We introduce notions of continuous orbit equivalence and strong (respective, weak) continuous orbit equivalence for automorphism systems of étale equivalence relations, and characterize them in terms of the semi-direct product groupoids, as well as their reduced groupoid $C^*$-algebras and the associated $C^*$-automorphism systems of group actions or coactions on them. In particular, we study topological rigidity of expansive automorphism actions on compact (connected) metrizable groups
We introduce a notion of uniformly continuous orbit equivalence as a subequivalence relation of continuous orbit equivalence of one-sided topological Markov shifts. It is described in terms of gauge actions on the associated Cuntz-Krieger algebras and continuous full groups of the Markov shifts.
For continuously orbit equivalent one-sided topological Markov shifts $(X_A,σ_A)$ and $(X_B,σ_B)$, their eventually periodic points and cocycle functions are studied. As a result we directly construct an isomorphism between their ordered cohomology groups $(\bar{H}^A, \bar{H}^A_+)$ and $(\bar{H}^B, \bar{H}^B_+)$. We also show that the cocycle functions for the continuous orbit equivalences give rise to positive elements of the ordered cohomology, so that the the zeta functions of continuously orbit equivalent topological Markov shifts are related. The set of Borel measures is shown to be invar…
We will introduce a notion of strongly continuous orbit equivalence in one-sided topological Markov shifts. Strongly continuous orbit equivalence yields a topological conjugacy between their two-sided topological Markov shifts $(\bar{X}_A, \barσ_A)$ and $(\bar{X}_B, \barσ_B)$. We prove that one-sided topological Markov shifts $(X_A, σ_A)$ and $(X_B, σ_B)$ are strongly continuous orbit equivalent if and only if there exists an isomorphism bewteen the Cuntz-Krieger algebras ${\mathcal{O}}_A$ and ${\mathcal{O}}_B$ preserving their maximal commutative $C^*$-subalgebras $C(X_A)$ and $C(X_B)$ and gi…
We prove that if $G$ is a countable discrete group with property (T) over an infinite subgroup $H<G$ which contains an infinite Abelian subgroup or is normal, then $G$ has continuum many orbit inequivalent measure preserving a.e. free ergodic actions on a standard Borel probability space. Further, we obtain that the measure preserving a.e. free ergodic actions of such a $G$ cannot be classified up to orbit equivalence be a reasonable assignment of countable structures as complete invariants. We also obtain a strengthening and a new proof of a non-classification result of Foreman and Weiss for …
Bounded orbit injection equivalence is an equivalence relation defined on minimal free Cantor systems which is a candidate to generalize flip Kakutani equivalence to actions of the Abelian free groups on more than one generator. This paper characterizes bounded orbit injection equivalence in terms of a mild strengthening of Rieffel-Morita equivalence of the associated C*-crossed-product algebras. Moreover, we construct an ordered group which is an invariant for bounded orbit injection equivalence, and does not agrees with the K\_0 group of the associated C*-crossed-product in general. This new…
We will study torus actions on Cuntz--Krieger algebras trivially acting on its canonical maximal abelian $C^*$-subalgebras from the view points of continuous orbit equivalence of one-sided topological Markov shifts and flow equivalence of two-sided topological Markov shifts.
In this paper, we consider semigroup actions of discrete countable semigroups on compact spaces by surjective local homeomorphisms. We introduce notions of continuous one-sided orbit equivalence and continuous orbit equivalence for semigroup actions, and characterize them in terms of the corresponding semi-groupoids and transformation groupoids respectively. Finally, we consider the case of semigroup actions by homeomorphisms and relate continuous orbit equivalence of semigroup actions to that of group actions.
We study the analogue in orbit equivalence of free product decomposition and free indecomposability for countable groups. We introduce the (orbit equivalence invariant) notion of freely indecomposable ({\FI}) standard probability measure preserving equivalence relations and establish a criterion to check it, namely non-hyperfiniteness and vanishing of the first $L^2$-Betti number. We obtain Bass-Serre rigidity results, \textit{i.e.} forms of uniqueness in free product decompositions of equivalence relations with ({\FI}) components. The main features of our work are weak algebraic assumptions a…
Drimbe and Vaes proved an orbit equivalence superrigidity theorem for left-right wreath product actions in the measurable setting. We establish the counterpart result in the topological setting for continuous orbit equivalence. This gives us minimal, topologically free actions that are continuous orbit equivalence superrigid. One main ingredient for the proof is to show continuous cocycle superrigidity for certain generalized full shifts, extending our previous result with Chung.
