Local rigidity for actions of Kazhdan groups on non commutative $L_p$-spaces

Abstract

Given a discrete group $Γ$, a finite factor $\mathcal N$ and a real number $p\in [1, +\infty)$ with $p\neq 2,$ we are concerned with the rigidity of actions of $Γ$ by linear isometries on the $L_p$-spaces $L_p(\mathcal N)$ associated to $\mathcal N$. More precisely, we show that, when $Γ$ and $\mathcal N$ have both Property (T) and under some natural ergodicity condition, such an action $π$ is locally rigid in the group $G$ of linear isometries of $L_p(\mathcal N)$, that is, every sufficiently small perturbation of $π$ is conjugate to $π$ under $G$. As a consequence, when $Γ$ is an ICC Kazhdan group, the action of $Γ$ on its von Neumann algebra ${\mathcal N}(Γ)$, given by conjugation, is locally rigid in the isometry group of $L_p({\mathcal N}(Γ)).$