Novikov conjectures for arithmetic groups with large actions at infinity (Q1360322)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete group. Assuming \(\Gamma\) to act on a space \(X\) with an equivariant compactification \(\widehat{X}=X\cup Y\), the action is called small at infinity if for every \(y\in Y\), every compact subset \(Z\subset X\) and every neighbourhood \(U\subset X\) of \(y\) there exists a neighbourhood \(V\subset \widehat{X}\) of \(y\) such that if \(gZ\cap V\neq\varnothing\) for some \(g\in\Gamma\) then \(gZ\subset U\). For groups where the cusp stabilizer is not abelian, as is the case for symplectic groups, the action will not be small; these are called large actions. Considering the assembly map \(\alpha:B\Gamma_+\wedge S(R)\rightarrow S(R\Gamma)\) as described by Loday, where \(S(R)\) is the \(K\)-theory spectrum of a ring \(R\), the author, using Malcev spaces and coordinates, constructs a new compactification which is a non-metrizable space and also compactifies the Borel-Serre enlargement \(\overline{X}\), which is contractible in the Čech sense and for which the action of any arithmetic group \(\Gamma\) is large at infinity. In this paper the author proves three results, giving conditions for \(\alpha\) to be a split injection. The latter implies the classical form of the Novikov conjecture on the homotopy invariance of higher signatures for manifolds with \(\Gamma\) as fundamental group. Theorem 1: Let \(G\) be a semi-simple linear algebraic group defined over \(\mathbb{Q}\) of real rank one. If \(\Gamma\) is a torsion-free arithmetic subgroup of \(G\), then \(\alpha\) is a split injection. The arithmeticity in theorem 1 is dropped, and the construction of the above compactification yields: Theorem 2: If \(\Gamma\) is a torsion free fundamental group of a complete noncompact finite volume Riemannian manifold with pinched negative sectional curvatures \(a^2\leq K\leq b^2<0\), then \(\alpha\) is a split injection. Finally, using a similar construction, the argument is modified in order to be applied to lattices in semi-simple Lie groups of higher \(\mathbb{R}\)-rank: Theorem 3: If \(\Gamma\) is a neat arithmetic subgroup of a Hilbert modular group, then \(\alpha\) is a split injection. The paper treats the use of the above compactification in the context of the approach to Novikov conjectures, developed by \textit{G. Carlsson} and \textit{E. K. Pedersen}, dealing with the nontrivial instance of the phenomenon of a bounded saturated arithmetic subgroup of a semi-simple algebraic \(\mathbb{Q}\)-group of real rank one.