The large scale topology and algebraic \(K\)-theory of arithmetic groups (Q1882926)

A symmetric space is a simply connected Riemannian manifold \(X\)\ of nonpositive sectional curvature such that for each point \(x\in X\) the geodesic symmetry \(s_{x}:X\rightarrow X\) given by \(\exp _{x}(v)\mapsto \exp _{x}(-v)\) for all \(v\in T_{x}(X) \) is an isometry of \(X\). If \(X\) is noncompact and it has no Euclidean space as a Riemannian, then one says that \(X\) is of noncompact type. If \(G\) is a semisimple Lie group with finite center and no compact factors, and if \(H\) is a maximal compact subgroup, then the homogeneous space \(G/H\) is a symmetric space of noncompact type. This paper is devoted to provide an outline of the proof of the following result: Given the symmetric space \(X\) associated with a split rank algebraic group \(G\), there is an embedding of \(X\) in a space \(X^{\ast }\) such that: 1. \(X^{\ast }\) is compact and Hausdorff, 2. \(X\) is an open dense subset of \(X^{\ast }\), 3. \(X^{\ast }\) is acyclic, 4. the isometries of \(X\) extend to continuous maps of \(X^{\ast }\), 5. there are continuous equivariant maps from \(X^{\ast }\) to other compactifications of \(X\). The author uses the \(K\)-theory of the Satake compactification \(X^{S}\) [\textit{S. Zucker}, Comment. Math. Helv. 58, 312--343 (1983; Zbl 0565.22009)] and the Borel-Serre enlargement \(X_{\mathbb{Q}}^{BS}\) [\textit{A. Borel} and \textit{J.-P. Serre}, Comment. Math. Helv. 48, 436--491 (1973; Zbl 0274.22011)] to obtain a proof of the integral Novikov conjecture [\textit{S. C. Ferry, A. Ranicki} and \textit{J. Rosenberg} (eds.), Novikov conjectures, index theorems and rigidity, (Cambridge Univ. Press, London) (1995; Zbl 0829.00027; Zbl 0829.00028)] for arithmetic groups.