NIL-AFFINE CRYSTALLOGRAPHIC ACTIONS OF VIRTUALLY POLYCYCLIC GROUPS

Abstract

A classical result by K.B. Lee states that every group morphism between almost crystallographic groups is induced by an affine map on the nilpotent Lie group whereon these groups by definition act. It is the main technique for studying morphisms between virtually nilpotent groups, having important applications in fixed point theory, for example as a tool to compute Nielsen numbers for self-maps on infra-nilmanifolds. In this paper we generalize this result to morphisms between virtually polycyclic groups, which are known to act crystallographically by affine transformations on a nilpotent Lie group. The main method is to study the special class of translation-like actions, which behave well under taking subgroups and restricting the action to invariant right cosets.