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Thomas Sinclair

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas Sinclair.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2019

Correspondences, Ultraproducts and Model Theory

We study correspondences of tracial von Neumann algebras from the model-theoretic point of view. We introduce and study an ultraproduct of correspondences and use this ultraproduct to prove, for a fixed pair of tracial von Neumann algebras M and N, that the class of M-N correspondences forms an elementary class. We prove that the corresponding theory is classifiable, all of its completions are stable, that these completions have quantifier elimination in an appropriate language, and that one of these completions is in fact the model companion. We also show that the class of triples (M, H, N), where M and N are tracial von Neumann algebras and H is an M-N correspondence, form an elementary class. As an application of our framework, we show that a II_1 factor M has property (T) precisely when the set of central vectors form a definable set relative to the theory of M-M correspondences. We then use our approach to give a simpler proof that the class of structures (M, Phi), where M is a sigma-finite von Neumann algebra and Phi is a faithful normal state, forms an elementary class. Finally, we initiate the study of a family of Connes-type ultraproducts on C*-algebras.

math.LO↗
arXiv2017

Robinson forcing and the quasidiagonality problem

We introduce weakenings of two of the more prominent open problems in the classification of $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebras, namely the quasidiagonality problem and the UCT problem. We show that the a positive solution of the conjunction of the two weaker problems implies a positive solution of the original quasidiagonality problem as well as allows us to give a local, finitary criteria for the MF problem, which asks whether every stably finite $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebra is MF.

math.OA↗
arXiv2016

On the axiomatizability of $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebras as operator systems

We show that the class of unital $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebras is an elementary class in the language of operator systems. As a result, we have that there is a definable predicate in the language of operator systems that defines the multiplication in any $\mathrm{C}^*$-algebra. Moreover, we prove that the aforementioned class is $\forall\exists\forall$-axiomatizable but not $\forall\exists$-axiomatizable nor $\exists\forall$-axiomatizable.

math.OA↗
arXiv2015

Omitting types in operator systems

We show that the class of 1-exact operator systems is not uniformly definable by a sequence of types. We use this fact to show that there is no finitary version of Arveson's extension theorem. Next, we show that WEP is equivalent to a certain notion of existential closedness for C$^*$ algebras and use this equivalence to give a simpler proof of Kavruk's result that WEP is equivalent to the complete tight Riesz interpolation property. We then introduce a variant of the space of n-dimensional operator systems and connect this new space to the Kirchberg Embedding Problem, which asks whether every C$^*$ algebra embeds into an ultrapower of the Cuntz algebra $\mathcal{O}_2$. We end with some results concerning the question of whether or not the local lifting property (in the sense of Kirchberg) is uniformly definable by a sequence of types in the language of C$^*$ algebras.

math.OA↗
arXiv2015

W$^*$-Rigidity for the von Neumann Algebras of Products of Hyperbolic Groups

We show that if $Γ= Γ_1\times\dotsb\times Γ_n$ is a product of $n\geq 2$ non-elementary ICC hyperbolic groups then any discrete group $Λ$ which is $W^*$-equivalent to $Γ$ decomposes as a $k$-fold direct sum exactly when $k=n$. This gives a group-level strengthening of Ozawa and Popa's unique prime decomposition theorem by removing all assumptions on the group $Λ$. This result in combination with Margulis' normal subgroup theorem allows us to give examples of lattices in the same Lie group which do not generate stably equivalent II$_1$ factors.

math.OA↗
arXiv2015

CP-stability and the local lifting property

The purpose of this note is to discuss the local lifting property in terms of an equivalent approximation-type property, CP-stability, which was formulated by the author and Isaac Goldbring for the purposes of studying the continuous model theory of C$^*$-algebras and operator systems.

math.OA↗
arXiv2015

Games and elementary equivalence of $\rm II_1$ factors

We use Ehrenfeucht-Fraïssé games to give a local geometric criterion for elementary equivalence of II$_1$ factors. We obtain as a corollary that two II$_1$ factors are elementarily equivalent if and only their unitary groups are elementarily equivalent as $\mathbb Z_4$-metric spaces.

