The isocohomological property, higher Dehn functions, and relatively hyperbolic groups. (Q2389244)

The Novikov higher signature conjecture for a group \(G\) asserts that the higher signatures of its classifying space \(BG\), which is a \(K(G,1)\), should be homotopy invariants. One approach to the conjecture has been to derive it as a consequence of the so-called strong Novikov conjecture, i.e., that one always has rational injectivity of the \(K\)-theoretical assembly map from \(K\)-homology of \(BG\) to the \(K\)-theory of the reduced \(C^*\)-algebra, \(C^*_r(G)\). One approach of \textit{A. Connes} and \textit{H. Moscovici} [Topology 29, No. 3, 345-388 (1990; Zbl 0759.58047)] was to show that the strong Novikov conjecture holds for a finitely generated discrete group \(G\) when the polynomial cohomology \(HP^*(G;\mathbb C)\) is surjective to \(H^*(G,\mathbb C)\) for the homomorphism induced by the inclusion. For a finitely generated group \(G\), the collection of polynomial growth co-chains forms a sub-cochain complex of the usual cochain complex and cohomology if this subcomplex is the polynomial growth cohomology \(HP^*(G;\mathbb C)\). A finitely generated group \(G\) has the isocohomological property if for every coefficient module \(V\), the induced homomorphism \(HP^*(G;V)\to H^*(G;V)\) is an isomorphism. Finally, a finitely generated group is said to be of type \(HF^\infty\) if it has a classifying space with the homotopy type of a polyhedral complex with finitely many cells in each dimension. The paper under review achieves three goals. In the second section, the authors introduce weighted fillings and use these to construct higher weighted Dehn functions on an \(HF^\infty\) group. They then prove that the isocohomological property is equivalent to the usual higher Dehn functions of the group having polynomial growth, which builds on \textit{C. Ogle}'s results [J. Pure Appl. Algebra 195, No. 2, 173-209 (2005; Zbl 1071.18007)] that groups with such functions have the isocohomological property. They also show that the property is a quasi-isometry invariant and conclude that nilpotent groups and groups of type \(HF^\infty\) that possess a polynomial combing have the isocohomological property. In the fourth section, they show that the approach of Connes-Moscovici which was used to show the validity of the Novikov conjecture for hyperbolic groups can be applied to the case of relatively hyperbolic groups, recovering a result originally due to \textit{I. Chatterji} and \textit{K. Ruane} [Geom. Funct. Anal. 15, No. 2, 311-339 (2005; Zbl 1134.22005)]. Finally, in the final section, the authors show that if \(G\) relatively hyperbolic with respect to \(HF^\infty\) groups with the isocohomological property then \(G\) itself is of type \(HF^\infty\) and it has the isocohomological property.