Texas A&M University, Department of Mathematics, 216 Milner Hall, 14th of February 2007, 3:00-3:50

Groups and Dynamics Seminar


Reidemeister numbers and the twisted Burnside-Frobenius Theorem

Evgeny Troitskiy of Moscow State University, Russia

Let G be a (countable discrete) group and f be an automorphism of G. A twisted conjugacy, or f-conjugacy, class in G is the equivalence class defined by "x is equivalent to g x f(g^-1), for g in G". If f=Id this is exactly the definition of usual conjugacy classes. For a number of applications it is very important to identify the number R(f) of such classes (Reidemeister number) and the number of fixed points of the associated homeomorphism of some (appropriate) dual object (provided R(f) is finite).

We present results concerning polycyclic-by-finite groups. We also plan to discuss some important examples, to give a complete answer to a "weak question" (based on a noncommutative Riesz representation theorem), and to give some relations to the twisted Dehn problem. This general presentation in some parts needs advanced Functional Analysis.

(parts of the talk are based on joint works with A. Felshtyn and A. Vershik)