Let A be a locally compact group topologically generated by d elements and let k>d. Consider the action, by pre-composition, of Aut(F_k) on the set of marked, k-generated, dense subgroups D_{k,A} := {h:F_k --> A | h(F_k) is dense in A}. We prove the ergodicity of this action for two families of simple, totally disconnected locally compact groups. (i) A = PSL(2,K) where K is a non-Archimedean local field (of characteristic not equal to 2), (ii) A = Aut^{0}(T) - the group of orientation preserving automorphisms of a (q+1)-regular tree, for q > 1.
In contrast, a recent result of Minsky's shows that the same action is not ergodic when A = PSL(2,R) or A = PSL(2,C). Therefore if K is a local field (with characteristic different than 2) the action of Aut(F_k) on D_{k,PSL(2,K)} is ergodic, for every k>2, if and only if K is non-Archimedean.
Ergodicity implies that every "measurable property" either holds or fails to hold for almost every k-generated dense subgroup of A.
We describe the global structure of totally disconnected locally compact groups having a linear open compact subgroup. Among the applications, we show that if a non-discrete, compactly generated, topologically simple, totally disconnected locally compact group is locally linear, then it is a simple algebraic group over a local field.
We introduce and explore a natural rank for totally disconnected locally compact groups called the bounded conjugacy rank. This rank is shown to be a lattice invariant for lattices in sigma compact totally disconnected locally compact groups; that is to say, for a given sigma compact totally disconnected locally compact group, some lattice has bounded conjugacy rank n if and only if every lattice has bounded conjugacy rank n. Several examples are then presented.
Groups of almost upper triangular infinite matrices with entries indexed by integers are studied. It is shown that, when the matrices are over a finite field, these groups admit a nondiscrete totally disconnected, locally compact group topology and are topologically simple.
We show that recent results of U. Baumgartner and G.A. Willis concerning contraction groups of automorphisms of metrizable, totally disconnected, locally compact groups remain valid also in the non-metrizable case, if one restricts attention to automorphisms for which small tidy subgroups exist.
Let G be a totally disconnected, locally compact group admitting a contractive automorphism f. We prove a Jordan-Holder theorem for series of f-stable closed subgroups of G, classify all possible composition factors and deduce consequences for the structure of G.
We observe a correspondence between collections of closed subgroups and normal subgroups in totally disconnected locally compact groups. This correspondence is applied to prove structure theorems for two classes of totally disconnected locally compact second countable groups: the class of such groups with an open solvable subgroup and the class of such groups with a pro-nilpotent compact open subgroup. As a second application, we give new proofs and generalizations of results of G. Willis and Y. Barnea, M. Ershov, and T. Weigel on totally disconnected locally compact groups which are topologic…
We introduce the notion of an introverted Boolean algebra $\cal B$ of closed-and-open subsets of a topological group $G$, show that the associated Stone space $(ν_{\cal B} G, ν_{\cal B})$ is a totally disconnected semigroup compactification of $G$, and show that every totally disconnected semigroup compactification of $G$ takes this form. We identify and study the universal totally disconnected semigroup compactification, the universal totally disconnected semitopological semigroup compactification and the universal totally disconnected group compactification of $G$. Our main results are obtai…
In a 2004 article, Udo Baumgartner and George Willis used ideas from the structure theory of totally disconnected, locally compact groups to achieve a better understanding of the contraction group U_f associated with an automorphism f of such a group G, assuming that G is metrizable. (Recall that U_f consists of all group elements x such that f^n(x) tends to the identity element as n tends to infinity). Recently, Wojciech Jaworski showed that the main technical tool of the latter article remains valid in the non-metrizable case. He asserted without proof that, therefore, all results from that …
In this paper we investigate finiteness properties of totally disconnected locally compact groups for general commutative rings $R$, in particular for $R = \mathbb{Z}$ and $R= \mathbb{Q}$. We show these properties satisfy many analogous results to the case of discrete groups, and we provide analogues of the famous Bieri's and Brown's criteria for finiteness properties and deduce that both $FP_n$-properties and $F_n$-properties are quasi-isometric invariant. Moreover, we introduce graph-wreath products in the category of totally disconnected locally compact groups and discuss their finiteness p…
We give a "limit-free formula" simplifying the computation of the topological entropy for topological automorphisms of totally disconnected locally compact groups. This result allows us to extend several basic properties of the topological entropy known to hold for compact groups.
