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 Connes on rigidity of group algebras for groups with property T. Our rigidity results also give examples of countable equivalence relations of type II, which cannot be generated (mod 0) by a free action of any group. This gives a negative answer to a long standing problem of Feldman and Moore.
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 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…
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.
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.
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 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 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…
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.
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 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…
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 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…
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 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 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.
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.
After a short introduction to the general notion of Borel fields of metric spaces we introduce the notion of the action of an equivalence relation on such fields. Then, we specify the study to the Borel fields of proper CAT(0) spaces and we obtain a rigidity result for the action of an amenable equivalence relation on a Borel field of proper CAT(0) spaces. This main theorem is inspired by the result obtained by Adams and Ballmann regarding the action of an amenable group on a proper CAT(0) space.
We say a subset $Σ\subseteq F_N$ of the free group of rank $N$ is \emph{spectrally rigid} if whenever $T_1, T_2 \in \cv_N$ are $\mathbb{R}$-trees in (unprojectivized) outer space for which $|σ|_{T_1} = |σ|_{T_2}$ for every $σ\in Σ$, then $T_1 = T_2$ in $\cv_N$. The general theory of (non-abelian) actions of groups on $\mathbb{R}$-trees establishes that $T \in \cv_N$ is uniquely determined by its translation length function $|\cdot|_T \colon F_N \to \mathbb{R}$, and consequently that $F_N$ itself is spectrally rigid. Results of Smillie and Vogtmann \cite{MR1182503}, and of Cohen, Lustig, and St…
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 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.
Let $G$ and $H$ be infinite finitely generated amenable groups. This paper studies two notions of equivalence between actions of such groups on standard Borel probability spaces. They are defined as stable orbit equivalences in which the associated cocycles satisfy certain tail bounds. In `integrable stable orbit equivalence', the length in $H$ of the cocycle-image of an element of $G$ must have finite integral over its domain (a subset of the $G$-system), and similarly for the reverse cocycle. In `bounded stable orbit equivalence', these functions must be essentially bounded in terms of the l…
By the work of Brodzki-Niblo-Nowak-Wright and Monod, topological amenability of a continuous group action can be characterized using uniformly finite homology groups or bounded cohomology groups associated to this action. We show that (certain variations of) these groups are invariants for topologically free actions under continuous orbit equivalence.
We study topological groups that can be defined as Polish, pro-countable abelian groups, as non-archimedean abelian groups or as quasi-countable abelian groups, i.e., Polish subdirect products of countable, discrete groups, endowed with the product topology. We characterize tame groups in this class, i.e., groups such that all orbit equivalence relations induced by their continuous actions on Polish spaces are Borel, and relatively tame groups $G$, i.e., groups such that every diagonal action $α\times β$ of $G$ induces a Borel orbit equivalence relation, provided that the actions $α$, $β$ of $…
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…
To an ergodic, essentially free and measure-preserving action of a non-amenable Baumslag-Solitar group on a standard probability space, a flow is associated. The isomorphism class of the flow is shown to be an invariant of such actions of Baumslag-Solitar groups under weak orbit equivalence. Results on groups which are measure equivalent to Baumslag-Solitar groups are also provided.
