Gaps in scl for Amalgamated Free Products and RAAGs

We develop a new criterion to tell if a group G has the maximal gap of 1/2 in stable commutator length (scl). For amalgamated free products G=A⋆CB\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${G = A \star_C B}$$\end{document} we show that every element g in the commutator subgroup of G which does not conjugate into A or B satisfies scl(g)≥1/2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${{\rm scl}(g) \geq 1/2}$$\end{document}, provided that C embeds as a left relatively convex subgroup in both A and B. We deduce from this that every non-trivial element g in the commutator subgroup of a right-angled Artin group G satisfies scl(g)≥1/2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${{\rm scl}(g) \geq 1/2}$$\end{document}. This bound is sharp and is inherited by all fundamental groups of special cube complexes. We prove these statements by constructing explicit extremal homogeneous quasimorphisms ϕ¯:G→R\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\bar{\phi} : G \to \mathbb{R}}$$\end{document} satisfying ϕ¯(g)≥1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\bar{\phi}(g) \geq 1}$$\end{document} and D(ϕ¯)≤1\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${D(\bar{\phi})\leq 1}$$\end{document}. Such maps were previously unknown, even for non-abelian free groups. For these quasimorphisms ϕ¯\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\bar{\phi}}$$\end{document} there is an action ρ:G→Homeo+(S1)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${\rho : G \to \mathrm{Homeo}^+(S^1)}$$\end{document} on the circle such that [δ1ϕ¯]=ρ∗eubR∈Hb2(G,R)\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${[\delta^1 \bar{\phi}]=\rho^*{\rm eu}^\mathbb{R}_b \in {\rm H}^2_b(G,\mathbb{R})}$$\end{document}, for eubR\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$${{\rm eu}^\mathbb{R}_b}$$\end{document} the real bounded Euler class.