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Nicolas Monod

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolas Monod.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2019

Furstenberg boundaries for pairs of groups

Furstenberg has associated to every topological group $G$ a universal boundary $\partial(G)$. If we consider in addition a subgroup $H<G$, the relative notion of $(G,H)$-boundaries admits again a maximal object $\partial(G,H)$. In the case of discrete groups, an equivalent notion was introduced by Bearden--Kalantar as a very special instance of their constructions. However, the analogous universality does not always hold, even for discrete groups. On the other hand, it does hold in the affine reformulation in terms of convex compact sets, which admits a universal simplex $Δ(G,H)$, namely the simplex of measures on $\partial(G,H)$. We determine the boundary $\partial(G,H)$ in a number of cases, highlighting properties that might appear unexpected.

math.DS↗
arXiv2018

Notes on functions of hyperbolic type

Functions of hyperbolic type encode representations on real or complex hyperbolic spaces, usually infinite-dimensional. These notes set up the complex case. As applications, we prove the existence of a non-trivial deformation family of representations of SU(1,n) and of its infinite-dimensional kin Isom(H^\infty_C). We further classify all the self-representations of Isom(H^\infty_C) that satisfy a compatibility condition for the subgroup Isom(H^\infty_R). It turns out in particular that translation lengths and Cartan arguments determine each other for these representations. In the real case, we revisit earlier results and propose some further constructions.

math.GR↗
arXiv2018

Self-representations of the Moebius group

Contrary to the finite-dimensional case, the Moebius group admits interesting self-representations when infinite-dimensional. We construct and classify all these self-representations. The proofs are obtained in the equivalent setting of isometries of Lobachevsky spaces and use kernels of hyperbolic type, in analogy to the classical concepts of kernels of positive and negative type.

math.GR↗
arXiv2018

Asymptotics of Cheeger constants and unitarisability of groups

Given a group $Γ$, we establish a connection between the unitarisability of its uniformly bounded representations and the asymptotic behaviour of the isoperimetric constants of Cayley graphs of $Γ$ for increasingly large generating sets. The connection hinges on an analytic invariant ${\rm Lit}(Γ)\in [0, \infty]$ which we call the \emph{Littlewood exponent}. Finiteness, amenability, unitarisability and the existence of free subgroups are related respectively to the thresholds $0, 1, 2$ and $\infty$ for ${\rm Lit}(Γ)$. Using graphical small cancellation theory, we prove that there exist groups $Γ$ for which $1<{\rm Lit}(Γ)<\infty$. Further applications, examples and problems are discussed.

math.FA↗
arXiv2018

Kaleidoscopic groups: permutation groups constructed from dendrite homeomorphisms

Given a transitive permutation group, a fundamental object for studying its higher transitivity properties is the permutation action of its isotropy subgroup. We reverse this relationship and introduce a universal construction of infinite permutation groups that takes as input a given system of imprimitivity for its isotropy subgroup. This produces vast families kaleidoscopic groups. We investigate their algebraic properties, such as simplicity and oligomorphy; their homological properties, such as acyclicity or contrariwise large Schur multipliers; their topological properties, such as unique polishability. Our construction is carried out within the framework of homeomorphism groups of topological dendrites.

math.GR↗
arXiv2018

Future directions in locally compact groups

This text is the preprint version of the concluding chapter for the book New Directions in Locally Compact Groups published by Cambridge University Press in the series Lecture Notes of the LMS. The recent progress on locally compact groups surveyed in that volume also reveals the considerable extent of the unexplored territories. Therefore, we wish to conclude it by mentioning a few open problems related to the material covered in the book and that we consider important at the time of this writing.

math.GR↗
arXiv2017

The cup product of Brooks quasimorphisms

We prove the vanishing of the cup product of the bounded cohomology classes associated to any two Brooks quasimorphisms on the free group. This is a consequence of the vanishing of the square of a universal class for tree automorphism groups.

math.GR↗
arXiv2017

Structural properties of dendrite groups

Let G be the homeomorphism group of a dendrite. We study the normal subgroups of G. For instance, there are uncountably many non-isomorphic such groups G that are simple groups. Moreover, these groups can be chosen so that any isometric G-action on any metric space has a bounded orbit. In particular they have the fixed point property (FH).

