My dissertation focuses on the existence of metrics of non-positive curvature for the simplicial complexes constructed recently by Tom Brady and Daan Krammer for the braid groups and other Artin groups of finite type. In particular, for each Artin group of finite type, there is a recently constructed finite simplicial Eilenberg-Mac Lane space known as its Brady-Krammer complex. The Brady-Krammer complexes are highly symmetric objects. Prior work on the relationship between the Brady-Krammer complexes and the theory of CAT(0)spaces has produced some positive results in low-dimensions. More specifically, the Brady-Krammer complexes of dimension at most 3 have been shown to support piecewise Euclidean metrics of non-positive curvature. Similarly, the 4dimensional Brady-Krammer complexes of type A4 and type B4 also support such metrics. In every instance, the metrics assigned respect all of the symmetries alluded to above. The main results of my dissertation show that this pattern does not extend to the Brady-Krammer complexes of type F4 and D4. These are the first negative results known about the curvature of these Brady-Krammer complexes. The proofs of my main theorems involve a combination of combinatorial results and computer calculations. These negative results are particularly striking since Ruth Charney, John Meier and Kim Whittlesey have shown that a particular complex closely related to each Brady-Krammer complex admits an asymmetric metric satisfying a weak version of non-positive curvature. Thus, one corollary of my results is that the weak asymmetric version of a CAT(0) metric (initially defined by Mladen Bestvina) is strictly weaker than the traditional version.

My dissertation focuses on the existence of metrics of non-positive curvature for the simplicial complexes constructed recently by Tom Brady and Daan Krammer for the braid groups and other Artin groups of finite type. In particular, for each Artin group of finite type, there is a recently constructed finite simplicial Eilenberg-Mac Lane space known as its Brady-Krammer complex. The Brady-Krammer complexes are highly symmetric objects. Prior work on the relationship between the Brady-Krammer complexes and the theory of CAT(0)spaces has produced some positive results in low-dimensions. More specifically, the Brady-Krammer complexes of dimension at most 3 have been shown to support piecewise Euclidean metrics of non-positive curvature. Similarly, the 4dimensional Brady-Krammer complexes of type A4 and type B4 also support such metrics. In every instance, the metrics assigned respect all of the symmetries alluded to above. The main results of my dissertation show that this pattern does not extend to the Brady-Krammer complexes of type F4 and D4. These are the first negative results known about the curvature of these Brady-Krammer complexes. The proofs of my main theorems involve a combination of combinatorial results and computer calculations. These negative results are particularly striking since Ruth Charney, John Meier and Kim Whittlesey have shown that a particular complex closely related to each Brady-Krammer complex admits an asymmetric metric satisfying a weak version of non-positive curvature. Thus, one corollary of my results is that the weak asymmetric version of a CAT(0) metric (initially defined by Mladen Bestvina) is strictly weaker than the traditional version.

