This book gives an advanced overview of several topics in infinite group theory. It can also be considered as a rigorous introduction to combinatorial and geometric group theory. The philosophy of the book is to describe the interaction between these two important parts of infinite group theory. In this line of thought, several theorems are proved multiple times with different methods either purely combinatorial or purely geometric while others are shown by a combination of arguments from both perspectives. The first part of the book deals with Nielsen methods and introduces the reader to results and examples that are helpful to understand the following parts. The second part focuses on covering spaces and fundamental groups, including covering space proofs of group theoretic results. The third part deals with the theory of hyperbolic groups. The subjects are illustrated and described by prominent examples and an outlook on solved and unsolved problems.

This book gives an advanced overview of several topics in infinite group theory. It can also be considered as a rigorous introduction to combinatorial and geometric group theory. The philosophy of the book is to describe the interaction between these two important parts of infinite group theory. In this line of thought, several theorems are proved multiple times with different methods either purely combinatorial or purely geometric while others are shown by a combination of arguments from both perspectives. The first part of the book deals with Nielsen methods and introduces the reader to results and examples that are helpful to understand the following parts. The second part focuses on covering spaces and fundamental groups, including covering space proofs of group theoretic results. The third part deals with the theory of hyperbolic groups. The subjects are illustrated and described by prominent examples and an outlook on solved and unsolved problems. New edition now includes the topics on universal free groups, quasiconvex subgroups and hyperbolic groups, and also Stallings foldings and subgroups of free groups. New results on groups of F-types are added.

The development of algebraic geometry over groups, geometric group theory and group-based cryptography, has led to there being a tremendous recent interest in infinite group theory. This volume presents a good collection of papers detailing areas of current interest.

In this book, Pierre de la Harpe provides a concise and engaging introduction to geometric group theory, a new method for studying infinite groups via their intrinsic geometry that has played a major role in mathematics over the past two decades. A recognized expert in the field, de la Harpe adopts a hands-on approach, illustrating key concepts with numerous concrete examples. The first five chapters present basic combinatorial and geometric group theory in a unique and refreshing way, with an emphasis on finitely generated versus finitely presented groups. In the final three chapters, de la Harpe discusses new material on the growth of groups, including a detailed treatment of the "Grigorchuk group." Most sections are followed by exercises and a list of problems and complements, enhancing the book's value for students; problems range from slightly more difficult exercises to open research problems in the field. An extensive list of references directs readers to more advanced results as well as connections with other fields.

Group theory is one of the most fundamental branches of mathematics. This highly accessible volume of the Encyclopaedia is devoted to two important subjects within this theory. Extremely useful to all mathematicians, physicists and other scientists, including graduate students who use group theory in their work.

In recent times, group theory has found wider applications in various fields of algebra and mathematics in general. But in order to apply this or that result, you need to know about it, and such results are often diffuse and difficult to locate, necessitating that readers construct an extended search through multiple monographs, articles, and papers. Such readers must wade through the morass of concepts and auxiliary statements that are needed to understand the desired results, while it is initially unclear which of them are really needed and which ones can be dispensed with. A further difficulty that one may encounter might be concerned with the form or language in which a given result is presented. For example, if someone knows the basics of group theory, but does not know the theory of representations, and a group theoretical result is formulated in the language of representation theory, then that person is faced with the problem of translating this result into the language with which they are familiar, etc. Infinite Groups: A Roadmap to Some Classical Areas seeks to overcome this challenge. The book covers a broad swath of the theory of infinite groups, without giving proofs, but with all the concepts and auxiliary results necessary for understanding such results. In other words, this book is an extended directory, or a guide, to some of the more established areas of infinite groups. Features An excellent resource for a subject formerly lacking an accessible and in-depth reference Suitable for graduate students, PhD students, and researchers working in group theory Introduces the reader to the most important methods, ideas, approaches, and constructions in infinite group theory.

In this book, three authors introduce readers to strong approximation methods, analytic pro-p groups and zeta functions of groups. Each chapter illustrates connections between infinite group theory, number theory and Lie theory. The first introduces the theory of compact p-adic Lie groups. The second explains how methods from linear algebraic groups can be utilised to study the finite images of linear groups. The final chapter provides an overview of zeta functions associated to groups and rings. Derived from an LMS/EPSRC Short Course for graduate students, this book provides a concise introduction to a very active research area and assumes less prior knowledge than existing monographs or original research articles. Accessible to beginning graduate students in group theory, it will also appeal to researchers interested in infinite group theory and its interface with Lie theory and number theory.

The theory of groups is simultaneously a branch of abstract algebra and the study of symmetry. Designed for readers approaching the subject for the first time, this book reviews all the essentials. It recaps the basic definitions and results, including Lagranges Theorem, the isomorphism theorems and group actions. Later chapters include material on chain conditions and finiteness conditions, free groups and the theory of presentations. In addition, a novel chapter of "entertainments" demonstrates an assortment of results that can be achieved with the theoretical machinery.

This book provides a detailed exposition of a wide range of topics in geometric group theory, inspired by Gromov’s pivotal work in the 1980s. It includes classical theorems on nilpotent groups and solvable groups, a fundamental study of the growth of groups, a detailed look at asymptotic cones, and a discussion of related subjects including filters and ultrafilters, dimension theory, hyperbolic geometry, amenability, the Burnside problem, and random walks on groups. The results are unified under the common theme of Gromov’s theorem, namely that finitely generated groups of polynomial growth are virtually nilpotent. This beautiful result gave birth to a fascinating new area of research which is still active today. The purpose of the book is to collect these naturally related results together in one place, most of which are scattered throughout the literature, some of them appearing here in book form for the first time. In this way, the connections between these topics are revealed, providing a pleasant introduction to geometric group theory based on ideas surrounding Gromov's theorem. The book will be of interest to mature undergraduate and graduate students in mathematics who are familiar with basic group theory and topology, and who wish to learn more about geometric, analytic, and probabilistic aspects of infinite groups.