Infinite graph product of groups I: Geometry of the extension graph

Abstract

We introduce the extension graph of graph product of groups and study its geometry. This enables us to study properties of graph product by exploiting large scale geometry of its defining graph. In particular, we show that the extension graph is isomorphic to the crossing graph of a canonical quasi-median graph and exhibits the same phenomenon about asymptotic dimension as quasi-trees of metric spaces studied by Bestvina-Bromberg-Fujiwara. As an application of the extension graph, we prove relative hyperbolicity of graph-wreath product. This provides a new construction of relatively hyperbolic groups.