arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Alain Valette.
These are the slightly edited notes from a 10-hour course I taught at Institut Henri Poincaré in January-February 2025 in the framework of the thematic semester "Representation theory and noncommutative geometry".
Using the work of Cornulier-Valette and Whyte (see Appendix A for the latter), we show that neither the Haagerup property nor weak amenability is invariant under quasi-isometry of finitely generated groups. Appendix B shows, using the same examples, that the same holds for vanishing of the equivariant $L^p$-compression.
For a finite metric graph $X=(V,E,\ell)$, where $V$ is endowed with the shortest path metric, we consider the transportation cost problem associated with the distance $d$ on $V$. Namely, for $f$ a function with total sum 0 on $V$, write $f=\sum_{a,b\in V}P(a,b)(δ_a-δ_b)$ where the transportation plan $P$ satisfies $P(a,b)\geq 0$ for $(a,b)\in V\times V$. The cost of $P$ is $W(P):=\sum_{a,b\in V}P(a,b)d(a,b)$ and the transportation norm of $f$ is $\|f\|_{TC}=\min_P W(P)$ where $P$ runs over all transportation plans for $f$. In this semi-survey paper, we give short proofs for the following statements: 1)There always exists an optimal transportation plan supported in $V_+\times V_-$ where $V_+=\{x\in V: f(x)>0\}$ and $V_-=\{x\in V: f(x)<0\}$. If $X$ is a metric tree, we may moreover assume that this plan involves at most $|Supp(f)|-1$ transports. 2) There always exists an optimal transportation plan supported in the set of edges of $X$. 3) Better, there always exists an optimal transportation plan supported in some spanning tree of $X$. We use this to reprove known formulae for the transportation norm when $X$ is either a tree or a cycle.
For a compact space $Y$, we view $C(Y\times S^1)$ as the crossed product $C(Y)\rtimes\mathbb{Z}$, with $\mathbb{Z}$ acting trivially. This allows us to study Rieffel projections in $M_2(C(Y\times S^1))$: we characterize them and compute their image under the projection $\partial_0:K_0(C(Y\times S^1))\rightarrow K_1(C(Y))$. We provide a new Rieffel projection in $M_2(C(\mathbb{T}^2))$, different from Loring's one, and involving only trigonometric polynomials plus the square root of $2-e^{2πiθ}-e^{-2πiθ}$. We give applications of this projection, e.g. explicit generators for the K-theory of $C(\mathbb{T}^3)$. Finally, we prove that, if a Banach algebra completion $\mathcal{B}$ of $\mathbb{C}[\mathbb{Z}^n]$ is continuously contained in $C(\mathbb{T}^n)$ and such that the Fourier series of $(2-e^{2πiθ_j}-e^{-2πiθ_j})^{1/2}\;(j=1,...,n)$ converges in $\mathcal{B}$, then the inclusion $\mathcal{B}\hookrightarrow C(\mathbb{T}^n)$ induces isomorphisms in K-theory.
The unique irreducible representation of $\SL_2(\R)$ on $\R^n$ induces an action, called the \textit{linear action}, of $\SL_2(\Z)$ on the torus $\T^n$ for every $n\geq 2$. For $n$ odd, it factors through $\PSL_2(\Z)$, so we denote by $G_n$ the group $\SL_2(\Z)$ for $n$ even, and $\PSL_2(\Z)$ for $n$ odd. We prove that the action is free and ergodic for every $n\geq 2$, that if $h\in \SL_2(\Z)$ is a hyperbolic element and if $n$ is even, then the action of the subgroup generated by $h$ is still ergodic, but also that, for $n$ odd, no amenable subgroup of $\PSL_2(\Z)$ acts ergodically on $\T^n$. We deduce also that every ergodic sub-equivalence relation $\Rr$ of the orbital equivalence relation $\mathcal{S}_n$ of $G_n$ on $\T^n$ is either amenable or rigid, extending a result by Ioana for $n=2$. This result has the following corollaries: firstly, for $n\geq 2$ even, if $H$ is a maximal amenable subgroup of $\SL_2(\Z)$ containing an hyperbolic matrix, then the associated crossed product II$_1$ factor $L^\infty(\T^n)\rtimes H$ is a maximal Haagerup subalgebra of $L^\infty(\T^n)\rtimes \SL_2(\Z)$; secondly , for every $n$, the fundamental group of $L^\infty(\T^n)\rtimes G_n$ is trivial.
