Expanders and box spaces

Abstract: We consider box spaces of finitely generated, residually finite groups

G

, and try to distinguish them up to coarse equivalence. We show that, for

n g e q 2

, the group

S L_{n} (m a t h b b Z)

has a continuum of box spaces which are pairwise non-coarsely equivalent expanders. Moreover, varying the integer

n g e q 3

, expanders given as box spaces of

S L_{n} (m a t h b b Z)

are pairwise inequivalent; similarly, varying the prime

p

, expanders given as box spaces of

S L_{2} (m a t h b b Z [s q r t p])

are pairwise inequivalent. A strong form of non-expansion for a box space is the existence of

a l p h a i n] 0, 1]

such that the diameter of each component

X_{n}

satisfies

d i a m (X_{n}) = O m e g a (| X_{n} |^{a} l p h a)

. By a result of Breuillard and Tointon, the existence of such a box space implies that

G

virtually maps onto

m a t h b b Z

: we establish the converse. For the lamplighter group

(m a t h b b Z / 2 m a t h b b Z) w r m a t h b b Z

and for a semi-direct product

m a t h b b Z^{2} t i m e s m a t h b b Z

, such box spaces are explicitly constructed using specific congruence subgroups. We finally introduce the full box space of

G

, i.e. the coarse disjoint union of all finite quotients of

G

. We prove that the full box space of a group mapping onto the free group

m a t h b b F_{2}

is not coarsely equivalent to the full box space of an

S

-arithmetic group satisfying the Congruence Subgroup Property.

Cites Work

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