Acylindrical hyperbolicity and existential closedness

Abstract

Let $G$ be a finitely presented group, and let $H$ be a subgroup of $G$. We prove that if $H$ is acylindrically hyperbolic and existentially closed in $G$, then $G$ is acylindrically hyperbolic. As a corollary, any finitely presented group which is existentially equivalent to the mapping class group of a surface of finite type, to $\mathrm{Out}(F_n)$ or $\mathrm{Aut}(F_n)$ for $n\geq 2$ or to the Higman group, is acylindrically hyperbolic.