English

Thompson's group $F$ is not Liouville

Group Theory 2016-03-23 v3 Probability

Abstract

We prove that random walks on Thompson's group FF driven by strictly non-degenerate finitely supported probability measures μ\mu have a non-trivial Poisson boundary. The proof consists in an explicit construction of two different non-trivial μ\mu-boundaries. Both of them are defined in terms of the Schreier graph Γ\Gamma on the dyadic-rational orbit of the canonical action of FF on the unit interval (actually, we consider a natural embedding of FF into the group PLF(R)PLF({\mathbb R}) of piecewise linear homeomorphisms of the real line, and realize Γ\Gamma on the dyadic-rational orbit in R{\mathbb R}). However, the behaviours at infinity described by these μ\mu-boundaries are quite different (in perfect keeping with the ambivalence concerning amenability of the group FF). The first μ\mu-boundary is similar to the boundaries of the lamplighter groups: it consists of Z{\mathbb Z}-valued configurations on Γ\Gamma arising from the stabilization of the logarithmic increments of slopes along the sample paths of the random walk. The second μ\mu-boundary is more similar to the boundaries of groups with hyperbolic properties as it consists of the sections of the end bundle of the graph Γ\Gamma: these are the collections of the limit ends of the induced random walk on Γ\Gamma parameterized by all possible starting points.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1602.02971,
  title  = {Thompson's group $F$ is not Liouville},
  author = {Vadim A. Kaimanovich},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1602.02971},
  year   = {2016}
}