Stationary probability measures and topological realizations (Q375515)

The work of the second author [Classical descriptive set theory. Berlin: Springer (1995; Zbl 0819.04002)] shows that a standard Borel space is Borel-isomorphic to a \(\sigma\)-compact Polish space, and that any Borel action of a countable discrete group on a standard Borel space is Borel-isomorphic to a continuous action on a Polish space. The question considered here is how far one can go in achieving results in these two directions simultaneously, and in particular whether there are obstacles to doing so. Starting with some relatively straightforward examples of continuous actions of countable groups on Polish spaces which are not Borel isomorphic to continuous actions on \(\sigma\)-compact Hausdorff spaces, a strong form of a result of the last two authors [Topics in orbit equivalence. Berlin: Springer (2004; Zbl 1058.37003)] concerning generic compressibility of aperiodic countable Borel equivalence relations is obtained. This is used to give generic non-existence results for stationary Borel probability measures, and finally it is shown that every aperiodic continuous action of a countable group on a compact Polish space admits an invariant Borel set on which it is not Borel-isomorphic to any continuous action on a \(\sigma\)-compact Hausdorff space.