Around a Sobolev-Orlicz inequality for operators of given spectral density

We prove some general Sobolev-Orlicz, Nash and Faber-Krahn inequalities for positive operators of given ultracontractive norms of the spectral projectors on ]0, lambda]. For invariant operators on coverings of finite simplicial complexes this "ultracontractive spectral decay" is equivalent to von-Neumann's spectral density function. This allows in the polynomial decay case to relate the Novikov-Shubin numbers of such coverings to Sobolev inequalities on exact $\ell^2$-cochains, and to the vanishing of the torsion of the $\ell^{p,2}$-cohomology for some $p \geq 2$.