math.LO↗
arXiv2015

On Kirchberg's Embedding Problem

Kirchberg's Embedding Problem (KEP) asks whether every separable C$^*$ algebra embeds into an ultrapower of the Cuntz algebra $\mathcal{O}_2$. In this paper, we use model theory to show that this conjecture is equivalent to a local approximate nuclearity condition that we call the existence of good nuclear witnesses. In order to prove this result, we study general properties of existentially closed C$^*$ algebras. Along the way, we establish a connection between existentially closed C$^*$ algebras, the weak expectation property of Lance, and the local lifting property of Kirchberg. The paper concludes with a discussion of the model theory of $\mathcal{O}_2$. Several results in this last section are proven using some technical results concerning tubular embeddings, a notion first introduced by Jung for studying embeddings of tracial von Neumann algebras into the ultrapower of the hyperfinite II$_1$ factor.

math.OA↗
arXiv2013

On the structural theory of II_1 factors of negatively curved groups, II: Actions by product groups

This paper includes a series of structural results for von Neumann algebras arising from measure preserving actions by product groups on probability spaces. Expanding upon the methods used earlier by the first two authors \cite{CS}, we obtain new examples of strongly solid factors as well as von Neumann algebras with unique or no Cartan subalgebra. For instance we show that every II$_1$ factor associated with a weakly amenable group in the class $\mathcal S$ of Ozawa is strongly solid, \cite{OzSolid}. There is also the following product version of this result: any maximal abelian $\star$-subalgebra of any II$_1$ factor associated with a finite product of weakly amenable groups in the class $\mathcal S$ of Ozawa has an amenable normalizing algebra. Finally, pairing some of these results with cocycle superrigidity results from \cite{IoaCSR}, it follows that compact actions by finite products of lattices in $Sp(n, 1)$, $n \geq2$, are virtually $W^*$-superrigid.

math.OA↗
arXiv2013

Inner amenability for groups and central sequences in factors

We show that a large class of i.c.c., countable, discrete groups satisfying a weak negative curvature condition are not inner amenable. By recent work of Hull and Osin, our result recovers that mapping class groups and Out(F_n) are not inner amenable. We also show that the group-measure space constructions associated to free, strongly ergodic p.m.p. actions of such groups do not have property Gamma of Murray and von Neumann.

math.OA↗
arXiv2012

Ergodic theorems for affine actions of amenable groups on Hilbert space

We prove a new weak mean ergodic theorem (Theorem A) for 1-cocycles associated to weakly mixing representations of amenable groups. Let $G$ be a finitely generated, discrete, amenable group $G$ which admits a controlled Folner sequence. We use Theorem A to deduce that any affine action $G\ca^T \Cal H$ on Hilbert space with weakly mixing linear part admits a sequence of almost fixed points (Theorem B). Specializing to the case that $G$ is a finitely generated group of polynomial growth, we show that convex combinations of averages of the associated 1-cocycle over $n$-balls provide a sequence of almost fixed points for the action $G\ca^T \Cal H$ (Corollary C). This affirms a weak form of a conjecture of Shalom independently of Gromov's theorem on the virtual nilpotency of groups of polynomial growth. As a consequence, we are able to give a new, elementary, ergodic-theoretical proof of Gromov's theorem.

math.GR↗
arXiv2012

The theory of tracial von Neumann algebras does not have a model companion

In this note, we show that the theory of tracial von Neumann algebras does not have a model companion. This will follow from the fact that the theory of any locally universal, McDuff II_1 factor does not have quantifier elimination. We also show how a positive solution to the Connes Embedding Problem implies that there can be no model-complete theory of II_1 factors.

math.LO↗
arXiv2012

On the structural theory of $\rm II_1$ factors of negatively curved groups

Ozawa showed that for any i.c.c., hyperbolic group, the associated group factor is solid. Developing a new approach that combines some methods of Peterson, Ozawa and Popa, and Ozawa, we strengthen this result by showing that these factors are strongly solid. Using our methods in cooperation with a cocycle superrigidity result of Ioana, we show that profinite actions of lattices in Sp(n,1), n>1, are virtually W*-superrigid.

math.OA↗
arXiv2010

On cocycle superrigidity for Gaussian actions

We present a general setting to investigate U_fin-cocycle superrigidity for Gaussian actions in terms of closable derivations on von Neumann algebras. In this setting we give new proofs to some U_fin-cocycle superrigidity results of S. Popa and we produce new examples of this phenomenon. We also use a result of K. Schmidt to give a necessary cohomological condition on a group representation in order for the resulting Gaussian action to be U_fin-cocycle superrigid.

math.OA↗