分形分析的主題是研究分形上的Dirichlet形式和Laplacian. 壓縮的自相似群有一個與之關聯的極限空間,此空間通常具備分形結構，因而引發了分形分析和自相似群兩個分支的結合. / 我們回顧了自相似群和它們的極限空間極限空間可以用Schreier 圖來逼近,事實上其可以看成由Schreier圖構造出來的雙曲圖的雙曲邊界.我們探究了迭代單值群. 通過增加專門的條件我們可以得到迭代單值群的極限空間同胚於某個Julia集. / 通過運用[31] 中的想法和[47] 中自相似隨機游動的方法，我們闡明了極限空間上Laplacian和Dirichlet形式的構造步驟我們介紹了加法器， Basilica群以及Hanoi塔群的極限空間(在第三種情況下是Sierpiríski墊片)上的Laplacian 這裡得到的Dirichlet形式是局部且正則的. / 通過採用[53] 的設置, 我們描述了加法器的極限空間上的誘發型Dirichlet形式在構造了加法器的自相似圖上的嚴格可逆隨機游動後，我們可以得到一個非局部的Dirichlet形式. / The major theme of fractal analysis is studying Dirichlet forms and Laplacians on fractals. For a contracting self-similar group there is an associated limit space, which usually exhibits a fractal structure, thereby triggering the combination of fractal analysis and self-similar groups. / We give reviews of self-similar groups and their limit spaces. Limit space can be approximated by Schreier graphs, and it is in fact identied as a hyperbolic boundary of a hyperbolic graph constructed from Schreier graphs. We explore the iterated monodromy groups. By adding technical conditions, we have that the limit space of an iterated monodromy group is homeomorphic to a Julia set. / We show the construction process of Laplacians and Dirichlet forms on limit spaces using the idea of [31] and the method of self-similar random walks from [47]. We present examples of Laplacians of the limit spaces of adding machine, the Basilica group and the Hanoi Tower group (it is Sierpi´nski gasket in this case). In this context these forms are local and regular. / We describe the induced Dirichlet forms on limit space of the adding machine by adopting the settings of [53] . By constructing strictly reversible random walks on self-similarity graph of the adding machine, we can obtain a non-local Dirichlet form. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Lin, Dateng. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 71-76). / Abstracts also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.6 / Chapter 1.1 --- Review of fractal analysis --- p.6 / Chapter 1.2 --- Applications to self-similar groups --- p.7 / Chapter 1.3 --- Boundary theory method --- p.8 / Chapter 1.4 --- Summary of the thesis --- p.9 / Chapter 2 --- Self-similar groups --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1 --- Basic definitions --- p.11 / Chapter 2.2 --- Limit spaces of self-similar groups --- p.18 / Chapter 2.3 --- Schreier graphs approximations --- p.24 / Chapter 2.4 --- Iterated monodromy groups --- p.28 / Chapter 3 --- Construction of Laplacians on limit spaces --- p.35 / Chapter 3.1 --- Dirichlet forms, Laplacians and resistance forms --- p.35 / Chapter 3.2 --- Representations of groups and functions --- p.42 / Chapter 3.3 --- Laplacians on limit spaces --- p.45 / Chapter 4 --- Induced Dirichlet form on limit space of the adding machine --- p.53 / Chapter 4.1 --- Martin boundary and hyperbolic boundary --- p.53 / Chapter 4.2 --- Graph energy and the induced form --- p.62 / Chapter 4.3 --- Induced Dirichlet form of the adding machine --- p.65 / Bibliography --- p.71