We introduce the notion of orbit equivalence of directed graphs, following Matsumoto's notion of continuous orbit equivalence for topological Markov shifts. We show that two graphs in which every cycle has an exit are orbit equivalent if and only if there is a diagonal-preserving isomorphism between their $C^*$-algebras. We show that it is necessary to assume that every cycle has an exit for the forward implication, but that the reverse implication holds for arbitrary graphs. As part of our analysis of arbitrary graphs $E$ we construct a groupoid $\mathcal{G}_{(C^*(E),\mathcal{D}(E))}$ from th…
We will study several subgroups of continuous full groups of one-sided topological Markov shifts from the view points of cohomology groups of full group actions on the shift spaces. We also study continuous orbit equivalence and strongly continuous orbit equivalence in terms of these subgroups of the continuous full groups and the cohomology groups.
We give a survey of various recent developments in orbit equivalence and measured group theory. This subject aims at studying infinite countable groups through their measure preserving actions.
Given an ergodic probability measure preserving dynamical system $\G\acts (X,μ)$, where $\G$ is a finitely generated countable group, we show that the asymptotic growth of the number of finite models for the dynamics, in the sense of sofic approximations, is an invariant of orbit equivalence. We then prove an additivity formula for free products with amenable (possibly trivial) amalgamation. In particular, we obtain purely combinatorial proofs of several results in orbit equivalence theory.
We show that every minimal, free action of the group Z^2 on the Cantor set is orbit equivalent to an AF-relation. As a consequence, this extends the classification of minimal systems on the Cantor set up to orbit equivalence to include AF-relations, Z-actions and Z^2-actions.
We take the first steps towards a better understanding of continuous orbit equivalence, i.e., topological orbit equivalence with continuous cocycles. First, we characterise continuous orbit equivalence in terms of isomorphisms of C*-crossed products preserving Cartan subalgebras. This is the topological analogue of the classical result by Singer and Feldman-Moore in the measurable setting. Secondly, we turn to continuous orbit equivalence rigidity, i.e., the question whether for certain classes of topological dynamical systems, continuous orbit equivalence implies conjugacy. We show that this …
Let A and B be separable nuclear continuous C(X)-algebras over a finite dimensional compact metrizable space X. It is shown that an element $σ$ of the parametrized Kasparov group KK_X(A,B) is invertible if and only if all its fiberwise components $σ_x\in KK(A(x),B(x))$ are invertible. This criterion does not extend to infinite dimensional spaces since there exist nontrivial unital separable continuous fields over the Hilbert cube with all fibers isomorphic to the Cuntz algebra O_2. Several applications to continuous fields of Kirchberg algebras are given. It is also shown that if each fiber of…
Let $A$ be an $N\times N$ irreducible matrix with entries in $\{0,1\}$. We present an easy way to find an $(N+3)\times (N+3)$ irreducible matrix $\bar{A}$ with entries in $\{0,1\}$ such that their Cuntz--Krieger algebras ${\mathcal{O}}_A$ and ${\mathcal{O}}_{\bar{A}}$ are isomorphic and $ \det(1 -A) = - \det(1-\bar{A}). $ As a consequence, we know that two Cuntz--Krieger algebras ${\mathcal{O}}_A$ and ${\mathcal{O}}_B$ are isomorphic if and only if the one-sided topological Markov shift $(X_A, σ_A)$ is continuously orbit equivalent to $(X_B, σ_B)$ or $(X_{\bar{B}}, σ_{\bar{B}}).$
We extend ultragraph shift spaces and the realization of ultragraph C*-algebras as partial crossed products to include ultragraphs with sinks (under a mild condition, called (RFUM2), which allow us to dismiss the use of filters) and we describe the associated transformation groupoid. Using these characterizations we study continuous orbit equivalence of ultragraph shift spaces (via groupoids) and KMS and ground states (via partial crossed products).
We study KMS states for gauge actions with potential functions on Cuntz--Krieger algebras whose underlying one-sided topological Markov shifts are continuous orbit equivalent. As a result, we have a certain relationship between topological entropy of continuous orbit equivalent one-sided topological Markov shifts.
We study asymptotic continuous orbit equivalence of Smale spaces. We prove that two irreducible Smale spaces are flip conjugate if and only if there exists a periodic point preserving homeomorphism giving an asymptotic continuous orbit equivalence between them. We introduce a notion of asymptotic topological conjugacy and asymptotic flip conjugacy in Smale spaces and characterize them in terms of the associated Ruelle algebras with dual actioons. We finally characterize the flip conjugacy classes of irreducible two-sided topological Markov shifts in terms of the associated Ruelle algebras with…
Previous work showed that every pair of nontrivial Bernoulli shifts over a fixed free group are orbit equivalent. In this paper, we prove that if $G_1,G_2$ are nonabelian free groups of finite rank then every nontrivial Bernoulli shift over $G_1$ is stably orbit equivalent to every nontrivial Bernoulli shift over $G_2$. This answers a question of S. Popa.
