Michael W. Davis - Böcker

The Geometry and Topology of Coxeter Groups is a comprehensive and authoritative treatment of Coxeter groups from the viewpoint of geometric group theory. Groups generated by reflections are ubiquitous in mathematics, and there are classical examples of reflection groups in spherical, Euclidean, and hyperbolic geometry. Any Coxeter group can be realized as a group generated by reflection on a certain contractible cell complex, and this complex is the principal subject of this book. The book explains a theorem of Moussong that demonstrates that a polyhedral metric on this cell complex is nonpositively curved, meaning that Coxeter groups are "CAT(0) groups." The book describes the reflection group trick, one of the most potent sources of examples of aspherical manifolds. And the book discusses many important topics in geometric group theory and topology, including Hopf's theory of ends; contractible manifolds and homology spheres; the Poincare Conjecture; and Gromov's theory of CAT(0) spaces and groups.Finally, the book examines connections between Coxeter groups and some of topology's most famous open problems concerning aspherical manifolds, such as the Euler Characteristic Conjecture and the Borel and Singer conjectures.

In the past fifteen years, the theory of right-angled Artin groups and special cube complexes has emerged as a central topic in geometric group theory.

This book, now in a revised and extended second edition, offers an in-depth account of Coxeter groups through the perspective of geometric group theory. It examines the connections between Coxeter groups and major open problems in topology related to aspherical manifolds, such as the Euler Characteristic Conjecture and the Borel and Singer Conjectures. The book also discusses key topics in geometric group theory and topology, including Hopf’s theory of ends, contractible manifolds and homology spheres, the Poincaré Conjecture, and Gromov’s theory of CAT(0) spaces and groups. In addition, this second edition includes new chapters on Artin groups and their Betti numbers. Written by a leading expert, the book is an authoritative reference on the subject.

This book presents articles at the interface of two active areas of research: classical topology and the relatively new field of geometric group theory. It includes two long survey articles, one on proofs of the Farrell–Jones conjectures, and the other on ends of spaces and groups. In 2010–2011, Ohio State University (OSU) hosted a special year in topology and geometric group theory. Over the course of the year, there were seminars, workshops, short weekend conferences, and a major conference out of which this book resulted.Four other research articles complement these surveys, making this book ideal for graduate students and established mathematicians interested in entering this area of research.