Hyperbolic immersions of free groups

Abstract

We prove that the mapping torus of a graph immersion has a word-hyperbolic fundamental group if and only if the corresponding endomorphism does not produce Baumslag–Solitar subgroups. Due to a result by Reynolds, this theorem applies to all injective endomorphisms of $F_2$ and nonsurjective fully irreducible endomorphisms of $F_n$. We also give a framework for extending the theorem to all injective endomorphisms of $F_n$.