Obstructions to matricial stability of discrete groups and almost flat $K$-theory (Q2237357)

A group is called matricially stable if any approximate unitary representation of finite dimension is close to an actual representation. This property is rare. The first result in this direction is Voiculescu's proof that \(\mathbb{Z}^2\) is not matricially stable. This article strengthens the cohomological obstruction to matricial stability and studies some related properties. The goal is to show that a group that the even rational cohomology vanishes for matricially stable groups. This criterion works under the technical assumptions that the group should be MF and have a \(\gamma\)-element. Being MF means that its elements may be separated by an asymptotic homomorphism consisting of maps to unitary groups on finite-dimensional spaces. A \(\gamma\)-element is a tool used in the study of the Baum-Connes and Novikov conjectures. Many groups such as all exact groups and all linear groups are known to have a \(\gamma\)-element. The proof that groups with the Haagerup property satisfy the Baum--Connes conjecture shows that such groups have a \(\gamma\)-element. The criterion mentioned above is a special case of a more general result, which uses weakenings of quasidiagonality and of matricial stability. In the presence of a \(\gamma\)-element, these imply that the even rational cohomology of the group vanishes and that its finite-dimensional unitary representations separate the group elements. In the presence of Haagerup's property, the obstructions in terms of rational cohomology may be replaced by obstructions involving \(K_0\) of the group \(C^*\)-algebra. If, in addition, \(G\) has a finite simplicial complex as its classifying space \(BG\), then weak matricial stability and weak quasidiagonality together imply that \(K^0(BG)\) is generated by flat bundles. For amenable discrete groups with finitely generated \(K_*(C^*(G))\), Theorem~1.5 in the article provides an if and only if characterisation for weak matricial stability. The article also looks at lots of examples of groups, characterising when they are (weakly) matricially stable, and it carefully studies quasidiagonality and a weak form of it. A key point in the proofs of the article which allows more general results than in previous work of the author is an idea of Kubota to use a quasidiagonal \(C^*\)-algebra between the full and reduced group \(C^*\)-algebra. Such an intermediate \(C^*\)-algebra exists if and only if the group is quasidiagonal. This idea also allows the author to prove for a quasidiagonal, torsionfree group \(G\) with a \(\gamma\)-element that all elements of the representable \(K^0\) of \(BG\) are almost flat.