We show that the mapping class group of a compact orientable surface with higher complexity has the following extreme rigidity in the sense of measure equivalence: if the mapping class group is measure equivalent to a discrete group, then they are commensurable up to finite kernel. Moreover, we describe all lattice embeddings of the mapping class group into a locally compact second countable group. We also obtain similar results for finite direct products of mapping class groups.
We establish orbit equivalence rigidity for any ergodic, essentially free and measure-preserving action on a standard Borel space with a finite positive measure of the mapping class group for a compact orientable surface with higher complexity. We prove similar rigidity results for a finite direct product of mapping class groups as well.
We establish new results and introduce new methods in the theory of measurable orbit equivalence, using bounded cohomology of group representations. Our rigidity statements hold for a wide (uncountable) class of groups arising from negative curvature geometry. Amongst our applications are (a) measurable Mostow-type rigidity theorems for products of negatively curved groups; (b) prime factorization results for measure equivalence; (c) superrigidity for orbit equivalence; (d) the first examples of continua of type II_1 equivalence relations with trivial outer automorphism group that are mutually…
In all possible cases, we prove that local embeddings between two curve complexes whose complexities do not increase from domain to codomain are induced by surface homeomorphism. This is our first main result. From this we can deduce our second, a strong local co-Hopfian result for mapping class groups.
We study rigidity properties of lattices in hyperbolic n-space with n>2 and of surface groups in the context of (integrable) measure equivalence. The results for lattices in hyperbolic n-space with n>2 are generalizations of Mostow rigidity; they include a cocycle version of strong rigidity and an integrable measure equivalence classification. Despite the lack of Mostow rigidity for n=2 we show that cocompact lattices in SL(2,R) allow a similar integrable measure equivalence classification.
Let S be an oriented surface of finite type of genus g with m punctures and where 3g-3+m>1. We show that the mapping class group M(S) of S is quasi-isometrically rigid. We also give a different proof of the following result of Behrstock and Minsky: The homological dimension of the asmyptotic cone of M(S) of S equals 3g-3+m.
In these lecture notes, we combine recent homological methods of Kevin Whyte with older dynamical methods developed by Benson Farb and myself, to obtain a new quasi-isometric rigidity theorem for the mapping class group MCG(S) of a once punctured surface S of genus at least 2: if K is a finitely generated group quasi-isometric to MCG(S) then there is a homomorphism K -> MCG(S) with finite kernel and finite index image. This theorem is joint with Kevin Whyte.
A discrete countable group Γis said to be ME rigid if any discrete countable group that is measure equivalent to Γis virtually isomorphic to Γ. In this paper, we construct ME rigid groups by amalgamating two groups satisfying rigidity in a sense of measure equivalence. A class of amalgamated free products is introduced, and discrete countable groups which are measure equivalent to a group in that class are investigated.
It is shown that every accessible group which is integrable orbit equivalent to a free group is virtually free. Moreover, we also show that any integrable orbit-equivalence between finitely generated groups extends to their end compactifications.
We show that finite index subgroups of the handlebody group are rigid in their ambient mapping class group: any injective map of a finite index subgroup of the genus $g$ handlebody group into the genus $g$ mapping class group is conjugation by a mapping class group element. On the other hand, we construct an injection of the genus $g$ handlebody group into a genus $h>g$ mapping class group which is not conjugate into a handlebody group.
