Algebraic and Geometric Topology 5 (2005), paper no. 59, pages 1481-1503.

Contractibility of deformation spaces of G-trees

Matt Clay

Abstract. Forester has defined spaces of simplicial tree actions for a finitely generated group, called deformation spaces. Culler and Vogtmann's Outer space is an example of a deformation space. Using ideas from Skora's proof of the contractibility of Outer space, we show that under some mild hypotheses deformation spaces are contractible.

Keywords. G-tree, deformation space, Outer space

AMS subject classification. Primary: 20E08. Secondary: 20F65, 20F28 .

E-print: arXiv:math.GR/0511615

DOI: 10.2140/agt.2005.5.1481

Submitted: 19 November 2004. Accepted: 20 October 2005. Published: 1 November 2005.

Notes on file formats

Matt Clay
Department of Mathematics, University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090, USA
Email: clay@math.utah.edu

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