We show that in order to prove that every second countable locally compact groups with exact reduced group C*-algebra is exact in the dynamical sense (i.e. KW-exact) it suffices to show this for totally disconnected groups.
The scale of an endomorphism, $α$, of a totally disconnected, locally compact group $G$ is the minimum index $[α(U) : α(U)\cap U]$, for $U$ a compact, open subgroup of $G$. A structural characterization of subgroups at which the minimum is attained is established. This characterization extends the notion of subgroup tidy for $α$ from previously understood case when $α$ is an automorphism to the case when $α$ is merely an endomorphism.
Let $X$ be a locally compact Hadamard space and $G$ be a totally disconnected group acting continuously, properly and cocompactly on $X$. We show that a closed subgroup of $G$ is amenable if and only if it is (topologically locally finite)-by-(virtually abelian). We are led to consider a set $\bdfine X$ which is a refinement of the visual boundary $\bd X$. For each $x \in \bdfine X$, the stabilizer $G_x$ is amenable.
We study automorphisms $α$ of a totally disconnected, locally compact group $G$ which are expansive in the sense that, for some identity neighbourhood $U$, the sets $α^n(U)$ (for integers $n$) intersect in the trivial group. Notably, we prove that the automorphism induced by $α$ on $G/N$ for an $α$-stable closed normal subgroup $N$ of $G$ is always expansive. Further results involve the associated contraction groups $U_α$ consisting of all $x$ in $G$ such that $α^n(x) \to e$ as $n$ tends to infinity. If $α$ is expansive, then $W := U_αU_{α^{-1}}$ is an open identity neighbourhood in $G$. We gi…
Inspired by Ol'shanskii's work, we provide an axiomatic framework to describe certain irreducible unitary representations of non-discrete unimodular totally disconnected locally compact groups. We then look at the applications to certain groups of automorphisms of locally finite trees and semi-regular right-angled buildings.
The main result is a general approximation theorem for normalised Betti numbers for Farber sequences of lattices in totally disconnected groups. Further, we contribute some computations and complements to the general theory of $L^2$-Betti numbers of totally disconnected groups.
Let $G$ be a totally disconnected, locally compact group and let $H$ be an equicontinuously (for example, compactly) generated group of automorphisms of $G$. We show that every distal action of $H$ on a coset space of $G$ is a SIN action, with the small invariant neighbourhoods arising from open $H$-invariant subgroups. We obtain a number of consequences for the structure of the collection of open subgroups. For example, it follows that for every compactly generated subgroup $K$ of $G$, there is a compactly generated open subgroup $E$ of $G$ such that $K \le E$ and such that every open subgrou…
We define a local Sylow subgroup of a totally disconnected, locally compact group G to be a maximal pro-p subgroup of an open compact subgroup of G. We use these subgroups to define the p-localisation of G, a locally virtually pro-p group which maps continuously and injectively to G with dense image, and describe the relationship between the scale and modular functions of G and those of its p-localisation. In the case of locally virtually prosoluble groups, we consider all primes simultaneously using local Sylow bases.
For a totally disconnected locally compact abelian group, we prove that the topological entropy of a continuous endomorphism coincides with the algebraic entropy of the dual endomorphism with respect to the Pontryagin duality. Moreover, this result is extended to all locally compact abelian groups under the assumption of additivity with respect to some fully invariant subgroups for both the topological and the algebraic entropy.
Let $Δ$ be a spherical building each of whose irreducible components is infinite, has rank at least 2 and satisfies the Moufang condition. We show that $Δ$ can be given the structure of a topological building that is compact and totally disconnected precisely when $Δ$ is the building at infinity of a locally finite affine building.
Let $ϕ: G \rightarrow H$ be a group homomorphism such that $H$ is a totally disconnected locally compact (t.d.l.c.) group and the image of $ϕ$ is dense. We show that all such homomorphisms arise as completions of $G$ with respect to uniformities of a particular kind. Moreover, $H$ is determined up to a compact normal subgroup by the pair $(G,ϕ^{-1}(L))$, where $L$ is a compact open subgroup of $H$. These results generalize the well-known properties of profinite completions to the locally compact setting.