We consider the semi-direct products $G=\mathbb Z^2\rtimes GL_2(\mathbb Z), \mathbb Z^2\rtimes SL_2(\mathbb Z)$ and $\mathbb Z^2\rtimesΓ(2)$ (where $Γ(2)$ is the congruence subgroup of level 2). For each of them, we compute both sides of the Baum-Connes conjecture, namely the equivariant $K$-homology of the classifying space $\underline{E}G$ for proper actions on the left-hand side, and the analytical K-theory of the reduced group $C^*$-algebra on the right-hand side. The computation of the LHS is made possible by the existence of a 3-dimensional model for $\underline{E}G$, which allows to replace equivariant K-homology by Bredon homology. We pay due attention to the presence of torsion in $G$, leading to an extensive study of the wallpaper groups associated with finite subgroups. For the second and third groups, the computations in $K_0$ provide explicit generators that are matched by the Baum-Connes assembly map.
For $n\geq 1$, let $ρ_n$ denote the standard action of $GL_2(\Z)$ on the space $P_n(\Z)\simeq\Z^{n+1}$ of homogeneous polynomials of degree $n$ in two variables, with integer coefficients. For $G$ a non-amenable subgroup of $GL_2(\Z)$, we describe the maximal Haagerup subgroups of the semi-direct product $\Z^{n+1}\rtimes_{ρ_n} G$, extending the classification of Jiang-Skalski \cite{JiSk} of the maximal Haagerup subgroups in $\Z^2\rtimes SL_2(\Z)$. We prove that, for $n$ odd, the group $P_n(\Z)\rtimes SL_2(\Z)$ admits infinitely many pairwise non-conjugate maximal Haagerup subgroups which are free groups; and that, for $n$ even, the group $P_n(\Z)\rtimes GL_2(\Z)$ admits infinitely many pairwise non-conjugate maximal Haagerup subgroups which are isomorphic to $SL_2(\Z)$.
This is a semi-survey paper, where we start by advertising Tits' synthetic construction from \cite{Tits}, of the hyperbolic plane $H^2(Cay)$ over the Cayley numbers $Cay$, and of its automorphism group which is the exceptional simple Lie group $G=F_{4(-20)}$. Let $G=KAN$ be the Iwasawa decomposition. Our contributions are: a) Writing down explicitly the action of $N$ on $H^2(Cay)$ in Tits'model, facing the lack of associativity of $Cay$. b) If $MAN$ denotes the minimal parabolic subgroup of $G$, characterizing $M$ geometrically.
We study the Wasserstein (or earthmover) metric on the space $P(X)$ of probability measures on a metric space $X$. We show that, if a finite metric space $X$ embeds stochastically with distortion $D$ in a family of finite metric trees, then $P(X)$ embeds bi-Lipschitz into $\ell^1$ with distortion $D$. Next, we re-visit the closed formula for the Wasserstein metric on finite metric trees due to Evans-Matsen \cite{EvMat}. We advocate that the right framework for this formula is real trees, and we give two proofs of extensions of this formula: one making the link with Lipschitz-free spaces from Banach space theory, the other one algorithmic (after reduction to finite metric trees).
For $0<α\le 1$, we say that a sequence $(X_k)_{k>0}$ of $d$-regular graphs has property $D_α$ if there exists a constant $C>0$ such that $\mathrm{diam}(X_k)\ge C\cdot|X_k|^α$. We investigate property $D_α$ for arithmetic box spaces of the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups $BS(1,m)$ (with $m\geq 2$): those are box spaces obtained by embedding $BS(1,m)$ into the upper triangular matrices in $GL_2(\mathbb{Z}[1/m])$ and intersecting with a family $M_{N_k}$ of congruence subgroups of $GL_2(\mathbb{Z}[1/m])$, where the levels $N_k$ are coprime with $m$ and $N_k|N_{k+1}$. We prove: - if an arithmetic box space has $D_α$, then $α\le\frac{1}{2}$~; - if the family $(N_k)_k$ of levels is supported on finitely many primes, the corresponding arithmetic box space has $D_{1/2}$~; - if the family $(N_k)_k$ of levels is supported on a family of primes with positive analytic primitive density, then the corresponding arithmetic box space does not have $D_α$, for every $α>0$. Moreover, we prove that if we embed $BS(1,m)$ in the group of invertible upper-triangular matrices $T_n(\mathbb{Z}[1/m])$, then every finite index subgroup of the embedding contains a congruence subgroup. This is a version of the congruence subgroup property (CSP).
Let $\mathcal{C}(G)$ denote the Chabauty space of closed subgroups of the locally compact group $G$. In this paper, we first prove that $\mathcal{C} (\mathbb{Q}_p^\times)$ is a proper compactification of $\mathbb{N}$, identified with the set $N$ of open subgroups with finite index. Then we identify the space $\mathcal{C}(\mathbb{Q}_p^\times) \smallsetminus N$ up to homeomorphism: e.g. for $p=2$, it is the Cantor space on which 2 copies of $\overline{\mathbb{N}}$ (the 1-point compactification of $\mathbb{N}$) are glued.
