Free Subgroups of Groups with Nontrivial Floyd Boundary

Abstract

We prove that when a countable group admits a nontrivial Floyd-type boundary, then every nonelementary and metrically proper subgroup contains a noncommutative free subgroup. This generalizes the corresponding well-known results for hyperbolic groups and groups with infinitely many ends. It also shows that no finitely generated amenable group admits a nontrivial boundary of this type. This improves on a theorem by Floyd (Floyd, W. J. (1980). Group completions and limit sets of Kleinian groups. Invent. Math. 57: 205–218) as well as giving an elementary proof of a conjecture stated in that same paper. We also show that if the Floyd boundary of a finitely generated group is nontrivial, then it is a boundary in the sense of Furstenberg and the group acts on it as a convergence group.

Key Words:

• Geometric group theory
• Convergence group action
• Hyperbolic groups

Acknowledgment

This paper was written during my year at the Forschungsinstitut für Mathematik at the ETH-Zürich. I am much grateful to the FIM and its director Marc Burger for providing such excellent working conditions in a friendly and stimulating environment.