Local structure of some Out(F_n)-complexes

Karen Vogtmann

Proc. Edinburgh Math Society 33 (1990), 367-369

Note. In the published version of this paper, approximately 75% of the inequality signs were typeset the wrong way, which I somehow didn't catch in the galley proofs. The version posted here has them the right way, so the paper should make more sense!

In previous work of the author and M. Culler, contractible simplicial complexes were constructed on which the group of outer automorphisms of a free group of finite rank act with finite stabilizers and finite quotient. In this paper, it is shown that these complexes re Cohen-Macauley, a property they share with buildings. In particular, the link of a vertex in these complexes is homotopy equivalent to a wedge of spheres of codimension 1.