Abstract
Abstract: There seems to be an analogy between the classes of fundamental groups of compact 3-manifolds and of one-relator groups.  (Indeed, many 3-manifold groups are also one-relator groups.) For instance, Dehnâs Lemma for 3-manifolds (proved by Papakyriakopoulos) can be seen as analogous to Magnusâ Freiheitssatz for one-relator groups. But the analogy is still very incomplete, and since there are deep results on each side that have no analogue on the other, there is a strong incentive to flesh it out.Coherence is one property for which the analogy remains unknown. A group is *coherent* if every finitely generated subgroup is finitely presented. A famous theorem of Scott asserts that 3-manifold groups are coherent; Baumslag asked in 1974 if one-relator groups are coherent, and the question remains open.In this talk, Iâll describe some recent progress towards Baumslagâs problem, which centres around Wiseâs notion of *non-positive immersions*.  We will see that one-relator groups are homologically coherent, that one-relator groups with torsion are coherent, and that low-rank subgroups of one-relator groups are always free.Â