The rhombic dodecahedron and semisimple actions of Aut(Fₙ) on CAT(0) spaces
We consider actions of automorphism groups of free groups by semisimple isometries on complete CAT(0) spaces. If n ≥ 4 then each of the Nielsen generators of Aut(Fₙ) has a fixed point. If n = 3 then either each of the Nielsen generators has a fixed point, or else they are hyperbolic and each Nielsen-generated ℤ⁴ ⊂ Aut(F₃) leaves invariant an isometrically embedded copy of Euclidean 3-space 𝔼³ ↪ X on which it acts as a discrete group of translations with the rhombic dodecahedron as a Dirichlet...