On sofic actions and equivalence relations (Q647575)

Sofic groups were first introduced by \textit{M. Gromov} [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 1, No. 2, 109--197 (1999; Zbl 0998.14001)]. Examples of sofic groups include amenable groups and residually finite groups. \textit{G. Elek} and \textit{G. Lippner} defined the notion of sofic equivalence relation in [J. Funct. Anal. 258, No. 5, 1692--1708 (2010; Zbl 1417.37046)] and showed that treeable equivalence relations are sofic, and also that equivalence relations arising from Bernoulli actions of sofic groups are sofic. Connes' embedding problem asserts that every finite, separable von Neumann algebra is embeddable in a tracial ultraproduct of the hyperfinite factor. Beginning with Connes' embedding problem, the author defines a notion of sofic equivalence relations in a more operator algebraic way and then shows that this definition is equivalent to the one given by Elek and Lippner. The author also introduces the notion of sofic action for an arbitrary group. The author proves that an amalgamated product of sofic actions over amenable groups is sofic. The author also proves that an amalgamated product of sofic groups over an amenable subgroup is sofic.