math.GR↗
arXiv2017

Fixed points in convex cones

We propose a fixed-point property for group actions on cones in topological vector spaces. In the special case of equicontinuous actions, we prove that this property always holds; this statement extends the classical Ryll-Nardzewski theorem for Banach spaces. When restricting to cones that are locally compact in the weak topology, we prove that the property holds for all distal actions, thus extending the general Ryll-Nardzewski theorem for all locally convex spaces. Returning to arbitrary actions, the proposed fixed-point property becomes a group property, considerably stronger than amenability. Equivalent formulations are established and a number of closure properties are proved for the class of groups with the fixed-point property for cones.

math.GR↗
arXiv2016

Group actions on dendrites and curves

We establish obstructions for groups to act by homeomorphisms on dendrites. For instance, lattices in higher rank simple Lie groups will always fix a point or a pair. The same holds for irreducible lattices in products of connected groups. Further results include a Tits alternative and a description of the topological dynamics. We briefly discuss to what extent our results hold for more general topological curves.

math.DS↗
arXiv2016

The bounded cohomology of SL_2 over local fields and S-integers

It is proved that the continuous bounded cohomology of SL_2(k) vanishes in all positive degrees whenever k is a non-Archimedean local field. This holds more generally for boundary-transitive groups of tree automorphisms and implies low degree vanishing for SL_2 over S-integers.

math.GR↗
arXiv2016

Variations on a theme by Higman

We propose elementary and explicit presentations of groups that have no amenable quotients and yet are SQ-universal. Examples include groups with a finite classifying space, no Kazhdan subgroups and no Haagerup quotients.

math.GR↗
arXiv2015

Fixed points for bounded orbits in Hilbert spaces

Consider the following property of a topological group G: every continuous affine G-action on a Hilbert space with a bounded orbit has a fixed point. We prove that this property characterizes amenability for locally compact sigma-compact groups (e.g. countable groups). Along the way, we introduce a "moderate" variant of the classical induction of representations and we generalize the Gaboriau--Lyons theorem to prove that any non-amenable locally compact group admits a probabilistic variant of discrete free subgroups. This leads to the "measure-theoretic solution" to the von Neumann problem for locally compact groups. We illustrate the latter result by giving a partial answer to the Dixmier problem for locally compact groups.

math.GR↗
arXiv2015

An indiscrete Bieberbach theorem: from amenable CAT(0) groups to Tits buildings

Non-positively curved spaces admitting a cocompact isometric action of an amenable group are investigated. A classification is established under the assumption that there is no global fixed point at infinity under the full isometry group. The visual boundary is then a spherical building. When the ambient space is geodesically complete, it must be a product of flats, symmetric spaces, biregular trees and Bruhat--Tits buildings. We provide moreover a sufficient condition for a spherical building arising as the visual boundary of a proper CAT(0) space to be Moufang, and deduce that an irreducible locally finite Euclidean building of dimension at least 2 is a Bruhat--Tits building if and only if its automorphism group acts cocompactly and chamber-transitively at infinity.

math.MG↗
arXiv2015

Extensive amenability and an application to interval exchanges

Extensive amenability is a property of group actions which has recently been used as a tool to prove amenability of groups. We study this property and prove that it is preserved under a very general construction of semidirect products. As an application, we establish the amenability of all subgroups of the group IET of interval exchange transformations that have angular components of rational rank~${\leq 2}$. In addition, we obtain a reformulation of extensive amenability in terms of inverted orbits and use it to present a purely probabilistic proof that recurrent actions are extensively amenable. Finally, we study the triviality of the Poisson boundary for random walks on IET and show that there are subgroups $G <IET$ admitting no finitely supported measure with trivial boundary.

math.GR↗
arXiv2014

An exotic deformation of the hyperbolic space

On the one hand, we construct a continuous family of non-isometric proper CAT(-1) spaces on which the isometry group ${\rm Isom}(\mathbf{H}^{n})$ of the real hyperbolic $n$-space acts minimally and cocompactly. This provides the first examples of non-standard CAT(0) model spaces for simple Lie groups. On the other hand, we classify all continuous non-elementary actions of ${\rm Isom}(\mathbf{H}^{n})$ on the infinite-dimensional real hyperbolic space. It turns out that they are in correspondence with the exotic model spaces that we construct.

math.GT↗
arXiv2014

Equivariant measurable liftings

We discuss equivariance for linear liftings of measurable functions. Existence is established when a transformation group acts amenably, as e.g. the Moebius group of the projective line. Since the general proof is very simple but not explicit, we also provide a much more explicit lifting for semi-simple Lie groups acting on their Furstenberg boundary, using unrestricted Fatou convergence. This setting is relevant to cocycles for characteristic classes.

math.FA↗