We prove that the solid ergodicity property is stable with respect to taking coinduction for a fairly large class of coinduced action. More precisely, assume that $Σ<Γ$ are countable groups such that $gΣg^{-1}\cap Σ$ is finite for any $g\inΓ\setminusΣ$. Then any measure preserving action $Σ\curvearrowright X_0$ gives rise to a solidly ergodic equivalence relation if and only if the equivalence relation of the associated coinduced action $Γ\curvearrowright X$ is solidly ergodic. We also obtain orbit equivalence rigidity for such actions by showing that the orbit equivalence relation of a rigid …
A $λ$-graph system $\frak L$ is a labeled Bratteli diagram with shift operation. It is a generalized notion of finite labeled graph and presents a subshifts. We will study continuous orbit equivalence of one-sided subshifts and topological conjugacy of two-sided subshifts from the view points of groupoids and $C^*$-algebras constructed from $λ$-graph systems.
In the first part of the paper, we introduce notions of asymptotic continuous orbit equivalence and asymptotic conjugacy in Smale spaces and characterize them in terms of their asymptotic Ruelle algebras with their dual actions. In the second part, we introduce a groupoid $C^*$-algebra which is an extended version of the asymptotic Ruelle algebra from a Smale space and study the extended Ruelle algebras from the view points of Cuntz--Krieger algebras. As a result, the asymptotic Ruelle algebra is realized as a fixed point algebra of the extended Ruelle algebra under certain circle action.
We give conditions for when continuous orbit equivalence of one-sided shift spaces implies flow equivalence of the associated two-sided shift spaces. Using groupoid techniques, we prove that this is always the case for shifts of finite type. This generalises a result of Matsumoto and Matui from the irreducible to the general case. We also prove that a pair of one-sided shift spaces of finite type are continuously orbit equivalent if and only if their groupoids are isomorphic, and that the corresponding two-sided shifts are flow equivalent if and only if the groupoids are stably isomorphic. As …
The following result is proven. Let $G_1 \cc^{T_1} (X_1,μ_1)$ and $G_2 \cc^{T_2} (X_2,μ_2)$ be orbit-equivalent, essentially free, probability measure preserving actions of countable groups $G_1$ and $G_2$. Let $H$ be any countable group. For $i=1,2$, let $Γ_i = G_i *H$ be the free product. Then the actions of $Γ_1$ and $Γ_2$ coinduced from $T_1$ and $T_2$ are orbit-equivalent. As an application, it is shown that if $Γ$ is a free group, then all nontrivial Bernoulli shifts over $Γ$ are orbit-equivalent.
We study equivalence relations $\mathcal R(Γ\curvearrowright G)$ that arise from left translation actions of countable groups on their profinite completions. Under the assumption that the action $Γ\curvearrowright G$ is free and has spectral gap, we describe precisely when $\mathcal R(Γ\curvearrowright G)$ is orbit equivalent or Borel reducible to another such equivalence relation $\mathcal R(Λ\curvearrowright H)$. As a consequence, we provide explicit uncountable families of free ergodic probability measure preserving (p.m.p.) profinite actions of $SL_2(\mathbb Z)$ and its non-amenable subgro…
Consider a countable group Gamma acting ergodically by measure preserving transformations on a probability space (X,mu), and let R_Gamma be the corresponding orbit equivalence relation on X. The following rigidity phenomenon is shown: there exist group actions such that the equivalence relation R_Gamma on X determines the group Gamma and the action (X,mu,Gamma) uniquely, up to finite groups. The natural action of SL_n(Z) on the n-torus R^n/Z^n, for n>2, is one of such examples. The interpretation of these results in the context of von Neumann algebras provides some support to the conjecture of…
We prove that for any two continuous minimal (topologically free) actions of the infinite dihedral group on an infinite compact Hausdorff space, they are continuously orbit equivalent only if they are conjugate. We also show the above fails if we replace the infinite dihedral group with certain other virtually cyclic groups, e.g. the direct product of the integer group with any non-abelian finite simple group.
