Large group actions on manifolds (Q1126784)

This is a survey article on large group actions on manifolds. There is no precise definition of large groups. The large groups in the present paper are at least required to be finitely generated non free groups and ``large actions will mean highly non-proper actions such as topologically transitive (i.e. with a dense orbit) or volume preserving ergodic ones (i.e. every invariant subset is either of full or zero volume)''. An important class of large groups is that of higher rank lattices. Examples of this class are the groups \(SL(n, \mathbb{Z})\) with \(n\geq 3\). The presence of relations among the generators is a strong constraint for the existence and for the deformation of such actions. The author discusses results and examples with an emphasis on rigidity and geometric questions.