Minimal Følner foliations are amenable

DOI10.3934/DCDS.2011.31.685MaRDI QIDQ652201zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Fernando Alcalde Cuesta, Ana Rechtman

Publication date 13 December 2011

Published in Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.2793

amenable foliations foliations Følner leaves measurable equivalence relations

Algebraic ergodic theory, cocycles, orbit equivalence, ergodic equivalence relations (37A20) Means on groups, semigroups, etc.; amenable groups (43A07) Foliations in differential topology; geometric theory (57R30)

Abstract: For finitely generated groups, amenability and F{o}lner properties are equivalent. However, contrary to a widespread idea, Kaimanovich showed that F{o}lner condition does not imply amenability for discrete measured equivalence relations. In this paper, we exhibit two examples of

C^{i} n f t y

foliations of closed manifolds that are F{o}lner and non amenable with respect to a finite transverse invariant measure and a transverse invariant volume, respectively. We also prove the equivalence between the two notions when the foliation is minimal, that is all the leaves are dense, giving a positive answer to a question of Kaimanovich. The equivalence is stated with respect to transverse invarian measures or some tangentially smooth measures. The latter include harmonic measures, and in this case the F{o}lner condition has to be replaced by

e t a

-F{o}lner (where the usual volume is modified by the modular form

e t a

of the measure).

Review text

The concepts of amenability and Følner condition are originally defined for locally compact groups and are equivalent. For a compact foliated space with an invariant measure, the foliation defines an equivalence relation on a total transversal (two points are equivalent if they belong to the same leaf), amenable foliations and Følner leaves can be defined in terms of this equivalence relation. Contrary to a widespread belief, \textit{V. Kaimanovich} [Transl., Ser. 2, Am. Math. Soc. 202(50), 151--166 (2001; Zbl 0990.28013)] constructed a smooth non-amenable foliation with almost all leaves satisfying the Følner condition. In the example of Kaimanovich any transverse invariant measure is not locally finite. The paper under review has two goals, the first of them is to show that amenability for foliations cannot be deduced from the condition of the foliation having Følner leaves. This is done by exhibiting two examples of non-amenable foliations whose leaves are Følner. Theses examples are constructed by using plugs, and their importance lies in the measures they present: a finite transverse invariant measure and transverse invariant volume. The second goal is to answer the following question (due to Kaimanovich): does the assumption of minimality on the foliation assure the equivalence between the two concepts? Here `minimality' means that the ambient manifold is a minimal set for the foliation. A positive answer is given by two theorems. Under the assumptions that almost all leaves have trivial holonomy and that the foliation is minimal, the authors prove, in the cases of transverse invariant measures and tangentially smooth measures, that the foliation is amenable if and only if almost all leaves are Følner.

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