Growth of mod-2 homology in higher-rank locally symmetric spaces (Q2119891)

A semisimple algebraic group, \(G\), over a local field, \(F\), is a higher-rank group if its \(F\)-rank is a least 2. Let \(G\) be a higher-rank group with property \((T)\). The main result of the paper under review states as follows. Theorem: Let \((\Gamma_{n})\) be a sequence of pairwise nonconjugate torsion-free lattices in \(G\), and let \(\alpha_{n}\in H_{1}(\Gamma_{n} \backslash X,\mathbb{F}_{2})\) be any sequence of homology classes. Then there exists a sequence of representative cycles \(c_{n}\in Z_{1}(\Gamma_{n}\backslash X, \mathbb{F}_{2})\) of \(\alpha_{n}\) with total length \(\ell(c_{n})\) such that \[ \varinjlim_{n\to \infty}\frac{\ell(c_{n})}{\mathrm{Vol}(\Gamma_{n}\backslash X)}=0. \] As an application, the author deduces \(\dim_{\mathbb{F}_{2}} H_{1}(\Gamma_{n}\backslash X, \mathbb{F}_{2})= o_{X}(\mathrm{Vol}(\Gamma_{n}\backslash X))\). Few results are known with a finite field of coefficients where the analytic methods using differential forms are not accessible. Here, the author performs a geometric cut-and-reconnect operation on cycles in such a way that the total length drops. He also uses the Benjamini-Schramm convergence of the sequence \((\Gamma_{n}\backslash X)_{n}\), ensured by property \((T)\).