Mixing, malnormal subgroups and cohomology in degree one (Q2418870)

Let \(\pi:G \to GL(V)\) be a linear representation of a group \(G\). A 1-cocycle is a map \(b:G \to V\) such that \(b(gh)= b(g)+ \pi(g)b(h)\) and a 1-coboundary is a 1-cocycle of the form \(b(g)=\pi(g)v -v\) for some \(v \in V\). The quotient of the group of 1-cocycles by the group of 1-cobounaries is the degree one cohomology of \(G\) with respect to the representation \(\pi\). \par This comprehensive and nicely written paper explores implications of non-vanishing of \(H^1(G, \pi)\) on \(G\) under some technical conditions on the representation \(\pi\). These conditions referred as mixing conditions are imposed when \(\pi\) is a linear isometric representation of \(G\) on a Banach space. Mildly mixing implies that the action is ergodic when it is restricted to any infinite subgroup. \par If \(G\) is generated by a finite set \(S\) and \(\mu\) is some probability measure on \(S\) such that \(\mu(s^{-1})=\mu(s)\), then a cocycle \(b\) is called \(\mu\)-harmonic if \(\sum_{s\in S} \mu(s)b(s)=0\). The group \(G\) is called \(\mu\)-Liouville if there are no bounded \(\mu\)-harmonic functions on \(G\). The so called FC-centre \(Z^{FC}(G)\) of \(G\) is the characteristic subgroup of \(G\) consisting of elements with a finite conjugacy class. One of the main results of the paper is the following. \par Theorem. Let \(G\) be a finitely generated group and \(\pi\) a unitary representation of \(G\).\newline 1. If \(\pi\) is weakly mixing, then \(Z^{FC}(G) \subset \ker(b) \cap \ker (\pi|_{Im(b)})\) for any harmonic cocycle \(b\). \newline 2. If \(\pi\) is ergodic and \(G\) is \(\mu\)-Liouville for some symmetric measure \(\mu\) of finite support, then \(Z(G) \subset \ker(b) \cap \ker (\pi|_{Im(b)})\) for any harmonic cocycle \(b\). \par A representation is said to have finite stabilisers if the stabiliser of any non-zero element of \(V\) is finite. Further, a subgroup \(K\) of \(G\) is almost-malnormal if \(K \cap gKg^{-1}\) is finite for any \(g \in G \setminus K\). Along with many other results, the author proves the following. \par Theorem. Let \(G\) be a finitely generated group. If \(\pi\) is a linear representation of \(G\) with finite stabilisers and there is a subgroup \(H\) of \(G\) with \(H^1(H, \pi|_{H})=0\), then either \(H\) is contained in an almost-malnormal strict subgroup of \(G\) and \(H\) is finite, or \(H^1(G, \pi)=0\). The proofs are spelled out in detail, and have analytic and group theoretic flavour.