Related papers: Shift-minimal groups, fixed price 1, and the uniqu…

A measure preserving action of a countably infinite group \Gamma is called totally ergodic if every infinite subgroup of \Gamma acts ergodically. For example, all mixing and mildly mixing actions are totally ergodic. This note shows that if…

We prove that if a countable group $\Gamma$ contains infinite commuting subgroups $H, H'\subset \Gamma$ with $H$ non-amenable and $H'$ ``weakly normal'' in $\Gamma$, then any measure preserving $\Gamma$-action on a probability space which…

Ab\'ert-Weiss have shown that the Bernoulli shift s of a countably infinite group \Gamma is weakly contained in any free measure preserving action (mpa) b of \Gamma. We establish a strong version of this result, conjectured by Ioana, by…

Let $\Gamma$ be a countable discrete group. We say that $\Gamma$ has $C^*$-invariant subalgebra rigidity (ISR) property if every $\Gamma$-invariant $C^*$-subalgebra $\mathcal{A}\le C_r^*(\Gamma)$ is of the form $C_r^*(N)$ for some normal…

Using percolation techniques, Gaboriau and Lyons recently proved that every countable, discrete, nonamenable group $\Gamma$ contains measurably the free group $\mathbf F_2$ on two generators: there exists a probability measure-preserving,…

A discrete group is said to be C*-simple if its reduced C*-algebra is simple, and is said to have the unique trace property if its reduced C*-algebra has a unique tracial state. A dynamical characterization of C*-simplicity was recently…

Let $\Gamma $ be an infinite discrete group and $\mathsf{A}\subset \Gamma $ a nonempty finite subset. The set of permutations $\sigma $ of $\Gamma $ such that $s^{-1}\sigma (s)\in \mathsf{A}$ for every $s\in \Gamma $ can be identified with…

We establish general criteria for a countable group $\Gamma$ to have fixed price 1 depending on a choice of left-invariant proper metric on $\Gamma$. We apply this criterion to show that if $\Gamma_1,\Gamma_2$ are two countable groups…

We introduce infinitesimal weak containment for measure-preserving actions of a countable group $\Gamma$: an action $(X,\mu)$ is infinitesimally contained in $(Y,\nu)$ if the statistics of the action of $\Gamma$ on small measure subsets of…

Let $\Gamma$ be a countable group and $(X, \Gamma)$ a compact topological dynamical system. We study the question of the existence of an intermediate $C^*$-subalgebra $\mathcal{A}$ $$C^{*}_{r}(\Gamma)<\mathcal{A}<C(X)\rtimes_r\Gamma,$$…

A discrete group $\Gamma$ is called exact if the reduced group C*-algebra ${C_{\lambda}}^{*}(\Gamma)$ is exact as C*-algebras, and a discrete group $\Lambda$ is called residually exact if every nonunital element $g \in \Lambda$ admits a…

For any countable group $\Gamma$ satisfying the ``weak Rohlin property'', and for any dynamical property, the set of $\Gamma$-actions with that property is either residual or meager. The class of groups with the weak Rohlin property…

We prove that if a countable discrete group $\Gamma$ is {\it w-rigid}, i.e. it contains an infinite normal subgroup $H$ with the relative property (T) (e.g. $\Gamma= SL(2,\Bbb Z) \ltimes \Bbb Z^2$, or $\Gamma = H \times H'$ with $H$ an…

Let $\Gamma$ be a countable group that admits an essential measurable splitting (for instance, any group measure equivalent to a free product of nontrivial groups). We show: (1) for any two nontrivial countable groups $B$ and $C$ that are…

We characterize when the reduced C*-algebra of a group has unique tracial state, respectively, is simple, in terms of Dixmier-type properties of the group C*-algebra. We also give a simple proof of the recent result by Breuillard, Kalantar,…

We prove that the alternating group of a topologically free action of a countably infinite group $\Gamma$ on the Cantor set has the property that all of its $\ell^2$-Betti numbers vanish and, in the case that $\Gamma$ is amenable, is stable…

Given a commensurated subgroup $\Lambda$ of a group $\Gamma$, we completely characterize when the inclusion $\Lambda\leq \Gamma$ is $C^*$-irreducible and provide new examples of such inclusions. In particular, we obtain that…

A discrete group $\Gamma$ is C*-simple if the C*-algebra $C_\lambda^*(\Gamma)$ generated by the range of the left regular representation $\lambda$ on $\ell^2(\Gamma)$ is simple. In this case, $\Gamma$ acts faithfully on the Furstenberg…

The reduced C*-algebra of a countable linear group G is shown to be simple if and only if G has no nontrivial normal amenable subgroups. Moreover, these conditions are shown to be equivalent to the uniqueness of tracial state on the…

We show that for a large class of actions $\Gamma \curvearrowright \mathcal{A}$ of $C^*$-simple groups $\Gamma$ on unital $C^*$-algebras $\mathcal{A}$, including any non-faithful action of a hyperbolic group with trivial amenable radical,…