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Pierre de la Harpe

Publications and source records attributed to Pierre de la Harpe.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2024

Spectral multiplicity functions of adjacency operators of graphs and cospectral infinite graphs

The adjacency operator of a graph has a spectrum and a class of scalar-valued spectral measures which have been systematically analyzed; it also has a spectral multiplicity function which has been less studied. The first purpose of this article is to review some examples of infinite graphs for which the spectral multiplicity function of the adjacency operator has been determined. The second purpose of this article is to show explicit examples of infinite connected graphs which are cospectral, i.e., which have unitarily equivalent adjacency operators, and explicit examples of infinite connected graphs which are uniquely determined by their spectrum.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

Spectral measures and dominant vertices in graphs of bounded degree

A graph $G = (V, E)$ of bounded degree has an adjacency operator~$A$ which acts on the Hilbert space $\ell^2(V)$. There are different kinds of measures of interest on the spectrum $Σ(A)$ of $A$. In particular, each vector $ξ\in \ell^2(V)$ defines a local spectral measure $μ_ξ$ at $ξ$ on $Σ(A)$; therefore each vertex $v \in V$ defines a vector $δ_v \in \ell^2(V)$ and the associated measure $μ_v$ on $Σ(A)$. A vertex $v$ is dominant if, for all $w \in V$, the measure $μ_w$ is absolutely continuous with respect to $μ_v$ (it then follows that, for all $ξ\in \ell^2(V)$, the measure $μ_ξ$ is absolutely continuous with respect to $μ_v$). The main object of this paper is to show that all possibilities occur: in some graphs, for example in vertex-transitive graphs, all vertices are dominant; in other graphs, only some vertices are dominant; and there are graphs without dominant vertices at all.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

On groups of smooth maps into a simple compact Lie group, revisited

Let $X$ be a closed smooth manifold, $G$ be a simple connected compact real Lie group, $M (G)$ be the group of all smooth maps from $X$ to $G$, and $M_0 (G)$ be its connected component for the $\mathcal C^\infty$-compact open topology. It is shown that maximal normal subgroups of $M_0 (G)$ are precisely the inverse images of the centre $Z(G)$ of $G$ by the evaluation homomorphisms $M_0 (G) \to G, \hskip.1cm γ\mapsto γ(a)$, for $a \in X$. This in turn is a consequence of a result on the group $\mathcal C^\infty_{n, G}$ of germs at the origin $O$ of $\mathbf R^n$ of smooth maps $\mathbf R^n \to G$: this group has a unique maximal normal subgroup, which is the inverse image of $Z(G)$ by the evaluation homomorphism $\mathcal C^\infty_{n, G} \to G, \hskip.1cm \underline γ\mapsto \underline γ(O)$. This article provides corrections for part of an earlier article [Harp--88].

math.GR↗
arXiv2022

On the prehistory of growth of groups

The subject of growth of groups has been active in the former Soviet Union since the early 50's and in the West since 1968, when articles of Švarc and Milnor have been published, independently. The purpose of this note is to quote a few articles showing that, before 1968 and at least retrospectively, growth has already played some role in various subjects.

math.GR↗
arXiv2019

Unitary representations of groups, duals, and characters

This is an expository book on unitary representations of topological groups, and of several dual spaces, which are spaces of such representations up to some equivalence. The most important notions are defined for topological groups, but a special attention is paid to the case of discrete groups. The unitary dual of a group $G$ is the space of equivalence classes of its irreducible unitary representations; it is both a topological space and a Borel space. The primitive dual is the space of weak equivalence classes of unitary irreducible representations. The normal quasi-dual is the space of quasi-equivalence classes of traceable factor representations; it is parametrized by characters, which can be finite or infinite. The theory is systematically illustrated by a series of specific examples: Heisenberg groups, affine groups of infinite fields, solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups, lamplighter groups, and general linear groups. Operator algebras play an important role in the exposition, in particular the von Neumann algebras associated to a unitary representation and C*-algebras associated to a locally compact group.

