English

Non-unitarisable representations and random forests

Group Theory 2010-01-20 v2 Functional Analysis

Abstract

We establish a connection between Dixmier's unitarisability problem and the expected degree of random forests on a group. As a consequence, a residually finite group is non-unitarisable if its first L2-Betti number is non-zero or if it is finitely generated with non-trivial cost. Our criterion also applies to torsion groups constructed by D. Osin, thus providing the first examples of non-unitarisable groups not containing a non-Abelian free subgroup.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0811.3422,
  title  = {Non-unitarisable representations and random forests},
  author = {Inessa Epstein and Nicolas Monod},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0811.3422},
  year   = {2010}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-21T11:43:49.528Z