We get three types of results on measure equivalence rigidity; direct product groups of Ozawa's class $\mathcal{S}$ groups, wreath product groups and amalgamated free products. We prove measure equivalence factorization results on direct product groups of Ozawa's class $\mathcal{S}$ groups. As consequences, Monod--Shalom type orbit equivalence rigidity theorems follow. We prove that if two wreath product groups $A \wr G$, $B \wr Γ$ of non-amenable exact direct product groups $G$, $Γ$ with amenable bases $A$, $B$ are measure equivalent, then $G$ and $Γ$ are measure equivalent. We get Bass--Serr…
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…
We study $2$-dimensional Artin groups of hyperbolic type from the viewpoint of measure equivalence, and establish rigidity theorems. We first prove that they are boundary amenable. So is every group acting discretely by simplicial isometries on a connected piecewise hyperbolic $\mathrm{CAT}(-1)$ simplicial complex with countably many simplices in finitely many isometry types, assuming that vertex stabilizers are boundary amenable. Consequently, they satisfy the Novikov conjecture. We then show that measure equivalent $2$-dimensional Artin groups of hyperbolic type have isomorphic fixed set gra…
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 study the large scale geometry of mapping class groups MCG(S), using hyperbolicity properties of curve complexes. We show that any self quasi-isometry of MCG(S) (outside a few sporadic cases) is a bounded distance away from a left-multiplication, and as a consequence obtain quasi-isometric rigidity for MCG(S), namely that groups quasi-isometric to MCG(S) are virtually equal to it. (The latter theorem was proved by Hamenstadt using different methods). As part of our approach we obtain several other structural results: a description of the tree-graded structure on the asymptotic cone of MCG(S…
In this paper the notion of Measure Equivalence (ME) of countable groups is studied. ME was introduced by Gromov as a measure-theoretic analog of quasi-isometries. All lattices in the same locally compact group are Measure Equivalent; this is one of the motivations for this notion. The main result of this paper is ME rigidity of higher rank lattices: any countable group which is ME to a lattice in a simple Lie group G of higher rank, is commensurable to a lattice in G.
We study Popa's notion of rigidity for equivalence relations induced by actions on homogeneous spaces. For any lattices $Γ,Λ$ in a semisimple Lie group $G$ with finite center and no compact factors we prove that the action $Γ\curvearrowright G/Λ$ is rigid. If in addition $G$ has property (T) then we derive that the von Neumann algebra $L^{\infty}(G/Λ)\rtimesΓ$ has property (T). We also show that if the adjoint action of $G$ on the Lie algebra of $G$ - $\{0\}$ is amenable (e.g. if $G=SL_2(\Bbb R)$), then any ergodic subequivalence relation of the orbit equivalence relation of the action $Γ\curv…
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 present amalgamated free products satisfying coupling rigidity with respect to the automorphism group of the associated Bass-Serre tree. As an application, we obtain orbit equivalence rigidity for amalgamated free products of mapping class groups.
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 single out a large class of groups ${\mathscr{M}}$ for which the following unique prime factorization result holds: if $Γ_1,\dots,Γ_n\in {\mathscr{M}}$ and $Γ_1\times\dots\timesΓ_n$ is measure equivalent to a product $Λ_1\times\dots\timesΛ_m$ of infinite icc groups, then $n \ge m$, and if $n = m$ then, after permutation of the indices, $Γ_i$ is measure equivalent to $Λ_i$, for all $1\leq i\leq n$. This provides an analogue of Monod and Shalom's theorem \cite{MS02} for groups that belong to ${\mathscr{M}}$. Class ${\mathscr{M}}$ is constructed using groups whose von Neumann algebras admit an…
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…
This paper concerns rigidity of the mapping class groups. We show that any homomorphism $ϕ:{\rm Mod}_g\to {\rm Mod}_h$ between mapping class groups of closed orientable surfaces with distinct genera $g>h$ is trivial if $g\geq 3$ and has finite image for all $g\geq 1$. Some implications are drawn for more general homomorphs of these groups.
Let $G_Γ\curvearrowright X$ and $G_Λ\curvearrowright Y$ be two free measure-preserving actions of one-ended right-angled Artin groups with trivial center on standard probability spaces. Assume they are irreducible, i.e. every element from a standard generating set acts ergodically. We prove that if the two actions are stably orbit equivalent (or merely stably $W^*$-equivalent), then they are automatically conjugate through a group isomorphism between $G_Γ$ and $G_Λ$. Through work of Monod and Shalom, we derive a superrigidity statement: if the action $G_Γ\curvearrowright X$ is stably orbit equ…
We study equivalence relations and II_1 factors associated with (quotients of) generalized Bernoulli actions of Kazhdan groups. Specific families of these actions are entirely classified up to isomorphism of II_1 factors. This yields explicit computations of outer automorphism and fundamental groups. In particular, every finitely presented group is concretely realized as the outer automorphism group of a continuous family of non stably isomorphic II_1 factors.
