arXiv subjects

Graham A. Niblo

Publications and source records attributed to Graham A. Niblo.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Amenable actions, invariant means and bounded cohomology

We show that topological amenability of an action of a countable discrete group on a compact space is equivalent to the existence of an invariant mean for the action. We prove also that this is equivalent to vanishing of bounded cohomology for a class of Banach G-modules associated to the action, as well as to vanishing of a specific cohomology class. In the case when the compact space is a point our result reduces to a classic theorem of B.E. Johnson characterising amenability of groups. In the case when the compact space is the Stone-Čech compactification of the group we obtain a cohomological characterisation of exactness for the group, answering a question of Higson.

math.GR↗

arXiv2010

Pairings, duality, amenability and bounded cohomology

We give a new perspective on the homological characterisations of amenability given by Johnson in the context of bounded cohomology and by Block and Weinberger in the context of uniformly finite homology. We examine the interaction between their theories and explain the relationship between these characterisations. We apply these ideas to give a new proof of non- vanishing for the bounded cohomology of a free group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2006

A characterization of hyperbolic spaces

We show that a geodesic metric space is hyperbolic in the sense of Gromov if and only if intersections of balls have bounded eccentricity. In particular, $\R$-trees are characterized among geodesic metric spaces by the property that the intersection of any two balls is always a ball. Both Gromov hyperbolicity and CAT($κ$) geometry can be characterised in terms of the geometry of the intersection of balls.

math.GR↗

arXiv2005

Exactness from Proper Actions

In this paper we show that if a discrete group $G$ acts properly isometrically on a discrete space $X$ for which the uniform Roe algebra $C_u^*(X)$ is exact then $G$ is an exact group. As a corollary, we note that if the action is cocompact then the following are equivalent: The space $X$ has Yu's property A; $C^*_u(X)$ is exact; $C_u^*(X)$ is nuclear.

math.OA↗

arXiv2004

Hilbert space compression and exactness for discrete groups

We show that the Hilbert space compression of any finite dimensional CAT(0) cube complex is 1 and deduce that any discrete group acting properly, co-compactly on a CAT(0) cube complex is exact. The class of groups covered by this theorem includes free groups, finitely generated Coxeter groups, finitely generated right angled Artin groups, finitely presented groups satisfying the B(4)-T(4) small cancellation condition and all those word-hyperbolic groups satisfying the B(6) condition. Another family of examples is provided by certain canonical surgeries defined by link diagrams.

math.GR↗

arXiv1998

The engulfing property for 3-manifolds

We show that there are Haken 3-manifolds whose fundamental groups do not satisfy the engulfing property. In particular one can construct a pi_1-injective immersion of a surface into a graph manifold which does not factor through any proper finite cover of the 3-manifold.

math.GT↗

arXiv1997

Groups acting on CAT(0) cube complexes

We show that groups satisfying Kazhdan's property (T) have no unbounded actions on finite dimensional CAT(0) cube complexes, and deduce that there is a locally CAT(-1) Riemannian manifold which is not homotopy equivalent to any finite dimensional, locally CAT(0) cube complex.

math.GR↗