Z-Structures and Semidirect Products with an Infinite Cyclic Group

Abstract

Z-structures were originally formulated by Bestvina in order to axiomatize the properties that an ideal group boundary should have. In this dissertation, we prove that if a given group admits a Z-structure, then any semidirect product of that group with an infinite cyclic group will also admit a Z-structure. We then show how this can be applied to 3-manifold groups and strongly polycyclic groups.