Torsion-free word hyperbolic groups are noncommutatively slender

Abstract

In this paper, we prove the claim given in the title. A group [Formula: see text] is noncommutatively slender if each map from the fundamental group of the Hawaiian Earring to [Formula: see text] factors through projection to a canonical free subgroup. Higman, in his seminal 1952 paper [Unrestricted free products and varieties of topological groups, J. London Math. Soc. 27 (1952) 73–81], proved that free groups are noncommutatively slender. Such groups were first defined by Eda in [Free [Formula: see text]-products and noncommutatively slender groups, J. Algebra 148 (1992) 243–263]. Eda has asked which finitely presented groups are noncommutatively slender. This result demonstrates that random finitely presented groups in the few-relator sense are noncommutatively slender.