Relative property A and relative amenability for countable groups (Q715216)

The authors introduce relative property A for countable groups \(G\) with respect to a finite family \(\mathcal H\) of subgroups of \(G\). This generalises Yu's property A in the case of countable groups. As with property A, also relative property A admits several characterisations, as shown in the paper. In particular, relative property A of a countable group \(G\) may be characterised in terms of an action of \(G\) on a compact Hausdorff space (this extends a characterisation of property A due to \textit{N. Higson} and \textit{J. Roe} [J. Reine Angew. Math. 519, 143--153 (2000; Zbl 0964.55015)]). The main result of the paper is the characterisation of relative property A in terms of bounded cohomology, analogous to a recent result of \textit{J. Brodzki}, \textit{G. Niblo}, \textit{P. W. Nowak} and \textit{N. Wright} [J. Topol. Anal. 4, No. 3, 321--334 (2012; Zbl 1307.22004)]; see also [\textit{N. Monod}, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2011, No. 17, 3872--3884 (2011; Zbl 1235.46044)]. This in turn leads for example to the following result: a countable group \(G\) that has relative property A with respect to \(\mathcal H\) has property A if and only if every subgroup in \(\mathcal H\) has property A. Another result says that a finitely generated group has relative property A if it acts cocompactly on a uniformly discrete metric space that has bounded geometry and property A; here \(\mathcal H\) is the collection of the stabilisers of a chosen set of representatives of the orbits. In the final section, the authors propose a definition of relative amenability for countable groups. The definition is equivalent to the following: a group is relatively amenable with respect to a finite family \(\mathcal H\) of subgroups of \(G\) if there exists a \(G\)-invariant mean on \(\ell^\infty(G/\mathcal H)\) where \(G/\mathcal H\) denotes the disjoint union of the homogeneous spaces \(G/H\) when \(H\) runs through the subgroups in \(\mathcal H\). As an interesting corollary to a more general theorem, the authors obtain the following result: suppose that a countable group \(G\) acts cocompactly on a uniformly discrete metric space \(X\) with bounded geometry; then if \(X\) is amenable and any point stabilizer is amenable, also \(G\) is amenable.