Spectral transfer and pointwise ergodic theorems for semi-simple Kazhdan groups (Q1271369)

Let \(G\) be a simple Lie group with Kazhdan's property \((T)\), that is, \(G\) is a simple Lie group which is not locally isomorphic to \(SO(n,1)\) or \(SU(n,1)\). Then there exists a real number \(p\geq 1\) such that, for every unitary representation \(\pi\) of \(G\) without nonzero fixed vector, there exists a dense set of vectors for which the corresponding matrix coefficients belong to \(L^p(G)\). This fact is due in full generality to \textit{M. Cowling} [Analyse harmonique sur les groupes de Lie, Vol. 2, Lect. Notes Math. 739, 132-178 (1979; Zbl 0417.22010)]. It follows that, if \(n\) is an integer with \(n\geq p/2\), then the \(n\)-th tensor power \(\pi^{\otimes n}\) may be embedded as a subrepresentation of an infinite multiple of the regular representation \(\lambda_G\) of \(G\), where \(\pi\) is any unitary representation of \(G\) without nonzero fixed vector. This, of course, remains true for the restriction of \(\pi\) to any closed subgroup of \(G\). This is what the author calls the ``spectral transfer principle''. A useful consequence of this principle is that it gives a norm estimate for arbitrary representations in terms of bounds for the regular representation. More precisely, let \(\mu\) be a probability measure on \(G\). Then \(\|\pi (\mu)\|\leq\|\lambda_G (\mu)^{1/n} \|\). This applies, in particular, to the case where \(G\) acts ergodically on a measure space \(X\) with an invariant probability measure and \(\pi\) denotes the associated representation of \(G\) on the subspace of \(L^2(X)\) consisting of the function with zero mean. Such a result can be viewed as an analogue of the spectral transfer principle for amenable groups (see \textit{R. Coifman} and \textit{G. Weiss} [Transference methods in analysis. Regional Conference Series in Math. 31 (Providence 1976; Zbl 0377.43001)]). These estimates are applied in order to derive, among others, exponential-maximal inequalities for families of natural averages on \(G\), as well as pointwise ergodic \(L^p\) theorems.