A local characterization of Kazhdan projections and applications (Q2337232)

Let \(G\) be a compactly generated locally compact infinite group, and let \(S \subset G\) denote a compact symmetric generating set. A pair \((\pi, E)\) will mean a representation of \(G\) where \(E\) is a Banach space and \(\pi\) is a strongly continuous representation of \(G\) on \(E\). Let \(\mathcal{F}\) be a class of representations on Banach spaces such that \[ \sup_{(\pi, E) \in \mathcal{F}} \Vert \pi(g) \Vert_{B(E)} \] is bounded on compact subsets of \(G\). The author defines a Banach algebra \(\mathcal{C}_{\mathcal{F}}(G)\), which is the full \(C^{\ast}\)-algebra of \(G\) when \(\mathcal{F}\) is the class of unitary representations of \(G\). A Kazhdan projection in \(\mathcal{C}_{\mathcal{F}}(G)\) is an idempotent {\em p} belonging to the closure of \(\{ f \in C_c (G) \mid \int f = 1\}\) in \(\mathcal{C}_{\mathcal{F}}(G)\) such that \(\pi(p)\) is a projection on \(E^{\pi} = \{ x \in E \mid \pi(g)x = x \mbox{ for all }g \in G\}\) for every \((\pi, E) \in \mathcal{F}\). If \(( \pi, E)\) is a representation of \(G\) and if \(x \in E\), set \[ \delta_S^{\pi} (x) = \max_{g \in S} \Vert \pi(g) x - x \Vert. \] The main result of this paper is the following: The following are equivalent: \begin{itemize} \item[1.] \(\mathcal{C}_{\mathcal{F}}(G)\) contains a Kazhdan projection. \item[2.] There is a compactly supported measure \(m\) with \(\int 1 dm =1\) such that \(\delta_S^{\pi}(\pi (m) x) \leq \frac{1}{2} \delta_S^{\pi} (x)\) for all \((\pi, E) \in \mathcal{F}\) and \(x \in E\). \end{itemize} Furthermore, if these properties hold and if \((\sigma, E)\) is an affine action of \(G\) whose linear part belongs to \(\mathcal{F}\), then \(\sigma\) has a fixed point if and only if \(\delta_S^{\sigma} (\sigma (m)x) \leq \frac{1}{2} \delta_S^{\sigma} (x)\) for all \(x \in E\). The author defines a topology on sets of Banach space valued representations of locally compact groups and characterizes this topology in terms of ultraproduct representations. Numerous applications are also given. The introduction to the paper gives an excellent explanation to the motivation behind the topics investigated in this paper.