Related papers: Group actions, Teichm\"uller spaces and cobordisms

We study the isometry group of a globally hyperbolic spatially compact Lorentz surface. Such a group acts on the circle, and we show that when the isometry group acts non properly, the subgroups of $\mathrm{Diff}(\mathbb{S}^1)$ obtained are…

An isometric compact group action $G \times (M,g) \rightarrow (M,g)$ is called polar if there exists a closed embedded submanifold $\Sigma \subseteq M$ which meets all orbits orthogonally. Let $\Pi$ be the associated generalized Weyl group.…

We prove that any action of a higher rank lattice on a Gromov-hyperbolic space is elementary. More precisely, it is either elliptic or parabolic. This is a large generalization of the fact that any action of a higher rank lattice on a tree…

Suppose n>2, let M,M' be n-dimensional connected complete finite-volume hyperbolic manifolds with non-empty geodesic boundary, and suppose that the fundamental group of M is quasi-isometric to the fundamental group of M' (with respect to…

We classify smooth locally free actions of the real affine group on closed orientable three-dimensional manifolds up to smooth conjugacy. As a corollary, there exists a non-homogeneous action when the manifold is the unit tangent bundle of…

In these lectures we consider how algebraic properties of discrete subgroups of Lie groups restrict the possible actions of those groups on surfaces. The results show a strong parallel between the possible actions of such a group on the…

We prove that for $n\geq 2$, a non-uniform lattice in $\text{PU}(n,1)$ does not admit a relatively geometric action on a $\mathrm{CAT}(0)$ cube complex, in the sense of Einstein and Groves. As a consequence, if $\Gamma$ is a non-uniform…

We prove that any smooth action of $\mathbb Z^{m-1}, m\ge 3$ on an $m$-dimensional manifold that preserves a measure such that all non-identity elements of the suspension have positive entropy is essentially algebraic, i.e. isomorphic up to…

The Marle-Guillemin-Sternberg (MGS) form is local model for a neighborhood of an orbit of a Hamiltonian Lie group action on a symplectic manifold. One of the main features of the MGS form is that it puts simultaneously in normal form the…

We define a bounded cohomology class, called the {\em median class}, in the second bounded cohomology -- with appropriate coefficients --of the automorphism group of a finite dimensional CAT(0) cube complex X. The median class of X behaves…

We construct compact hyperbolic 3-manifolds with totally geodesic boundary, such that the closed 3-pseudomanifolds obtained by coning off the boundary components are negatively curved and contain locally convex subspaces whose fundamental…

We show that the fixed elements for the natural GL_m-action on the universal division algebra UD(m,n) of m generic n x n matrices form a division subalgebra of degree n, assuming n >= 3 and 2 <= m <= n^2 - 2. This allows us to describe the…

We initiate the study of group actions on (possibly infinite) semimatroids and geometric semilattices. To every such action is naturally associated an orbit-counting function, a two-variable "Tutte" polynomial and a poset which, in the…

We show that the pre-order defined on the category of contact manifolds by arbitrary symplectic cobordisms is considerably less rigid than its counterparts for exact or Stein cobordisms: in particular, we exhibit large new classes of…

For finitely generated groups $G$ and $H$ equipped with word metrics, a translation-like action of $H$ on $G$ is a free action where each element of $H$ moves elements of $G$ a bounded distance. Translation-like actions provide a geometric…

We prove that any smooth volume-preserving action of a lattice $\Gamma$ in $\textrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})$, $n\ge 3$, on a closed $n$-manifold which possesses one element that admits a dominated splitting should be standard. In other words, the…

We study discrete groups from the view point of a dimension gap in connection to CAT(0) geometry. Developing studies by Brady-Crisp and Bridson, we show that there exist finitely presented groups of geometric dimension 2 which do not act…

We show that if G is a discrete group which does not have the Haagerup property but does have an unbounded cocycle into a C_0 representation and if G acts on a finite von Neumann algebra B such that the inclusion B \subset (B \rtimes G) has…

We study complex hyperbolic disc bundles over closed orientable surfaces that arise from discrete and faithful representations H_n->PU(2,1), where H_n is the fundamental group of the orbifold S^2(2,...,2) and thus contains a surface group…

Group actions on a Smale space and the actions induced on the C*-algebras associated to such a dynamical system are studied. We show that an effective action of a discrete group on a mixing Smale space produces a strongly outer action on…