Related papers: A class of II$_1$ factors with a unique McDuff dec…
We say that a countable group $G$ is McDuff if it admits a free ergodic probability measure preserving action such that the crossed product is a McDuff II_1 factor. Similarly, $G$ is said to be stable if it admits such an action with the…
We prove that for any free ergodic nonsingular nonamenable action \Gamma\ \actson (X,\mu) of all \Gamma\ in a large class of groups including all hyperbolic groups, the associated group measure space factor $L^\infty(X) \rtimes \Gamma$ has…
Given a countable group G, we consider the sets S_factor(G), S_eqrel(G), of subgroups F of the positive real line for which there exists a free ergodic probability measure preserving action G on X such that the fundamental group of the…
We prove that any II$_1$ factor arising from a free ergodic probability measure preserving action $\Gamma\curvearrowright X$ of a product $\Gamma=\Gamma_1\times\dots\times\Gamma_n$ of icc hyperbolic, free product or wreath product groups is…
We prove that for any free ergodic probability measure preserving action $\Gamma \actson (X,\mu)$ of a non-elementary hyperbolic group, or a lattice in a rank one simple Lie group, the associated group measure space II_1 factor $L^\infty(X)…
We prove that for a fairly large family of HNN extensions \Gamma, the group measure space II_1 factor L^\infty(X) \rtimes \Gamma given by an arbitrary free ergodic probability measure preserving action of \Gamma, has a unique group measure…
We provide a unified and self-contained treatment of several of the recent uniqueness theorems for the group measure space decomposition of a II_1 factor. We single out a large class of groups \Gamma, characterized by a one-cohomology…
We study Cartan subalgebras in the context of amalgamated free product II$_1$ factors and obtain several uniqueness and non-existence results. We prove that if $\Gamma$ belongs to a large class of amalgamated free product groups (which…
We prove that any isomorphism $\theta:M_0\simeq M$ of group measure space II$_1$ factors, $M_0=L^\infty(X_0, \mu_0) \rtimes_{\sigma_0} G_0$, $M=L^\infty(X, \mu) \rtimes_{\sigma} G$, with $G_0$ containing infinite normal subgroups with the…
We introduce the notion of a generalized Jung factor: a II$_1$ factor $M$ for which any two embeddings of $M$ into its ultrapower $M^{\mathcal U}$ are equivalent by an automorphism of $M^{\mathcal U}$. We show that $\mathcal R$ is not the…
We prove that any II$_1$ factor $L^{\infty}(X)\rtimes\Gamma$ arising from a compact, free, ergodic, probability measure preserving action of a countable group $\Gamma$ with positive first $\ell^2$-Betti number, has a unique group measure…
We introduce and study the family of uniformly super McDuff II$_1$ factors. This family is shown to be closed under elementary equivalence and also coincides with the family of II$_1$ factors with the Brown property introduced in…
We prove that for any free ergodic probability measure preserving action \F_n \actson (X,\mu) of a free group on n generators \F_n, 2 \leq n \leq \infty, the associated group measure space II_1 factor $L^\infty(X) \rtimes \F_n$ has…
We consider group measure space II$_1$ factors $M=L^{\infty}(X)\rtimes\Gamma$ arising from Bernoulli actions of ICC property (T) groups $\Gamma$ (more generally, of groups $\Gamma$ containing an infinite normal subgroup with relative…
We show that given any subgroup F of R_+ which is either countable or belongs to a certain "large" class of uncountable subgroups, there exist continuously many free ergodic probability measure preserving actions \sigma_i of the free group…
We prove that there exist uncountably many separable II$_1$ factors whose ultrapowers (with respect to arbitrary ultrafilters) are non-isomorphic. In fact, we prove that the families of non-isomorphic II$_1$ factors originally introduced by…
We prove that every group measure space II$_1$ factor $L^{\infty}(X)\rtimes\Gamma$ coming from a free ergodic rigid (in the sense of [Po01]) probability measure preserving action of a group $\Gamma$ with positive first $\ell^2$--Betti…
Developing new techniques at the interface of geometric group theory and von Neumann algebras, we identify the first examples of ICC groups $G$ whose von Neumann algebras are McDuff and exhibit a new rigidity phenomenon, termed McDuff…
We prove that II$_1$ factors $M$ have a unique (up to unitary conjugacy) cross-product type decomposition around ``core subfactors'' $N \subset M$ satisfying the property HT and a certain ``torsion freeness'' condition. In particular, this…
We prove a "unique crossed product decomposition" result for group measure space II_1 factors arising from arbitrary free ergodic probability measure preserving (p.m.p.) actions of groups \Gamma in a fairly large family G, which contains…