Let $G$ be a torsion-free hyperbolic group, let $S$ be a finite generating set of $G$, and let $f$ be an automorphism of $G$. We want to understand the possible growth types for the word length of $f^n(g)$, where $g$ is an element of $G$. Growth was completely described by Thurston when $G$ is the fundamental group of a hyperbolic surface, and can be understood from Bestvina-Handel's work on train-tracks when $G$ is a free group. We address the general case of a torsion-free hyperbolic group $G$; we show that every element in $G$ has a well-defined exponential growth rate under iteration of $f$, and that only finitely many exponential growth rates arise as $g$ varies in $G$. In addition, we show the following dichotomy: every element of $G$ grows either exponentially fast or polynomially fast under iteration of $f$.
This is a joint work with Rémi Coulon, Arnaud Hilion and Gilbert Levitt.[-]

Given an automorphism of the free group, we consider the mapping torus defined with respect to the automorphism. If the automorphism is atoroidal, then the resulting free-by-cyclic group is hyperbolic by work of Brinkmann. In addition, if the automorphism is fully irreducible, then work of Kapovich-Kleiner proves the boundary of the group is homeomorphic to the Menger curve. However, their proof is very general and gives no tools to further study the boundary and large-scale geometry of these groups. In this talk, I will explain how to construct explicit embeddings of non-planar graphs into the boundary of these groups whenever the group is hyperbolic. Along the way, I will illustrate how our methods distinguish free-by-cyclic groups which are the fundamental group of a 3-manifold. This is joint work with Yael Algom-Kfir and Arnaud Hilion.[-]

Rivin conjectured that the conjugacy growth series of a hyperbolic group is rational if and only if the group is virtually cyclic. In this talk I will present the proof (joint with Hermiller, Holt and Rees) that the conjugacy growth series of a virtually cyclic group is rational, and then also confirm the other direction of the conjecture, by showing that the conjugacy growth series of a non-elementary hyperbolic group is transcendental (joint with Antolín). The result for non-elementary hyperbolic groups can be used to prove a formal language version of Rivin's conjecture for any finitely generated acylindrically hyperbolic group G, namely that no set of minimal length conjugacy representatives of G can be regular.[-]

A subgroup $H$ of an acylindrically hyperbolic groups $G$ is called geometrically dense if for every non-elementary acylindrical action of $G$ on a hyperbolic space, the limit sets of $G$ and $H$ coincide. We prove that for every ergodic measure preserving action of a countable acylindrically hyperbolic group $G$ on a Borel probability space, either the stabilizer of almost every point is geometrically dense in $G$, or the action is essentially almost free (i.e., the stabilizers are finite). Various corollaries and generalizations of this result will be discussed.[-]

We are interested in the structure of the set of homomorphisms from a fixed (but arbitrary) finitely generated group G to the groups in some fixed family (such as the family of 3-manifold groups). I will explain what one might hope to say in different situations, and explain some applications to relatively hyperbolic groups and acylindrically hyperbolic groups, and some hoped-for applications to 3-manifold groups.
This is joint work with Michael Hull and joint work in preparation with Michael Hull and Hao Liang.[-]

The study of the poset of hyperbolic structures H(G) on a group G was initiated by Abbott-Balasubramanya-Osin. However, the sub-poset of quasi- parabolic structures is still very far from being understood and several questions remain unanswered.
In this talk, I will talk about the motivation behind our work, describe some structural results related to quasi-parabolic structures and thus answer some of the open questions. I will end my talk by discussing ongoing work in the area.
This talk contains some joint work with C.Abbott, D.Osin and A.Rasmussen.[-]

The theory of group actions on CAT(0) cube complexes has exerted a strong influence on geometric group theory and low-dimensional topology in the last two decades. Indeed, knowing that a group G acts properly and cocompactly on a CAT(0) cube complex reveals a lot of its algebraic structure. However, in general, "cubulations'' are non-canonical and the group G can act on cube complexes in many different ways. It is thus natural to try and formulate a good notion of "space of all cubulations of G'', which would prove useful in the study of Out(G) for quite general groups G. I will describe some results in this direction, based on joint works with J. Beyrer and M. Hagen.[-]

Bestvina-Mess showed that the duality properties of a group $G$ are encoded in any boundary that gives a Z-compactification of $G$. For example, a hyperbolic group with Gromov boundary an $n$-sphere is a PD$(n+1)$ group. For relatively hyperbolic pairs $(G,P)$, the natural boundary - the Bowditch boundary - does not give a Z-compactification of G. Nevertheless we show that if the Bowditch boundary of $(G,P)$ is a 2-sphere, then $(G,P)$ is a PD(3) pair.
This is joint work with Genevieve Walsh.[-]

Shortcut graphs are graphs in which long enough cycles cannot embed without metric distortion. Shortcut groups are groups which act properly and cocompactly on shortcut graphs. These notions unify a surprisingly broad family of graphs and groups of interest in geometric group theory and metric graph theory including: systolic and quadric groups (in particular finitely presented C(6) and C(4)-T(4) small cancellation groups), cocompactly cubulated groups, hyperbolic groups, Coxeter groups and the Baumslag-Solitar group BS(1,2). Most of these examples satisfy a strong form of the shortcut property. I will discuss some of these examples as well as some general constructions and properties of shortcut graphs and groups.[-]