Le groupe de Cremona de rang 2 est le groupe des transformations birationnelles du plan projectif. Le but de cette thèse est d'étudier et de construire des espaces hyperboliques sur lesquels le groupe de Cremona agit et qui permettent de mettre en œuvre des méthodes provenant de la théorie géométrique des groupes. Il est connu depuis une dizaine d'année que le groupe de Cremona agit sur un espace hyperbolique H analogue au plan hyperbolique classique mais de dimension infinie. Dans un premier temps, nous montrons que le groupe de Cremona défini sur un corps quelconque n'est pas simple en le faisant agir sur cet espace hyperbolique. Ceci prolonge un résultat déjà connu dans le cas d'un corps de base algébriquement clos. Nous nous intéressons ensuite à un graphe construit par D. Wright sur lequel agit le groupe de Cremona. Nous montrons qu'il ne possède pas la propriété que nous souhaitions, à savoir qu'il n'est pas hyperbolique au sens de Gromov. Nous construisons également un domaine fondamental pour l'action du groupe de Cremona sur H via la méthode des cellules de Voronoï. Nous caractérisons les applications du groupe de Cremona qui correspondent à un domaine adjacent au domaine fondamental. Cela nous permet de prouver que le graphe de Wright est quasi-isométrique au graphe dual à ce pavage. Nous obtenons ainsi une manière de retrouver le graphe de Wright dans H. Nous montrons enfin qu'en modifiant ce graphe dual, nous obtenons un graphe hyperbolique au sens de Gromov. Dans une dernière partie, nous nous intéressons à une autre propriété naturelle qui est la propriété CAT(0). Nous construisons un complexe cubique CAT(0) de dimension infinie muni d'une action naturelle du groupe de Cremona. / The Cremona group of rank 2 is the group of birational transformations of the projective plane. The aim of this thesis is to study and build some hyperbolic spaces with a natural action of the Cremona group. We want these spaces to have good geometric properties in order to use methods coming from geometric group theory. It is known that the Cremona group acts on a hyperbolic space H which is similiar to the classical hyperbolic plane but in infinite dimension. First, using this action, we show that the Cremona group is not simple over any field. This extends previous results over an algrebraic closed field. Then we study the Wrigth's graph. We show that it doesn't have the property we are looking for, in the sense that it is not Gromov hyperbolic. We build a fundamental domain for the action of the Cremona group on H 8 via Voronoï's cells. We characterize birational tranformations that correspond to adjacent domains of the fundamental domain. This allows us to prove that the Wright's graph is quasi-isometric to the dual graph of this tessellation. It's give us a way of realizing the Wright's graph inside H. Finally, we show that by modifying the dual graph we obtain a Gromov hyperbolic graph. In the last part, we are interested in another classical property which is the CAT(0) property. We build an infinite dimensional CAT(0) cubical complex which comes with a natural action of the Cremona group.

In this thesis we study several properties of finitely presented groups, through the unifying paradigm of encoding sought-after group properties into presentations and detecting group properties from presentations, in the context of Geometric Group Theory. A group law is said to be detectable in power subgroups if, for all coprime m and n, a group G satisfies the law if and only if the power subgroups G(^m) and G(ⁿ) both satisfy the law. We prove that for all positive integers c, nilpotency of class at most c is detectable in power subgroups, as is the k-Engel law for k at most 4. In contrast, detectability in power subgroups fails for solvability of given derived length: we construct a finite group W such that W(²) and W(³) are metabelian but W has derived length 3. We analyse the complexity of the detectability of commutativity in power subgroups, in terms of finite presentations that encode a proof of the result. We construct a census of two-generator one-relator groups of relator length at most 9, with complete determination of isomorphism type, and verify a conjecture regarding conditions under which such groups are automatic. Furthermore, we introduce a family of one-relator groups and classify which of them act properly cocompactly on complete CAT(0) spaces; the non-CAT(0) examples are counterexamples to a variation on the aforementioned conjecture. For a subclass, we establish automaticity, which is needed for the census. The deficiency of a group is the maximum over all presentations for that group of the number of generators minus the number of relators. Every finite group has non-positive deficiency. For every prime p we construct finite p-groups of arbitrary negative deficiency, and thereby complete Kotschick's proposed classification of the integers which are deficiencies of Kähler groups. We explore variations and embellishments of our basic construction, which require subtle Schur multiplier computations, and we investigate the conditions on inputs to the construction that are necessary for success. A well-known question asks whether any two non-isometric finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds are distinguished from each other by the finite quotients of their fundamental groups. At present, this has been proved only when one of the manifolds is a once-punctured torus bundle over the circle. We give substantial computational evidence in support of a positive answer, by showing that no two manifolds in the SnapPea census of 72 942 finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds have the same finite quotients. We determine examples of sizeable graphs, as required to construct finitely presented non-hyperbolic subgroups of hyperbolic groups, which have the fewest vertices possible modulo mild topological assumptions.