In this work we study the space of group homomorphisms Hom(Γ,G) from a geometric and simplicial point of view. The case in which the source group is a free abelian group of rank n is studied in more detail since this space can be identified with the space of commuting n-tuples of elements from G. This latter case is of particular interest when the target is a Lie group. The simplicial approach allows us to to construct a family of spaces that filters the classifying space of a group by filtering group theoretical information of the given group. Namely, we use the lower central series of free groups to construct a family of simplicial subspaces of the bar construction of the classifying space of a group. The first layer of this filtration is studied in more detail for transitively commutative (TC) groups.

In this work we study the space of group homomorphisms Hom(Γ,G) from a geometric and simplicial point of view. The case in which the source group is a free abelian group of rank n is studied in more detail since this space can be identified with the space of commuting n-tuples of elements from G. This latter case is of particular interest when the target is a Lie group. The simplicial approach allows us to to construct a family of spaces that filters the classifying space of a group by filtering group theoretical information of the given group. Namely, we use the lower central series of free groups to construct a family of simplicial subspaces of the bar construction of the classifying space of a group. The first layer of this filtration is studied in more detail for transitively commutative (TC) groups.

In this work we study the space of group homomorphisms Hom(Γ,G) from a geometric and simplicial point of view. The case in which the source group is a free abelian group of rank n is studied in more detail since this space can be identified with the space of commuting n-tuples of elements from G. This latter case is of particular interest when the target is a Lie group. The simplicial approach allows us to to construct a family of spaces that filters the classifying space of a group by filtering group theoretical information of the given group. Namely, we use the lower central series of free groups to construct a family of simplicial subspaces of the bar construction of the classifying space of a group. The first layer of this filtration is studied in more detail for transitively commutative (TC) groups. / Science, Faculty of / Mathematics, Department of / Graduate