In general, a finitely presented group can have very nasty properties, but many of these properties are avoided if the group is assumed to admit a nice action by isometries on a space with a negative curvature property, such as Gromov hyperbolicity. Such groups are surprisingly common: there is a sense in which a random group admits such an action, as do some groups of classical interest, such as fundamental groups of closed Riemannian manifolds with negative sectional curvature. If a group admits an action on a Gromov hyperbolic space then large scale properties of the space give useful invariants of the group. One particularly natural large scale property used in this way is the Gromov boundary. The Gromov boundary of a hyperbolic group is a compact metric space that is, in a sense, approximated by spheres of large radius in the Cayley graph of the group. The technical results contained in this thesis are effective versions of this statement: we see that the presence of a particular topological feature in the boundary of a hyperbolic group is determined by the geometry of balls in the Cayley graph of radius bounded above by some known upper bound, and is therefore algorithmically detectable. Using these technical results one can prove that certain properties of a group can be computed from its presentation. In particular, we show that there are algorithms that, when given a presentation for a one-ended hyperbolic group, compute Bowditch's canonical decomposition of that group and determine whether or not that group is virtually Fuchsian. The final chapter of this thesis studies the problem of detecting Cech cohomological features in boundaries of hyperbolic groups. Epstein asked whether there is an algorithm that computes the Cech cohomology of the boundary of a given hyperbolic group. We answer Epstein's question in the affirmative for a restricted class of hyperbolic groups: those that are fundamental groups of graphs of free groups with cyclic edge groups. We also prove the computability of the Cech cohomology of a space with some similar properties to the boundary of a hyperbolic group: Otal's decomposition space associated to a line pattern in a free group.

In his dissertation, F.A. Garside provided a solution to the word and conjugacy problems in the braid group on n-strands, using a particular element that he called the fundamental word. Others have since defined fundamental words in the generalized setting of Artin groups, and even more recently in Garside groups. We consider the problem of finding the number of representations of a power of the fundamental word in these settings. In the process, we find a Pascal-like identity that is satisfied in a certain class of Garside groups.

This dissertation demonstrates the existence of a pair of algebraic and geometric structures on triangles of groups and on quadrilaterals of groups. These structures are an automatic and biautomatic structure. In addition, this paper also discusses the growth function for the quadrilaterals. We show that these groups have these desired structures and discuss what they are. We also give an extraordinary example of a pair of quadrilaterals of groups that are defined nearly identically but do not behave alike. / Ph. D.

A group Γ is of type F_n for some n ≥ 1 if it has a classifying complex with finite n-skeleton. These properties generalise the classical notions of finite generation and finite presentability. We investigate the higher finiteness properties for fibre products of groups.

Geometric semigroup theory means different things to different people, but it is agreed that it involves associating a geometric structure to a semigroup and deducing properties of the semigroup based on that structure. One such property is finite presentability. In geometric group theory, the geometric structure of choice is the Cayley graph of the group. It is known that in group theory finite presentability is an invariant under quasi-isometry of Cayley graphs. We choose to associate a metric space to a semigroup based on a Cayley graph of that semigroup. This metric space is constructed by removing directions, multiple edges and loops from the Cayley graph. We call this a skeleton of the semigroup. We show that finite presentability of certain types of direct products, completely (0-)simple, and Clifford semigroups is preserved under isomorphism of skeletons. A major tool employed in this is the Švarc-Milnor Lemma. We present an example that shows that in general, finite presentability is not an invariant property under isomorphism of skeletons of semigroups, and in fact is not an invariant property under quasi-isometry of Cayley graphs for semigroups. We give several skeletons and describe fully the semigroups that can be associated to these.

In this thesis we study Kähler groups and their connections to Geometric Group Theory. This work presents substantial progress on three central questions in the field: (1) Which subgroups of direct products of surface groups are Kähler? (2) Which Kähler groups admit a classifying space with finite (n-1)-skeleton but no classifying space with finitely many n-cells? (3) Is it possible to give explicit finite presentations for any of the groups constructed in response to Question 2? Question 1 was raised by Delzant and Gromov. Question 2 is intimately related to Question 1: the non-trivial examples of Kähler subgroups of direct products of surface groups never admit a classifying space with finite skeleton. The only known source of non-trivial examples for Questions 1 and 2 are fundamental groups of fibres of holomorphic maps from a direct product of closed surfaces onto an elliptic curve; the first such construction is due to Dimca, Papadima and Suciu. Question 3 was posed by Suciu in the context of these examples. In this thesis we: provide the first constraints on Kähler subdirect products of surface groups (<strong>Theorem 7.3.1</strong>); develop new construction methods for Kähler groups from maps onto higher-dimensional complex tori (<strong>Section 6.1</strong>); apply these methods to obtain irreducible examples of Kähler subgroups of direct products of surface groups which arise from maps onto higher-dimensional tori and use them to show that our conditions in Theorem 7.3.1 are minimal (<strong>Theorem A</strong>); apply our construction methods to produce irreducible examples of Kähler groups that (i) have a classifying space with finite (n-1)-skeleton but no classifying space with finite n-skeleton and (ii) do not have a subgroup of finite index which embeds in a direct product of surface groups (<strong>Theorem 8.3.1</strong>); provide a new proof of Biswas, Mj and Pancholi's generalisation of Dimca, Papadima and Suciu's construction to more general maps onto elliptic curves (<strong>Theorem 4.3.2</strong>) and introduce invariants that distinguish many of the groups obtained from this construction (<strong>Theorem 4.6.2</strong>); and, construct explicit finite presentations for Dimca, Papadima and Suciu's groups thereby answering Question 3 (<strong>Theorem 5.4.4)</strong>).

