Stable orbit equivalence of Bernoulli shifts over free groups (Q646373)

Two measure-preserving actions \(G_1 \curvearrowright^T X_1\), \(G_2 \curvearrowright^S X_2\) on standard probability spaces \((X_1,\mu_1)\) and \((X_2,\mu_2)\), respectively, are called ``stably orbit equivalent'' if there exist sets \(A_1 \subset X_1\) and \(A_2 \subset X_2\) of positive measure and a map \(\phi:A_1\rightarrow A_2\) inducing a measure-space isomorphism between \((A_1,\mu_1(\cdot|A_1))\) and \((A_2,\mu_2(\cdot|A_2))\) such that for almost every \(x\in A_1\) \[ \phi\left(\left\{T_g(x)\;:\;g \in G_1 \right\} \cap A_1\right) = \left\{S_g\phi(x)\;:\;g\in G_2\right\} \cap A_2. \] If \((K,\kappa)\) denotes a standard probability space and \(G\) a countable discrete group, the Bernoulli shift over \(G\) with base space \((K,\kappa)\) is the action of \(G\) on \(K^G = \{x:G\rightarrow K\}\), given by \((S_gx)(h) = x(g^{-1}h)\), which preserves the product measure \(\kappa^G\) on \(K^G\). While it was known that any two Bernoulli-shift actions over a fixed free group are orbit equivalent, the main result of this paper considers the classification by stable orbit equivalence and asserts that any two Bernoulli-shift actions over the free groups \(\mathbb{F}_r\) and \(\mathbb{F}_s\) of rank \(r\) and \(s\), respectively, where \(1 < r,s < \infty\), are stably orbit equivalent. Combining this with a former result of the author [Groups Geom. Dyn. 5, No. 1, 1--15 (2011; Zbl 1257.37004)], one finds as a corollary that any two Bernoulli shifts over groups of the form \(\Gamma_1 = A_1 \star \cdots \star A_r\) and \(\Gamma_2 = A_1' \star \cdots \star A_s'\) with countably infinite amenable groups \(A_1,\ldots,A_r\) and \(A_1',\ldots,A_s'\) are stably orbit equivalent.