The space of directions is a notion of boundary associated to an arbitrary totally disconnected locally compact group. We explicitly calculate the space of directions of a group acting vertex transitively with compact open vertex stabilisers on a locally finite connected hyperbolic graph. These are examples of groups where techniques from geometric group theory can be generalised from the discrete to the non-discrete case. We show the space of directions for these groups is a discrete metric space. Our results resolve a conjecture of Baumgartner, Möller and Willis in the affirmative.
We obtain a characterization of totally disconnected, locally compact groups $G$ with the following property: given a locally normal subgroup $K$ of $G$, then there is an open subgroup of $K$ that is a direct factor of an open subgroup of $G$. This property is motivated by J. Wilson's structure theory of just infinite groups, and indeed, when $G$ has trivial quasi-centre, the condition turns out to be equivalent to the condition that $G$ is locally isomorphic to a finite direct product of just infinite profinite groups. In the latter situation we obtain some global structural features of $G$, …
We study contraction groups for automorphisms of totally disconnected locally compcat groups using the scale of the automorphism as a tool. The contraction group is shown to be unbounded when the inverse automorphism has non-trivial scale and this scale is shown to be the inverse value of the modular function on the closure of the contraction group at the automorphism. The closure of the contraction group is represented as acting on a homogenous tree and closed contraction groups are characterised.
A connected, locally finite graph $Γ$ is a Cayley--Abels graph for a totally disconnected, locally compact group $G$ if $G$ acts vertex-transitively with compact, open vertex stabilizers on $Γ$. Define the minimal degree of $G$ as the minimal degree of a Cayley--Abels graph of $G$. We relate the minimal degree in various ways to the modular function, the scale function and the structure of compact open subgroups. As an application, we prove that if $T_d$ denotes the $d$-regular tree, then the minimal degree of ${\rm Aut}(T_d)$ is $d$ for all $d\geq 2$.
We obtain sufficient and necessary conditions for the Choquet-Deny theorem to hold in the class of compactly generated totally disconnected locally compact groups of polynomial growth, and in a larger class of totally disconnected generalized $\ov{FC}$-groups. The following conditions turn out to be equivalent when $G$ is a metrizable compactly generated totally disconnected locally compact group of polynomial growth: (i) the Choquet-Deny theorem holds for $G$; (ii) the group of inner automorphisms of $G$ acts distally on $G$; (iii) every inner automorphism of $G$ is distal; (iv) the contracti…
The concepts of the scale and tidy subgroups for an automorphism of a totally disconnected locally compact group were defined in seminal work by George A. Willis in the 1990s, and recently generalized to the case of endomorphisms (G. A. Willis, Math. Ann. 361 (2015), 403--442). We show that central facts concerning the scale, tidy subgroups, quotients, and contraction groups of automorphisms extend to the case of endomorphisms. In particular, we obtain results concerning the domain of attraction around an invariant closed subgroup.
Let $G$ be a topological group, let $ϕ$ be a continuous endomorphism of $G$ and let $H$ be a closed $ϕ$-invariant subgroup of $G$. We study whether the topological entropy is an additive invariant, that is, $$h_{top}(ϕ)=h_{top}(ϕ\restriction_H)+h_{top}(\barϕ)\,,$$ where $\barϕ:G/H\to G/H$ is the map induced by $ϕ$. We concentrate on the case when $G$ is locally compact totally disconnected and $H$ is either compact or normal. Under these hypotheses, we show that the above additivity property holds true whenever $ϕH=H$ and $\ker(ϕ)\leq H$. As an application we give a dynamical interpretation of…
For each Baumslag-Solitar group BS(m,n) (m,n nonzero integers), a totally disconnected, locally compact group, G_{m,n}, is constructed so that BS(m,n) is identified with a dense subgroup of G_{m,n}. The scale function on G_{m,n}, a structural invariant for the topological group, is seen to distinguish the parameters m and n to the extent that the set of scale values is {(lcm(m,n)/|m|)^ρ, (lcm(m,n)/|n|)^ρ | ρ\in N}. It is also shown that G_{m,n} has flat rank 1 when |m|\neq |n| and 0 otherwise, and that G_{m,n} has a compact, open subgroup isomorphic to the product {(Z_p,+) | p is a prime divis…
This paper introduces a new class of right-angled Coxeter groups with totally disconnected Morse boundaries. We construct this class recursively by examining how the Morse boundary of a right-angled Coxeter group changes if we glue a graph to its defining graph. More generally, we present a method to construct amalgamated free products of CAT(0) groups with totally disconnected Morse boundaries that act geometrically on CAT(0) spaces that have a treelike block decomposition.
