Rational group ring elements with kernels having irrational dimension.

DOI10.1112/PLMS/PDT029MaRDI QIDQ2872032zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Tim Austin

Publication date 14 January 2014

Published in Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. Third Series (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0909.2360

zbMATH Keywords

\(L^2\)-Betti numbersAtiyah conjecturelamplighter groupsMarkov operatorsrational group ringsspectral measureswreath products

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Graphs and abstract algebra (groups, rings, fields, etc.) (05C25) Group rings of infinite groups and their modules (group-theoretic aspects) (20C07) Geometric group theory (20F65) Eigenvalue problems for linear operators (47A75) Exotic index theories on manifolds (58J22)

Abstract: We prove that there are examples of finitely generated groups G together with group ring elements Q in �bQ G for which the von Neumann dimension dim_{LG}ker Q is irrational, so (in conjunction with other known results) answering a question of Atiyah.

Review text

When Atiyah introduced the \(L^2\)-Betti numbers of normal coverings of a compact manifold with covering group \(\Gamma\), he asked for the possible values which can occur. In particular, he asked whether they always have to be rational numbers.NEWLINENEWLINE This problem has been popularized as the ``Atiyah conjecture on the value of \(L^2\)-Betti numbers. Known reductions show that this is in some sense a purely algebraic question, namely on the spectrum of elements of the rational group ring \(\mathbb Q\Gamma\), acting on the Hilbert space \(l^2(\Gamma)\) via the left regular representation. This question was at the center of activity for many years, proving in many cases rationality -- but to produce examples of irrational values proved illusive. Earlier work of \textit{W. Dicks} and the reviewer [Geom. Dedicata 93, 121-137 (2002; Zbl 1021.47014)] had provided candidates of irrational \(L^2\)-Betti numbers, but nobody had every been able to verify that the values constructed there are actually irrational.NEWLINENEWLINE In the very important article at hand, Tim Austin finally manages to prove that irrational, even transcendental \(L^2\)-Betti numbers exist. Indeed, he proves that the set of \(L^2\)-Betti numbers is uncountable. In its very rough outline, the method is inspired by the paper of Dicks and Schick just cited. In particular, this is based on an explicit invariant decomposition where each summand contributes in a controlled way to the spectrum. However, Austin implements a number of very interesting new ideas.NEWLINENEWLINE The first is the use of much more general (but still lamplighter-like) operators which allow for a more flexible spectral decomposition. To be able to have more room for this flexibility, he works with a wreath product of a finite group with a nonabelian free group.NEWLINENEWLINE The third very relevant new idea is the use of quotients of the lamplighter group, so instead of one specific group a whole family of groups is considered at once. This allows to fine-tune which of the above summands in the spectral decomposition actually contribute and to ``switch off others.NEWLINENEWLINE Tim Austin, at this point, doesn't carry out the calculations explicitly. Indeed, he shows that the construction is sufficiently flexible to give an uncountable set of different \(L^2\)-Betti numbers. Necessarily, this requires him to use groups \(\Gamma\) which are not finitely presented.

Recommendations

• Irrational \(l^2\) invariants arising from the lamplighter group
• Closed manifolds with transcendental L^2-Betti numbers.
• The spectral measure of certain elements of the complex group ring of a wreath product
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• Free lamplighter groups and a question of Atiyah

Cited in

(27)

• Mean dimension, mean rank, and von Neumann-Lück rank
• The Atiyah conjecture and \(L^2\)-cohomology computations
• The spectral measure of certain elements of the complex group ring of a wreath product
• Approximating the group algebra of the lamplighter by infinite matrix products
• The Atiyah conjecture for the Hecke algebra of the infinite dihedral group.
• The base change in the Atiyah and the Lück approximation conjectures
• The strong Atiyah conjecture for virtually cocompact special groups
• Irrational \(l^2\) invariants arising from the lamplighter group
• From Self-Similar Groups to Self-Similar Sets and Spectra
• Free lamplighter groups and a question of Atiyah
• On the lattice of subgroups of the lamplighter group.
• Closed manifolds with transcendental L^2-Betti numbers.
• Higher invariants in noncommutative geometry
• Traces on group \(C^\ast\)-algebras, sofic groups and Lück's conjecture
• The strong Atiyah conjecture for right-angled Artin and Coxeter groups.
• On Turing dynamical systems and the Atiyah problem
• Group ring elements with large spectral density
• Delocalized eta invariants, algebraicity, and \(K\)-theory of group \(C^*\)-algebras
• Vanishing of l²‐cohomology as a computational problem
• On the center-valued Atiyah conjecture for \(L^2\)-Betti numbers
• The realization problem for some wild monoids and the Atiyah problem
• On computing homology gradients over finite fields
• The lamplighter group of rank two generated by a bireversible automaton
• Spectra of Cayley graphs of the lamplighter group and random Schrödinger operators
• L 2 -Betti numbers and computability of reals
• Some problems and conjectures about L^2-invariants
• \(L^2\)-Betti numbers arising from the lamplighter group

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