Von Neumann's problem and extensions of non-amenable equivalence relations (Q1650822)

Summary: The goals of this paper are twofold. First, we generalize the result of \textit{D. Gaboriau} and \textit{R. Lyons} [Invent. Math. 177, No. 3, 533--540 (2009; Zbl 1182.43002)] to the setting of von Neumann's problem for equivalence relations, proving that for any non-amenable ergodic probability measure preserving (pmp) equivalence relation \(\mathcal{R}\), the Bernoulli extension over a non-atomic base space \((K,\kappa)\) contains the orbit equivalence relation of a free ergodic pmp action of \(\mathbb{F}_2\). Moreover, we provide conditions which imply that this holds for any non-trivial probability space \(K\). Second, we use this result to prove that any non-amenable unimodular locally compact second countable group admits uncountably many free ergodic pmp actions which are pairwise not von Neumann equivalent (hence, pairwise not orbit equivalent).