A reinforcement of property (T) (Q935198)

The author suggests the following strengthening of property~(T). Let \(G\) be a locally compact group, \(l:G\to\mathbb R_+\) a length function, i.e., a continuous function such that \(l(g^{-1})=l(g)\) and \(l(gh)\leq l(g)+l(h)\) for any \(g,h\in G\). Let \(E_{G,l}\) denote the class of continuous representations \(\pi\) of \(G\) on a Hilbert space such that \(\| \pi(g)\| \leq e^{l(g)}\) for any \(g\in G\). Then \(\| f\| =\sup_{\pi\in E_{G,l}}\| \pi(f)\| \) is a norm on \(C_c(G)\). Let \(\mathcal C_l(G)\) be the involutive Banach algebra obtained by completing \(C_c(G)\) with respect to this norm. Note that for \(l=0\), \(\mathcal C_0(G)=C^*_{\max}(G)\) is a \(C^*\)-algebra. The group \(G\) is said to have the strong form of property~(T) if, for any length function \(l\), there is \(s>0\) such that, for any \(C\in\mathbb R_+\), there exists a selfadjoint projection \(p\in \mathcal C_{sl+C}(G)\) such that \(\pi(p)\) is the projection onto \(G\)-invariant vectors for any \(\pi\in E_{G,l}\). It is shown that hyperbolic groups do not have the strong form of property~(T). On the other hand, \(\mathrm{SL}_3(F)\), where \(F\) is a local field, and some other semisimple groups and their cocompact lattices have the strong form of property~(T). A further strengthening, where representations on Banach spaces replace those on Hilbert spaces, is also considered.