Quantum groups, property (T), and weak mixing (Q1650157)

Let $A$ be a separable unital $C^{*}$-algebra. A unital representation of $A$ on a Hilbert space is weakly mixing if it has no non-zero finite-dimensional subrepresentations. As is stands, this notion extends the corresponding one for unitary representations over groups. In fact, a unital representation of $A$ is weakly mixing if and only if its restriction to the unitary group of $A$ is weakly mixing. \par In these notes, the authors study the relation between weakly mixing unitary representations and property $(T)$ for locally compact quantum groups. By definition, a locally compact quantum group has property $(T)$ if every unitary representation having almost invariant vectors has a non-zero invariant vector. Specifically, one of the main results states that for a second countable locally compact quantum group with trivial scaling group, property $(T)$ is equivalent to every weakly mixing unitary representation not having invariant vectors. As a second main result, it is shown that a second countable non-unimodular locally compact quantum group does not have property $(T)$. This extends the result of \textit{P. Fima} [Int. J. Math. 21, No. 1, 47--65 (2010; Zbl 1195.46072)] on discrete quantum groups. \par The proofs of these results use spectral techniques and, as observed by the authors, is different from the techniques of \textit{M. E. B. Bekka} and \textit{A. Valette} [Math. Z. 212, No. 2, 293--299 (1993; Zbl 0789.22006)] and \textit{M. Daws} et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 353, No. 1, 69--118 (2017; Zbl 1371.46060)] to prove the analoguos result for groups and low duals, respectively.