We will prove that one-sided topological Markov shifts $(X_A,σ_A)$ and $(X_B,σ_B)$ for matrices $A$ and $B$ with entries in $\{0,1\}$ are topologically orbit equivalent if and only if there exists an isomorphism between the Cuntz-Krieger algebras ${\Cal O}_A$ and ${\Cal O}_B$ keeping their commutative $C^*$-subalgerbas $C(X_A)$ and $C(X_B)$. It is also equivalent to the condition that there exists a homeomorphism from $X_A$ to $X_B$ intertwining their topological full groups. We will also study structure of the automorphisms of ${\Cal O}_A$ keeping the commutative $C^*$-algebra $C(X_A)$.
A measure-preserving action of a discrete countable group on a standard probability space is called stable if the associated equivalence relation is isomorphic to its direct product with the ergodic hyperfinite equivalence relation of type II_1. We show that any Baumslag-Solitar group has such an ergodic, free and stable action. It follows that any Baumslag-Solitar group is measure equivalent to its direct product with any amenable group. The same property is obtained for the inner amenable groups of Vaes.
Let A,B be square irreducible matrices with entries in {0,1}. We will show that if the one-sided topological Markov shifts (X_A,σ_A) and (X_B,σ_B) are continuously orbit equivalent, then the two-sided topological Markov shifts (\bar X_A,\barσ_A) and (\bar X_B,\barσ_B) are flow equivalent, and hence det(id-A)=det(id-B). As a result, the one-sided topological Markov shifts (X_A,σ_A) and (X_B,σ_B) are continuously orbit equivalent if and only if the Cuntz-Krieger algebras O_A and O_B are isomorphic and det(id-A)=det(id-B).
We show that the groupoids of two directed graphs are isomorphic if and only if the two graphs are orbit equivalent by an orbit equivalence that preserves isolated eventually periodic points. We also give a complete description of the (topological) isolated points of the boundary path space of a graph. As a result, we are able to show that the groupoids of two directed graphs with finitely many vertices and no sinks are isomorphic if and only if the two graphs are orbit equivalent, and that the groupoids of the stabilisations of two such graphs are isomorphic if and only if the stabilisations …
We consider probability measure preserving discrete groupoids, group actions and equivalence relations in the context of general probability spaces. We study for these objects the notions of cost, $β$-invariant and some higher-dimensional variants. We also propose various convergence results about $\ell^2$-Betti numbers and rank gradient for sequences of actions, groupoids or equivalence relations under weak finiteness assumptions. In particular we connect the combinatorial cost with the cost of the ultralimit equivalence relations. Finally a relative version of Stuck-Zimmer property is also c…
Building on work of Popa, Ioana, and Epstein--Törnquist, we show that, for every nonamenable countable discrete group $Γ$, the relations of conjugacy, orbit equivalence, and von Neumann equivalence of free ergodic (or weak mixing) measure preserving actions of $Γ$ on the standard atomless probability space are not Borel, thus answering questions of Kechris. This is an optimal and definitive result, which establishes a neat dichotomy with the amenable case, since any two free ergodic actions of an amenable group on the standard atomless probability space are orbit equivalent by classical result…
We give an elementary proof for Lewis Bowen's theorem saying that two Bernoulli actions of two free groups, each having arbitrary base probability spaces, are stably orbit equivalent. Our methods also show that for all compact groups K and every free product Γof n infinite amenable groups, the factor K^Γ/K of the Bernoulli action of Γon K^Γ by the diagonal action of K, is isomorphic with a Bernoulli action of Γ.
We show that given any subgroup F of R_+ which is either countable or belongs to a certain "large" class of uncountable subgroups, there exist continuously many free ergodic probability measure preserving actions σ_i of the free group with infinitely many generators such that their associated group measure space II_1 factors M_i and orbit equivalence relations R_i have fundamental group equal to F and with M_i (respectively R_i) stably non-isomorphic. Moreover, these actions can be taken so that R_i has no outer automorphisms and any automorphism of M_i is unitary conjugate to an automorphism …
Let $G$ be a discrete countable group and $C$ its central subgroup with $G/C$ treeable. We show that for any treeable action of $G/C$ on a standard probability space $X$, the groupoid $G\ltimes X$ is isomorphic to the direct product of $C$ and $(G/C)\ltimes X$, through cohomology of groupoids. We apply this to show that any group in the minimal class of groups containing treeable groups and closed under taking direct products, commensurable groups and central extensions has the Haagerup property.