Le résultat principal est une caractérisation homotopique des orbifolds de dimension 3 qui sont fibrés de Seifert : si O est un orbifold de dimension 3 fermé, orientable et petit dont le groupe fondamental admet un sous-groupe infini cyclique normal, alors O est de Seifert. Ce théorème généralise un résultat de Scott, Mess, Tukia, Gabai et Casson-Jungreis pour les variétés. Il repose sur une caractérisation des groupes de surfaces virtuels comme groupes quasi-isométriques à un plan riemannien complet. D'autres résultats sur les quasi-isométries entre groupes et surfaces sont obtenus.

Cette thèse est consacrée à l'étude du groupe d'automorphismes de groupes agissant sur des arbres d'une part, et du rang des groupes de Coxeter d'autre part. Via la théorie de Bass-Serre, un groupe agissant sur un arbre est doté d'une structure algébrique particulière, généralisant produits amalgamés et extensions HNN. Le groupe est en fait déterminé par certaines données combinatoires découlant de cette action, appelées graphes de groupes. Un cas particulier de cette situation est celle d'un produit libre. Une présentation du groupe d'automorphisme d'un produit libre d'un nombre fini de groupes librement indécomposables en termes de présentation des facteurs et de leurs groupes d'automorphismes a été donnée par Fouxe-Rabinovich. Il découle de son travail que si les facteurs et leurs groupes d'automorphismes sont de présentation finie, alors le groupe d'automorphisme du produit libre est de présentation finie. Une première partie de cette thèse donne une nouvelle preuve de ce résultat, se basant sur le langage des actions de groupes sur les arbres. Un groupe accessible est un groupe de type fini déterminé par un graphe de groupe fini dont les groupes d'arêtes sont finis et les groupes de sommets ont au plus un bout, c'est-à-dire qu'ils ne se décomposent pas en produit amalgamé ni en extension HNN sur un groupe fini. L'étude du groupe d'automorphisme d'un groupe accessible est ramenée à l'étude de groupes d'automorphismes de produits libres, de groupes de twists de Dehn et de groupes d'automorphismes relatifs des groupes de sommets. En particulier, on déduit un critère naturel pour que le groupe d'automorphismes d'un groupe accessible soit de présentation finie, et on donne une caractérisation des groupes accessibles dont le groupe d'automorphisme externe est fini. Appliqués aux groupes hyperboliques de Gromov, ces résultats permettent d'affirmer que le groupe d'automorphismes d'un groupe hyperbolique est de présentation finie, et donnent une caractérisation précise des groupes hyperboliques dont le groupe d'automorphisme externe est fini. Enfin, on étudie le rang des groupes de Coxeter, c'est-à-dire le cardinal minimal d'un ensemble générateur pour un groupe de Coxeter donné. Plus précisément, on montre que si les composantes de la matrice de Coxeter déterminant un groupe de Coxeter sont suffisamment grandes, alors l'ensemble générateur standard est de cardinal minimal parmi tous les ensembles générateurs.

We present a formal description of `Face Fundamental Transversals' on the faces of the Complexes of polyhedra (meaning threedimensional polytopes). A Complex of a polyhedron is the collection of the vertex points of the polyhedron, line segment edges and polygonal faces of the polyhedron. We will prove that for the faces of any 3-dimensional complex of a polyhedron under face adjacency relations, that a `Face Fundamental Transversal' exists, and it is a union of the connected orbits of faces that are intersected exactly once. While exploring the problem of finding a face fundamental transversal, we have found a partial result for edges that are incident to faces in a face fundamental transversal. Therefore we will present this partial result, as The Edge Transversal Proposition 1. We will also discuss a few conjectures that arose out this proposition. In order to reach our approaches we will first discuss some history of polyhedra, group theory, and incorporate a little crystallography, as this will appeal to various audiences.