Bavard duality for the relative Gromov seminorm

Abstract

The relative Gromov seminorm is a finer invariant than stable commutator length where a relative homology class is fixed. We show a duality result between bounded cohomology and the relative Gromov seminorm, analogously to Bavard duality for scl. We give an application to computations of scl in graphs of groups. We also explain how our duality result can be given a purely algebraic interpretation via a relative version of the Hopf formula. Moreover, we show that this leads to a natural generalisation of a result of Calegari on a connection between scl and the rotation quasimorphism.

arXiv comment33 pages, 8 figures. v2: background on the relative Gromov seminorm and bounded cohomology significantly expanded following editor's comments, new section (4) on an application to scl in graphs of groups. To appear in Enseign. Math