Counting growth types of automorphisms of free groups

Abstract

Given an automorphism of a free group $F_n$, we consider the following invariants: $e$ is the number of exponential strata (an upper bound for the number of different exponential growth rates of conjugacy classes); $d$ is the maximal degree of polynomial growth of conjugacy classes; $R$ is the rank of the fixed subgroup. We determine precisely which triples $(e,d,R)$ may be realized by an automorphism of $F_n$. In particular, the inequality $e\le (3n-2)/4}$ (due to Levitt-Lustig) always holds. In an appendix, we show that any conjugacy class grows like a polynomial times an exponential under iteration of the automorphism.

final version, to appear in GAFA; proof of 3.1 simplified thanks to the referee