We prove an effective variant of the Kazhdan-Margulis theorem generalized to stationary actions of semisimple groups over local fields: the probability that the stabilizer of a random point admits a non-trivial intersection with a small $r$-neighborhood of the identity is at most $beta r^delta$ for some explicit constants $beta, delta > 0$ depending only the group. This is a consequence of a key convolution inequality. We deduce that vanishing at infinity of injectivity radius implies finiteness of volume. Further applications are the compactness of the space of discrete stationary random subgroups and a novel proof of the fact that all lattices in semisimple groups are weakly cocompact.
Let $G$ be a reductive algebraic group over an algebraically closed field and let $V$ be a quasi-projective $G$-variety. We prove that the set of points $vin V$ such that ${rm dim}(G_v)$ is minimal and $G_v$ is reductive is open. We also prove some results on the existence of principal stabilisers in an appropriate sense.
Let $Gamma$ be a finitely generated group and $X$ be a minimal compact $Gamma$-space. We assume that the $Gamma$-action is micro-supported, i.e. for every non-empty open subset $U subseteq X$, there is an element of $Gamma$ acting non-trivially on $U$ and trivially on the complement $X setminus U$. We show that, under suitable assumptions, the existence of certain commensurated subgroups in $Gamma$ yields strong restrictions on the dynamics of the $Gamma$-action: the space $X$ has compressible open subsets, and it is an almost $Gamma$-boundary. Those properties yield in turn restrictions on the structure of $Gamma$: $Gamma$ is neither amenable nor residually finite. Among the applications, we show that the (alternating subgroup of the) topological full group associated to a minimal and expansive Cantor action of a finitely generated amenable group has no commensurated subgroups other than the trivial ones. Similarly, every commensurated subgroup of a finitely generated branch group is commensurate to a normal subgroup; the latter assertion relies on an appendix by Dominik Francoeur, and generalizes a result of Phillip Wesolek on finitely generated just-infinite branch groups. Other applications concern discrete groups acting on the circle, and the centralizer lattice of non-discrete totally disconnected locally compact (tdlc) groups. Our results rely, in an essential way, on recent results on the structure of tdlc groups, on the dynamics of their micro-supported actions, and on the notion of uniformly recurrent subgroups.
In this monograph, we give an account of the relationship between the algebraic structure of finitely generated and countable groups and the regularity with which they act on manifolds. We concentrate on the case of one--dimensional manifolds, culminating with a uniform construction of finitely generated groups acting with prescribed regularity on the compact interval and on the circle. We develop the theory of dynamical obstructions to smoothness, beginning with classical results of Denjoy, to more recent results of Kopell, and to modern results such as the $abt$--Lemma. We give a classification of the right-angled Artin groups that have finite critical regularity and discuss their exact critical regularities in many cases, and we compute the virtual critical regularity of most mapping class groups of orientable surfaces.
Let $R$ be a commutative unital ring. Given a finitely-presented affine $R$-group $G$ acting on a finitely-presented $R$-scheme $X$ of finite type, we show that there is a prime $p_0$ so that for any $R$-algebra $k$ which is a field of characteristic $p > p_0$, the centralisers in $G_k$ of all subsets $U subseteq X(k)$ are smooth. We prove this using the Lefschetz principle together with careful application of Gr{o}bner basis techniques.
We show that if $G_1$ and $G_2$ are non-solvable groups, then no $C^{1,tau}$ action of $(G_1times G_2)*mathbb{Z}$ on $S^1$ is faithful for $tau>0$. As a corollary, if $S$ is an orientable surface of complexity at least three then the critical regularity of an arbitrary finite index subgroup of the mapping class group $mathrm{Mod}(S)$ with respect to the circle is at most one, thus strengthening a result of the first two authors with Baik.