math.GR↗
arXiv2019

Groups with irreducibly unfaithful subsets for unitary representations

Let $G$ be a group. A subset $F \subset G$ is called irreducibly faithful if there exists an irreducible unitary representation $π$ of $G$ such that $π(x) \neq \mathrm{id}$ for all $x \in F \smallsetminus \{e\}$. Otherwise $F$ is called irreducibly unfaithful. Given a positive integer $n$, we say that $G$ has Property $P(n)$ if every subset of size $n$ is irreducibly faithful. Every group has $P(1)$, by a classical result of Gelfand and Raikov. Walter proved that every group has $P(2)$. It is easy to see that some groups do not have $P(3)$. We provide a complete description of the irreducibly unfaithful subsets of size $n$ in a countable group $G$ (finite or infinite) with Property $P(n-1)$: it turns out that such a subset is contained in a finite elementary abelian normal subgroup of $G$ of a particular kind. We deduce a characterization of Property $P(n)$ purely in terms of the group structure. It follows that, if a countable group $G$ has $P(n-1)$ and does not have $P(n)$, then $n$ is the cardinality of a projective space over a finite field. A group $G$ has Property $Q(n)$ if, for every subset $F \subset G$ of size at most $n$, there exists an irreducible unitary representation $π$ of $G$ such that $π(x) \ne π(y)$ for any distinct $x, y$ in $F$. Every group has $Q(2)$. For countable groups, it is shown that Property $Q(3)$ is equivalent to $P(3)$, Property $Q(4)$ to $P(6)$, and Property $Q(5)$ to $P(9)$. For $m, n \ge 4$, the relation between Properties $P(m)$ and $Q(n)$ is closely related to a well-documented open problem in additive combinatorics.

math.GR↗
arXiv2016

Brouwer degree, domination of manifolds, and groups presentable by products

For oriented connected closed manifolds of the same dimension, there is a transitive relation: $M$ dominates $N$, or $M \ge N$, if there exists a continuous map of non-zero degree from $M$ onto $N$. Section 1 is a reminder on the notion of degree (Brouwer, Hopf), Section 2 shows examples of domination and a first set of obstructions to domination due to Hopf, and Section 3 describes obstructions in terms of Gromov's simplicial volume. In Section 4 we address the particular question of when a given manifold can (or cannot) be dominated by a product. These considerations suggest a notion for groups (fundamental groups), due to D. Kotschick and C. Löh: a group is presentable by a product if it contains two infinite commuting subgroups which generate a subgroup of finite index. The last section shows a small sample of groups which are not presentable by products; examples include appropriate Coxeter groups.

math.AT↗
arXiv2016

Metric geometry of locally compact groups

This book offers to study locally compact groups from the point of view of appropriate metrics that can be defined on them, in other words to study "Infinite groups as geometric objects", as Gromov writes it in the title of a famous article. The theme has often been restricted to finitely generated groups, but it can favorably be played for locally compact groups. The development of the theory is illustrated by numerous examples, including matrix groups with entries in the the field of real or complex numbers, or other locally compact fields such as p-adic fields, isometry groups of various metric spaces, and, last but not least, discrete group themselves. Word metrics for compactly generated groups play a major role. In the particular case of finitely generated groups, they were introduced by Dehn around 1910 in connection with the Word Problem. Some of the results exposed concern general locally compact groups, such as criteria for the existence of compatible metrics on locally compact groups. Other results concern special classes of groups, for example those mapping onto the group of integers (the Bieri-Strebel splitting theorem for locally compact groups). Prior to their applications to groups, the basic notions of coarse and large-scale geometry are developed in the general framework of metric spaces. Coarse geometry is that part of geometry concerning properties of metric spaces that can be formulated in terms of large distances only. In particular coarse connectedness, coarse simple connectedness, metric coarse equivalences, and quasi-isometries of metric spaces are given special attention. The final chapters are devoted to the more restricted class of compactly presented groups, generalizing finitely presented groups to the locally compact setting. They can indeed be characterized as those compactly generated locally compact groups that are coarsely simply connected.

math.GR↗
arXiv2016

Amenability and paradoxical decompositions for pseudogroups and for discrete metric spaces

