On commensurator growth (Q1760333)

Consider a group \(G\) and a subgroup \(A\) of \(G\). For an element \(g\in G\), we denote the conjugation-by-\(g\) map as \(x\mapsto x^g= g^{-1}xg\). We say that \(g\) commensurates \(A\) if \(A\cap A^g\) has a finite index in both \(A\) and \(A^g\). The set of elements in \(G\) that commensurate \(A\) is called the commensurability group or the commensurator of \(A\) in \(G\); we denote it by \(\operatorname{Comm}(A, G)\). Define the \(n\)th commensurator to be \[ \operatorname{Comm}_n(A, G)= \{g\in\text{Comm}(A, G)\mid |A: A\cap A^g|= n\}. \] The normalizer of \(A\) in \(G\), which we denote by \(N_G(A)\), acts on the left on the sets \(\operatorname{Comm}_n(A, G)\). We denote the size of the quotient \(\operatorname{Comm}_n(A, G)/N_G(A)\) by \(c_n(G, A)\). The asymptotic behavior of the sequence \(c_n(A, G)\) is what we call the commensurator growth of the pair \((A,G)\). In the paper under review, the authors study the commensurator growth and it is motivated by the problem: Is there a function \(f:\mathbb N\to\mathbb N\) such that, for any lattice \(\Gamma\) in a finitely generated group \(G\), its commensurator growth function satisfies \(c_n(\Gamma,G)< f(n)\) for any \(n\)? In this context, the authors prove the following theorem: let \(f:\mathbb N\to\mathbb N\), then there exists a pair \(\Gamma<G\) of groups such that \(c_{\leq n}(\Gamma,G)\geq f(n)\) for all \(n\in\mathbb N\). Moreover, several examples are given of commensurator growth for a locally compact topological group and a lattice inside it. In particular, for the pair \((H(\mathbb Z), H(\mathbb R))\), where \(H\) is the three-dimensional Heisenberg group.