University of Arkansas Topology Seminar: 2/17/2022

Speaker: Matthew Clay

Title: Chain flaring and L²–torsion of free-by-cyclic groups

We introduce a condition on the monodromy of a free-by-cyclic group, G_φ, called the chain flare condition, that implies that the L²–torsion, ρ⁽²⁾(G_φ), is non-zero. We conjecture that this condition holds whenever the monodromy is exponentially growing.