This is an expostion of various aspects of amenability and paradoxical decompositions for groups, group actions and metric spaces. First, we review the formalism of pseudogroups, which is well adapted to stating the alternative of Tarski, according to which a pseudogroup without invariant mean gives rise to paradoxical decompositions, and to defining a Følner condition. Using a Hall-Rado Theorem on matchings in graphs, we show then for pseudogroups that existence of an invariant mean is equivalent to the Følner condition; in the case of the pseudogroup of bounded perturbations of the identity on a locally finite metric space, these conditions are moreover equivalent to the negation of the Gromov's so-called doubling condition, to isoperimetric conditions, to Kesten's spectral condition for related simple random walks, and to various other conditions. We define also the minimal Tarski number of paradoxical decompositions associated to a non-amenable group action (an integer $\ge 4$), and we indicate numerical estimates (Sections II.4 and IV.2). The final chapter explores for metric spaces the notion of supramenability, due for groups to Rosenblatt.

math.GR↗
arXiv2012

The Fuglede-Kadison determinant, theme and variations

We review the definition of determinants for finite von Neumann algebras, due to Fuglede and Kadison (1952), and a generalisation for appropriate groups of invertible elements in Banach algebras, from a paper by Skandalis and the author (1984). After some reminder on K-theory and Whitehead torsion, we hint at the relevance of these determinants to the study of $L^2$-torsion in topology.

math.OA↗
arXiv2011

C$^*$-simple groups: amalgamated free products, HNN extensions, and fundamental groups of 3-manifolds

We establish sufficient conditions for the C$^*$-simplicity of two classes of groups. The first class is that of groups acting on trees, such as amalgamated free products, HNN-extensions, and their normal subgroups; for example normal subgroups of Baumslag-Solitar groups. The second class is that of fundamental groups of compact 3-manifolds, related to the first class by their Kneser-Milnor and JSJ-decompositions. Much of our analysis deals with conditions on an action of a group $Γ$ on a tree $T$ which imply the following three properties: abundance of hyperbolic elements, better called strong hyperbolicity, minimality, both on the tree $T$ and on its boundary $\partial T$, and faithfulness in a strong sense. An important step in this analysis is to identify automorphism of $T$ which are \emph{slender}, namely such that their fixed-point sets in $\partial T$ are nowhere dense for the shadow topology.

math.GR↗
arXiv2011

On malnormal peripheral subgroups in fundamental groups of 3-manifolds

Let $K$ be a non-trivial knot in the 3-sphere, $E_K$ its exterior, $G_K = π_1(E_K)$ its group, and $P_K = π_1(\partial E_K) \subset G_K$ its peripheral subgroup. We show that $P_K$ is malnormal in $G_K$, namely that $gP_Kg^{-1} \cap P_K = \{e\}$ for any $g \in G_K$ with $g \notin P_K$, unless $K$ is in one of the following three classes: torus knots, cable knots, and composite knots; these are exactly the classes for which there exist annuli in $E_K$ attached to $T_K$ which are not boundary parallel (Theorem 1 and Corollary 2). More generally, we characterise malnormal peripheral subgroups in the fundamental group of a compact orientable irreducible 3-manifold with boundary a non-empty union of tori (Theorem 3). Proofs are written with non-expert readers in mind. Half of our paper (Sections 7 to 10) is a reminder of some three-manifold topology as it flourished before the Thurston revolution. In a companion paper [HaWeOs], we collect general facts on malnormal subgroups and Frobenius groups, and we review a number of examples.

math.GR↗
arXiv2011

Malnormal subgroups and Frobenius groups: basics and examples

Malnormal subgroups occur in various contexts. We review a large number of examples, and we compare the situation in this generality to that of finite Frobenius groups of permutations. In a companion paper [HaWe], we analyse when peripheral subgroups of knot groups and 3-manifold groups are malnormal.

math.GR↗
arXiv2010

Groups with faithful irreducible projective unitary representations

For a countable group G and a multiplier c on G with values in the circle, we study the property of G having a unitary projective c-representation which is both irreducible and projectively faithful. We show that this property is equivalent to G being the quotient of an appropriate group by its centre. A criterion is given in terms of the minisocle of G. Several examples are described to show the existence of various behaviours.

math.GR↗