It is well-known that the existence of more than two ends in the sense of J.R. Stallings for a finitely generated discrete group $G$ can be detected on the cohomology group $\mathrm{H}^1(G,R[G])$, where $R$ is either a finite field, the ring of integers or the field of rational numbers. It will be shown (cf. Theorem A*) that for a compactly generated totally disconnected locally compact group $G$ the same information about the number of ends of $G$ in the sense of H. Abels can be provided by $\mathrm{dH}^1(G,\mathrm{Bi}(G))$, where $\mathrm{Bi}(G)$ is the rational discrete standard bimodule of…
Let αbe an automorphism of the totally disconnected group G. The compact open subgroup, V, if G is tidy for αif [α(V') : α(V')\cap V'] is minimised at V, where V' ranges over all compact open subgroups of G. Identifying a subgroup tidy for αis analogous to identifying a basis which puts a linear transformation into Jordan canonical form. This analogy is developed here by showing that commuting automorphisms have a common tidy subgroup of G and, conversely, that a group H of automorphisms having a common tidy subgroup V is abelian modulo the automorphisms which leave V invariant. Certain subgro…
Let $G$ be a totally disconnected, locally compact group and let $H$ be a virtually flat (for example, polycyclic) group of automorphisms of $G$. We study the structure of, and relationships between, various subgroups of $G$ defined by the dynamics of $H$. In particular, we consider the following four subgroups: the intersection of all tidy subgroups for $H$ on $G$ (in the case that $H$ is flat); the intersection of all $H$-invariant open subgroups of $G$; the smallest closed $H$-invariant subgroup $D$ such that no $H$-orbit on $G/D$ accumulates at the trivial coset; and the group generated by…
To any automorphism, $α$, of a totally disconnected, locally compact group, $G$, there is associated a compact, $α$-stable subgroup of $G$, here called the \emph{nub} of $α$, on which the action of $α$ is topologically transitive. Topologically transitive actions of automorphisms of compact groups have been studied extensively in topological dynamics and results obtained transfer, via the nub, to the study of automorphisms of general locally compact groups. A new proof that the contraction group of $α$ is dense in the nub is given, but it is seen that the two-sided contraction group need not b…
Rational discrete cohomology and homology for a totally disconnected locally compact group $G$ is introduced and studied. The $\mathrm{Hom}$-$\otimes$ identities associated to the rational discrete bimodule $\mathrm{Bi}(G)$ allow to introduce the notion of rational duality groups in analogy to the discrete case. It is shown that semi-simple groups defined over a non-discrete, non-archimedean local field are rational t.d.l.c. duality groups, and the same is true for certain topological Kac-Moody groups. However, Y. Neretin's group of spheromorphisms of a locally finite regular tree is not even …
We use the structure lattice, introduced in Part I, to undertake a systematic study of the class $\mathscr S$ consisting of compactly generated, topologically simple, totally disconnected locally compact groups that are non-discrete. Given $G \in \mathscr S$, we show that compact open subgroups of $G$ involve finitely many isomorphism types of composition factors, and do not have any soluble normal subgroup other than the trivial one. By results of Part I, this implies that the centraliser lattice and local decomposition lattice of $G$ are Boolean algebras. We show that the $G$-action on the S…
The flat-rank of a totally disconnected, locally compact group G is an integer, which is an invariant of G as a topological group. We generalize the concept of hyperbolic groups to the topological context and show that a totally disconnected, locally compact, hyperbolic group has flat-rank at most 1. It follows that the simple totally disconnected locally compact groups constructed by Paulin and Haglund have flat-rank at most 1.
