An obstruction to \(\ell^p\)-dimension (Q486799)

Let \(G\) be an infinite group and let \(\ell^pG\), where \(1 < p \in \mathbb{R}\), be the space of complex-valued functions on \(G\) which are \(p\)-integrable with respect to Haar measure on \(G\). Let \(X\) be a subspace of \(\ell^pG\) that is invariant under translation by elements of \(G\). An interesting question is that is it possible to associate to \(X\) a dimension which behaves well under the usual vector space operations. For the case \(p=2\) such a dimension theory, known as von Neumann dimension or \(\ell^2\)-dimension exists. In this paper the authors investigate if this dimension theory can be extended to the case \(p \neq 2\). An increasing sequence of translation invariant closed subspaces \((E_i)_{i \in \mathbb{N}}\) of \(\ell^pG\) with dense union is said to be an \textit{invariant exhaustion} of \(\ell^pG\). We shall say that an invariant exhaustion \((E_i)_{i \in \mathbb{N}}\) of \(\ell^pG\) is \textit{thin} if there is a closed invariant subspace \(F \neq 0\) satisfying \(E_i \cap F = 0\) or all \(i\). One feature of \(\ell^2\)-dimension theory is that a translation invariant subspace is trivial if and only if its dimension is zero. This translates to the following condition: Let \(F\) be a closed translation invariant subspace of \(\ell^pG\). Then \(F\) is trivial if and only if for each invariant exhaustion \((E_i)_{i \in \mathbb{N}}\) of \(\ell^p G, E_i \cap F = 0\) for all \(i\). In the paper under review the authors use this condition to show that there is an obstruction to extending this dimension theory to the case \(p >2\). More specifically they prove the following theorem: Thin invariant exhaustions of \(\ell^pG\) for all \(p > 2\) exist for every group \(G\) containing an infinite elementary amenable subgroup. In particular, this holds for every non-trivial infinite group which is not torsion. The opposite result is true when \(1 \leq p \leq 2\). \textit{A. Gournay} proved in [J. Funct. Anal. 266, No. 2, 487--513 (2014; Zbl 1298.43002)] that if \(G\) is a countable infinite amenable group, then there are no thin invariant exhaustions of \(\ell^pG\)