Realising VCD for untwisted automorphism groups of RAAGs (2501.03900v1)

Abstract: The virtual cohomological dimension of $\operatorname{Out}(F_n)$ is given precisely by the dimension of the spine of Culler--Vogtmann Outer space. However, the dimension of the spine of untwisted Outer space for a general right-angled Artin group $A_\Gamma$ does not necessarily match the virtual cohomological dimension of the untwisted subgroup $U(A_\Gamma) \leq \operatorname{Out}(A_\Gamma)$. Under certain graph-theoretic conditions, we perform an equivariant deformation retraction of this spine to produce a new contractible cube complex upon which $U(A_\Gamma)$ acts properly and cocompactly. Furthermore, we give conditions for when the dimension of this complex realises the virtual cohomological dimension of $U(A_\Gamma)$.