In this second paper, we study the case of substitution tilings of R^d. The substitution on tiles induces substitutions on the faces of the tiles of all dimensions j=0, ..., d-1. We reconstruct the tiling's equivalence relation in a purely combinatorial way using the AF-relations given by the lower dimensional substitutions. We define a Bratteli multi-diagram B which is made of the Bratteli diagrams B^j, j=0, ..., d, of all those substitutions. The set of infinite paths in B^d is identified with the canonical transversal Xi of the tiling. Any such path has a "border", which is a set of tails i…
Let $Γ_1,\dots,Γ_n$ be hyperbolic, property (T) groups, for some $n\ge 1$. We prove that if a product $Γ_1\times\dots\timesΓ_n \curvearrowright X_1\times\dots\times X_n$ of measure preserving actions is stably orbit equivalent to a measure preserving action $Λ\curvearrowright Y$, then $Λ\curvearrowright Y$ is induced from an action $Λ_0\curvearrowright Y_0$ such that there exists a direct product decomposition $Λ_0=Λ_1\times\dots\timesΛ_n$ into $n$ infinite groups. Moreover, there exists a measure preserving action $Λ_i\curvearrowright Y_i$ that is stably orbit equivalent to $Γ_i\curvearrowrig…
A $λ$-graph system ${\frak L}$ is a generalization of a finite labeled graph and presents a subshift. We will prove that the topological dynamical systems $(X_{{\frak L}_1},σ_{{\frak L}_1})$ and $(X_{{\frak L}_2},σ_{{\frak L}_2})$ for $λ$-graph systems ${\frak L}_1$ and ${\frak L}_2$ are continuously orbit equivalent if and only if there exists an isomorphism between the associated $C^*$-algebras ${\Cal O}_{{\frak L}_1}$ and ${\Cal O}_{{\frak L}_2}$ keeping their commutative $C^*$-subalgebras $C(X_{{\frak L}_1})$ and $C(X_{{\frak L}_2})$. It is also equivalent to the condition that there exist…
We bound the Borel cardinality of the isomorphism relation for nuclear simple separable C*-algebras: It is turbulent, yet Borel reducible to the action of the automorphism group of the Cuntz algebra O_2 on its closed subsets. The same bounds are obtained for affine homeomorphism of metrizable Choquet simplexes. As a by-product we recover a result of Kechris and Solecki, namely, that homeomorphism of compacta in the Hilbert cube is Borel reducible to a Polish group action. These results depend intimately on the classification theory of nuclear simple C*-algebras by K-theory and traces. Both of …
We study equivalence relations that arise from translation actions $Γ\curvearrowright G$ which are associated to dense embeddings $Γ<G$ of countable groups into second countable locally compact groups. Assuming that $G$ is simply connected and the action $Γ\curvearrowright G$ is strongly ergodic, we prove that $Γ\curvearrowright G$ is orbit equivalent to another such translation action $Λ\curvearrowright H$ if and only if there exists an isomorphism $δ:G\rightarrow H$ such that $δ(Γ)=Λ$. If $G$ is moreover a real algebraic group, then we establish analogous rigidity results for the translation…
We prove that if a countable discrete group $Γ$ is {\it w-rigid}, i.e. it contains an infinite normal subgroup $H$ with the relative property (T) (e.g. $Γ= SL(2,\Bbb Z) \ltimes \Bbb Z^2$, or $Γ= H \times H'$ with $H$ an infinite Kazhdan group and $H'$ arbitrary), and $\Cal V$ is a closed subgroup of the group of unitaries of a finite von Neumann algebra (e.g. $\Cal V$ countable discrete, or separable compact), then any $\Cal V$-valued measurable cocycle for a measure preserving action $Γ\curvearrowright X$ of $Γ$ on a probability space $(X,μ)$ which is weak mixing on $H$ and {\it s-malleable} …
We prove cocycle and orbit equivalence superrigidity for lattices in SL(n,R) acting linearly on R^n, as well as acting projectively on certain flag manifolds, including the real projective space. The proof combines operator algebraic techniques with the property (T) in the sense of Zimmer for the action of SL(n,Z) on R^n, n \geq 4. We also show that the restriction of the associated orbit equivalence relation to a subset of finite Lebesgue measure, provides a II_1 equivalence relation with property (T) and yet fundamental group equal to R_+.
The goals of this paper are twofold. First, we generalize the result of Gaboriau and Lyons [GL07] to the setting of von Neumann's problem for equivalence relations, proving that for any non-amenable ergodic probability measure preserving (pmp) equivalence relation $\mathcal{R}$, the Bernoulli extension over a non-atomic base space $(K, κ)$ contains the orbit equivalence relation of a free ergodic pmp action of $\mathbb{F}_2$. Moreover, we provide conditions which imply that this holds for any non-trivial probability space $K$. Second, we use this result to prove that any non-amenable unimodula…