We initiate a quantitative study of measure equivalence (and orbit equivalence) between finitely generated groups, which extends the classical setting of $\mathrm L^p$ measure equivalence. In this paper, our main focus will be on amenable groups, for which we prove both rigidity and flexibility results. On the rigidity side, we prove a general monotonicity property satisfied by the isoperimetric profile, which implies in particular its invariance under $\mathrm L^1$ measure equivalence. This yields explicit "lower bounds" on how integrable a measure coupling between two amenable groups can be.…
We obtain some classification result for the mapping class groups of compact orientable surfaces in terms of measure equivalence. In particular, the mapping class groups of different closed surfaces can not be measure equivalent. Moreover, we give various examples of discrete groups which are not measure equivalent to the mapping class groups. In the course of the proof, we investigate amenability in a measurable sense for the actions of the mapping class group on the boundary at infinity of the curve complex and on the Thurston boundary. Using this investigation, we prove that the mapping cla…
Let BS(n_1,m_1) $\curvearrowright$ X_1 and BS(n_2,m_2) $\curvearrowright$ X_2 be two ergodic essentially free probability measure preserving actions of nonamenable Baumslag-Solitar groups whose canonical almost normal abelian subgroups act aperiodically. We prove that an isomorphism between the corresponding crossed product II_1 factors forces BS(n_1,m_1) $\cong$ BS(n_2,m_2) when |n_1| $\neq$ |m_1| and BS(n_1,m_1) $\cong$ BS(n_2,$\pm$m_2) when |n_1| = |m_1|. This improves an orbit equivalence rigidity result obtained by Houdayer and Raum.
Let $\Cal S$ be the equivalence relation induced by the action SL$_2(\Bbb Z)\curvearrowright (\Bbb T^2,λ^2)$, where $λ^2$ denotes the Haar measure on the 2-torus, $\Bbb T^2$. We prove that any ergodic subequivalence relation $\Cal R$ of $\Cal S$ is either hyperfinite or rigid in the sense of S. Popa ([Po06]). The proof uses an ergodic-theoretic criterion for rigidity of countable, ergodic, probability measure preserving equivalence relations. Moreover, we give a purely ergodic-theoretic formulation of rigidity for free, ergodic, probability measure preserving actions of countable groups.
We prove the following rigidity results. Coarse equivalences between Euclidean buildings preserve spherical buildings at infinity. If all irreducible factors have dimension at least two, then coarsely equivalent Euclidean buildings are isometric (up to scaling factors). If in addition none of the irreducible factors is a Euclidean cone, then the isometry is unique and has finite distance from the coarse equivalence.
In this expository article, we give a survey of Adrian Ioana's cocycle superrigidity theorem for profinite actions of Property (T) groups, and its applications to ergodic theory and set theory. In addition to a statement and proof of Ioana's theorem, this article features: * An introduction to rigidity, including a crash course in Borel cocycles and a summary of some of the best-known superrigidity theorems; * Some easy applications of superrigidity, both to ergodic theory (orbit equivalence) and set theory (Borel reducibility); and * A streamlined proof of Simon Thomas's theorem that the clas…
We give a sufficient condition for parameter rigidity of actions of solvable Lie groups, by vanishing of (uncountably many) first cohomologies of the orbit foliations. In some cases, we can prove that vanishing of finitely many cohomologies is sufficient. For this purpose we use a rigidity property of quasiisometry. As an application we prove some actions of 2-step solvable Lie groups on mapping tori are parameter rigid. Special cases of these actions are considered in a paper of Matsumoto and Mitsumatsu. We also remark on the relation between transitive locally free actions of solvable Lie gr…
