Absence of non-constant harmonic functions with \(\ell^p\)-gradient in some semi-direct products (Q300438)

Let \(p \in [1, \infty [\) and let \(G\) be a finitely generated group. Denote by \(\mathcal{H}D^p(G)\) the space of real-valued harmonic functions on \(G\) with gradient in \(\ell^p(G)\), and denote by \(B\mathcal{H}D^p(G)\) the bounded functions in \(\mathcal{H}D^p(G)\). The motivation for this paper is to investigate the following question: Are there nonconstant functions in \(\mathcal{H}D^p(G)\) when \(G\) is an infinite amenable group? The author shows that the answer to this question is no for a class of groups that are semi-direct products. More specifically, the main result of this paper is: Let \(H\) be of growth at least polynomial of degree \(d \geq 2p\) and, if \(H\) is of superpolynomial growth, assume that only constant functions belong to \(B\mathcal{H}D^q(H)\) for some \(q > p\). Let \(C\) be a group which is not finitely generated, assume \(G = C\rtimes_{\phi} H\) is finitely generated and assume the hypothesis (TC) holds. Then \(\mathcal{H}D^p(G)\) contains only constant functions. The technical condition (TC) mentioned in the theorem roughly means that elements in \(C\) which are far away commute. The problem studied in this paper is directly related to a conjecture posed by Gromov during the 1980's: The first reduced \(\ell^p\)-cohomology space of a finitely generated infinite amenable group is zero. This conjecture would have a negative answer if an example of a finitely generated infinite discrete amenable group can be found for which \(\mathcal{H}D^p(G)\) contains nonconstant functions.