Automorphisms of the generalised Thompson's group $T_{n,r}$

Feyishayo Olukoya

Published 2019-08-10Version 1

The recent paper "The further chameleon groups of Richard Thompson and Graham Higman: automorphisms via dynamics for the Higman groups $G_{n,r}$" of Bleak, Cameron, Maissel, Navas and Olukoya (BCMNO) characterises the automorphisms of the Higman-Thompson groups $G_{n,r}$ as the specific subgroup of the rational group $\mathcal{R}_{n,r}$ of Grigorchuk, Nekrashevych and Suchanski{\u i}'s consisting of those elements which have the additional property of being bi-synchronizing. In this article, we extend the arguments of BCMNO and characterise the automorphism group of $T_{n,r}$ as a subgroup of $\mathrm{Aut}{G_{n,r}}$. We then show that the groups $\mathrm{Out}{T_{n,r}}$ can be identified with subgroups of the group $\mathrm{Out}{T_{n,n-1}}$. Extending results of Brin and Guzman, we show that the groups $\mathrm{Out}{T_{n,r}}$, for $n>2$, are all infinite and contain an isomorphic copy of Thompson's group $F$. For $X \in \{T,G\}$, we study the groups $\mathrm{Out}{X_{n,r}}$ and show that these fit in a lattice structure where $\mathrm{Out}{X_{n,1}} \unlhd \mathrm{Out}{X_{n,r}}$ for all $1 \le r \le n-1$ and $\mathrm{Out}{X_{n,r}} \unlhd \mathrm{Out}{X_{n,n-1}}$. This gives a partial answer to a question in BCMNO concerning the normal subgroup structure of $\mathrm{Out}{G_{n,n-1}}$. Furthermore, we deduce that for $1\le j,d \le n-1$ such that $d = \gcd(j, n-1)$, $\mathrm{Out}{X_{n,j}} = \mathrm{Out}{X_{n,d}}$ extending a result of BCMNO for the groups $G_{n,r}$ to the groups $T_{n,r}$. We give a negative answer to the question in BCMNO which asks whether or not $\mathrm{Out}{G_{n,r}} \cong \mathrm{Out}{G_{n,s}}$ if and only if $\gcd(n-1,r) = \gcd(n-1,s)$. We conclude by showing that the groups $T_{n,r}$ have the $R_{\infty}$ property extending the result of Burillo, Matucci and Ventura and, independently, Gon{\c c}alves and Sankaran, for Thompson's group $T$.