝ im to its limit element ĝ ∞m ∈ Ĝ for all large i. Thus, ˆL is also naturally<br />

endowed with a representation of Γ i /ˆN i .<br />

Let b 1 , . . . , b l ∈ ˆL ∼ = Z l be a basis. For large i there are unique elements h i (b j ) ∈<br />

L i which are close to b j , j = 1, . . . , k. We extend h i to a Z-linear map h i : ˆL → L i .<br />

We plan to prove that h i : ˆL → L i is equivariant for large i. For any given<br />

linear combination ∑ l<br />

α=1 z αb α (z j ∈ Z) we know that ∑ l<br />

α=1 z αh i (b α ) is the unique<br />

element in L i which is close to ∑ lα=1 z αb α for all large i.<br />

For each ĝ ∞m and each b j we have ĝ ∞m b j ĝ∞m −1 = ∑ lα=1 z αb α for z α ∈ Z (we<br />

(∑ l<br />

suppress the dependence on m and j). We have just seen that h i α=1 z )<br />

αb α is<br />

close to ĝ ∞m b j ĝ∞m −1 for all large i. On the other hand, ĝ im h i (b j )ĝ −1<br />

im ∈ L i is the<br />

unique element in L i close to ĝ ∞m b j ĝ∞m −1 for all large i.<br />

In summary, h i (ĝ ∞m b j ĝ∞m) −1 = ĝ im h i (b j )ĝ −1<br />

im for m = 1, . . . , β, j = 1, . . . , k and<br />

all large i. This shows that h i is equivariant with respect to the representation.<br />

Thus, h i (ˆL) is a normal subgroup of Γ i and the induced representation of F =<br />

π 1 (M i )/N i = Γ/ˆN i in h i (ˆL) ⊗ Z Q and is isomorphic to the one in h j (ˆL) ⊗ Z Q for all<br />

large i, j.<br />

There is a unique subgroup A ′ i of ˆN i such that h i (ˆL) has finite index in A ′ i and<br />

ˆN i /A ′ i is torsion free. Let N ih 0+1 ⊳ N i denote the inverse image of A ′ i ⊂ ˆN i = N i /H i .<br />

Clearly, the representation of π 1 (M i )/N i in (N ih0+1/H i ) ⊗ Z Q is isomorphic to<br />

the one in (N jh0+1/H j ) ⊗ Z Q for all large i, j – a contradiction to our choice of H i .<br />

Proof of the addendum. Thus, the sequence satisfies a) and b) but not the<br />

addendum. Recall that N i has a nilpotent basis of length ≤ n − dim(X). Therefore<br />

dim(X) = 1 and N i is a torsion free group of rank n−1. Since X is one-dimensional<br />

we deduce that G/N ∞ is virtually cyclic, that is, it contains a cyclic subgroup of

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