Let G be a totally disconnected, locally compact group. A closed subgroup of G is locally normal if its normaliser is open in G. We begin an investigation of the structure of the family of closed locally normal subgroups of G. Modulo commensurability, this family forms a modular lattice, called the structure lattice of G. We show that G admits a canonical maximal quotient H for which the quasi-centre and the abelian locally normal subgroups are trivial. In this situation the structure lattice of H has a canonical subset called the centraliser lattice, forming a Boolean algebra whose elements c…
We study totally disconnected locally compact second countable (t.d.l.c.s.c.) groups that contain a compact open subgroup with finite rank. We show such groups that additionally admit a pro-$π$ compact open subgroup for some finite set of primes $π$ are virtually an extension of a finite direct product of topologically simple groups by an elementary group. This result, in particular, applies to l.c.s.c. $p$-adic Lie groups. We go on to prove a decomposition result for all t.d.l.c.s.c. groups containing a compact open subgroup with finite rank. In the course of proving these theorems, we demons…
We identify the class of elementary groups: the smallest class of totally disconnected locally compact second countable (t.d.l.c.s.c.) groups that contains the profinite groups and the discrete groups, is closed under group extensions of profinite groups and discrete groups, and is closed under countable increasing unions. We show this class enjoys robust permanence properties. In particular, it is closed under group extension, taking closed subgroups, taking Hausdorff quotients, and inverse limits. A characterization of elementary groups in terms of well-founded descriptive-set-theoretic tree…
In \cite{Kramer11} Kramer proves for a large class of semisimple Lie groups that they admit just one locally compact $σ$-compact Hausdorff topology compatible with the group operations. We present two different methods of generalising this to the group of rational points of an absolutely quasi-simple algebraic group over a non-archimedean local field (the second method only achieves this on the additional hypothesis that the group is isotropic). The first method of argument involves demonstrating that, given any topological group $G$ which is totally disconnected, locally compact, $σ$-compact,…
This article is part of the program of studying large-scale geometric properties of totally disconnected locally compact groups, TDLC-groups, by analogy with the theory for discrete groups. We provide a characterization of hyperbolic TDLC-groups, in terms of homological isoperimetric inequalities. This characterization is used to prove the main result of the article: for hyperbolic TDLC-groups with rational discrete cohomological dimension $\leq 2$, hyperbolicity is inherited by compactly presented closed subgroups. As a consequence, every compactly presented closed subgroup of the automorphis…
Motivated by the problem of finding a "well-foundedness principle" for totally disconnected, locally compact (t.d.l.c.) groups, we introduce a class $\mathscr{E}^{\mathscr{S}}$ of t.d.l.c. groups, containing P. Wesolek's class $\mathscr{E}$ of (regionally) elementary groups but also including many groups in the class $\mathscr{S}$ of nondiscrete compactly generated topologically simple t.d.l.c. groups. The class $\mathscr{E}^{\mathscr{S}}$ carries a well-behaved rank function and is closed under taking directed unions, open subgroups, closed normal subgroups, extensions and quotients. The clas…
This exposition article arose from two talks given during the Oberwolfach Arbeitsgemeinschaft on Totally Disconnected Groups in October 2014. This is an introduction to the structure theory of totally disconnected locally compact groups initiated by Willis in 1994. The two main tools in this theory are the scale function and tidy subgroups, for which we present several properties and examples. As an illustration of this theory, we give a proof of the fact that the set of periodic elements in a totally disconnected locally compact group is always closed, and that such a group cannot have ergodi…
A paratopological group $G$ is saturated if the inverse $U^{-1}$ of each non-empty set $U\subset G$ has non-empty interior. It is shown that a [first-countable] paratopological group $H$ is a closed subgroup of a saturated (totally bounded) [abelian] paratopological group if and only if $H$ admits a continuous bijective homomorphism onto a (totally bounded) [abelian] topological group $G$ [such that for each neighborhood $U\subset H$ of the unit $e$ there is a closed subset $F\subset G$ with $e\in h^{-1}(F)\subset U$]. As an application we construct a paratopological group whose character exce…
