Texas A&M University, Department of Mathematics, 216 Milner Hall, 1st of November 2006, 3:00-3:50

Groups and Dynamics Seminar


Conjugacy and dynamics in Thompson's groups

James Belk of Texas A&M University

We give a simple, efficient solution to the conjugacy problem in Thompson's groups F, T, and V. Each conjugacy class corresponds to a certain trivalent, directed graph drawn on a surface. Using these graphs, we give a complete description of the dynamics of the corresponding group elements acting as piecewise-linear functions.