We present a history of the Baum-Connes conjecture, the methods involved, the current status, and the mathematics it generated.
We study the Chabauty compactification of two families of closed subgroups of $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$. The first family is the set of all parahoric subgroups of $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$. Although the Chabauty compactification of parahoric subgroups is well studied, we give a different and more geometric proof using various Levi decompositions of $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$. Let $C$ be the subgroup of diagonal matrices in $SL(n, \mathbb{Q}_p)$. The second family is the set of all $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$-conjugates of $C$. We give a classification of the Chabauty limits of conjugates of $C$ using the action of $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$ on its associated Bruhat--Tits building and compute all of the limits for $n\leq 4$ (up to conjugacy). In contrast, for $n\geq 7$ we prove there are infinitely many $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$-nonconjugate Chabauty limits of conjugates of $C$. Along the way we construct an explicit homeomorphism between the Chabauty compactification in $\mathfrak{sl}(n, \mathbb{Q}_p)$ of $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$-conjugates of the $p$-adic Lie algebra of $C$ and the Chabauty compactification of $SL(n,\mathbb{Q}_p)$-conjugates of $C$.
Let $G$ be a discrete group with property (T). It is a standard fact that, in a unitary representation of $G$ on a Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$, almost invariant vectors are close to invariant vectors, in a quantitative way. We begin by showing that, if a unitary representation has some vector whose coefficient function is close to a coefficient function of some finite-dimensional unitary representation $σ$, then the vector is close to a sub-representation isomorphic to $σ$: this makes quantitative a result of P.S. Wang [Wa]. We use that to give a new proof of a result by D. Kerr, H. Li and M. Pichot [KLP], that a group $G$ with property (T) and such that $C^*(G)$ is residually finite-dimensional, admits a unitary representation which is generic (i.e. the orbit of this representation in $\mathrm{Rep}(G,\mathcal{H})$ under the unitary group $U(\mathcal{H})$ is comeager). We also show that, under the same assumptions, the set of representations equivalent to a Koopman representation is comeager in $\mathrm{Rep}(G,\mathcal{H})$.
A locally compact group $G$ has property PL if every isometric $G$-action either has bounded orbits or is (metrically) proper. For $p>1$, say that $G$ has property $BP_{L^p}$ if the same alternative holds for the smaller class of affine isometric actions on $L^p$-spaces. We explore properties PL and $BP_{L^p}$ and prove that they are equivalent for some interesting classes of groups: abelian groups, amenable almost connected Lie groups, amenable linear algebraic groups over a local field of characteristic 0. The appendix by Corina Ciobotaru provides new examples of groups with property PL, including non-linear ones.
Let $F$ be a finite group. We consider the lamplighter group $L=F\wr\mathbb{Z}$ over $F$. We prove that $L$ has a classifying space for proper actions $\underline{E} L$ which is a complex of dimension two. We use this to give an explicit proof of the Baum-Connes conjecture (without coefficients), that states that the assembly map $μ_i^L:K_i^L(\underline{E} L)\rightarrow K_i(C^*L)\;(i=0,1)$ is an isomorphism. Actually, $K_0(C^*L)$ is free abelian of countable rank, with an explicit basis consisting of projections in $C^*L$, while $K_1(C^*L)$ is infinite cyclic, generated by the unitary of $C^*L$ implementing the shift. Finally we show that, for $F$ abelian, the $C^*$-algebra $C^*L$ is completely characterized by $|F|$ up to isomorphism.
We explore the Mayer-Vietoris sequence developed by Chiswell for the fundamental group of a graph of groups when vertex groups satisfy some vanishing assumption on the first cohomology (e.g. property (T), or vanishing of the first $\ell^2$-Betti number). We characterize the vanishing of first reduced cohomology of unitary representations when vertex stabilizer have property (T). We find necessary and sufficient conditions for the vanishing of the first $\ell^2$-Betti number. We also study the associated Haagerup cocycle and show that it vanishes in first reduced cohomology precisely when the action is elementary.
We provide a new computation of the K-theory of the group $C^*$-algebra of the solvable Baumslag-Solitar group $BS(1,n)\;(n\neq 1)$; our computation is based on the Pimsner-Voiculescu 6-terms exact sequence, by viewing $BS(1,n)$ as a semi-direct product $\mathbb{Z}[1/n]\rtimes\mathbb{Z}$. We deduce from it a new proof of the Baum-Connes conjecture with trivial coefficients for $BS(1,n)$.