Groups which are not properly 3-realizable

Abstract

A group is properly 3-realizable if it is the fundamental group of a compact polyhedron whose universal covering is proper homotopically equivalent to some 3-manifold. We prove that when such a group is also quasi-simply filtered then it has {\em pro-(finitely generated free) fundamental group at infinity} and {\em semi-stable ends}. Conjecturally the quasi-simply filtration assumption is superfluous. Using these restrictions we provide the first examples of finitely presented groups which are not properly 3-realizable, for instance large families of Coxeter groups.