Random walks on geometric groups

Joseph Maher (CUNY)

Abstract

We will give a gentle introduction to random walks, and some examples of groups with useful geometric properties. We will consider the basic examples of random walks on Euclidean spaces and trees, and discuss which features of these extend to more general groups, such as hyperbolic groups, and groups acting on hyperbolic spaces. This latter class includes (nearly all) 3-manifold groups, and the mapping class groups of surfaces.