Dimension rigidity of lattices in semisimple Lie groups (Q1733164)

Let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete virtually torsion-free group. The proper geometric dimension \(\underline{\mathrm{gd}}(\Gamma)\) is defined as follows. A model for \(\underline{E} \Gamma\) is a \(\Gamma\)-CW-complex \(X\) such that the stabilizers of the action of \(\Gamma\) on \(X\) are finite and for every finite subgroup \(H\) of \(\Gamma\), the fixed point space \(X^H\) is contractible. The smallest possible dimension of a model for \(\underline{E} \Gamma\) is the proper geometric dimension of \(\Gamma\). It is well known that \(\underline{\mathrm{gd}}(\Gamma) \ge \mathrm{vcd}(\Gamma)\), the virtual cohomological dimension of \(\Gamma\), but in general this inequality can be strict. The main result of the paper is that when \(\Gamma\) is a lattice in the group of isometries of a symmetric space of non-compact type without euclidean factors, these dimensions coincide. This was previously proved in [\textit{J. Aramayona} et al., J. Topol. 10, No. 2, 632--667 (2017; Zbl 1376.22011)] for the case when the symmetric space is associated to a classical simple Lie group. The present paper relies on the results and techniques of this work and extends the inequality to the lattices in exceptional simple Lie groups and then to all semisimple Lie groups. Several corollaries of the main result include the dimension rigidity of the lattices.