On spectra of representations and graphs. Erratum

Unfortunately the proof of the main result of [1], Theorem 1, has a flaw. Namely, Lemma 13 used in the proof of Proposition 11 is correct only under an additional assumption that the operator $A$ is normal (adjoint for the one-sided shift operator in $l^2(mathbb N)$ provides a counterexample). Below we prove a version of Lemma 13 that does not require the normality assumption and apply it to prove Proposition 11. In addition, the same version of the lemma appears in paper [2] (as Lemma 3.1) where it is used in the proof of Theorem 1.6. We also explain here how to use the new version of Lemma 13 to correct the proof of Theorem 1.6 from [2].

On the question Can one hear the shape of a group? and Hulanicki type theorem for graphs

We study the question of whether it is possible to determine a finitely generated group $G$ up to some notion of equivalence from the spectrum $mathrm{sp}(G)$ of $G$. We show that the answer is No in a strong sense. As the first example we present the collection of amenable 4-generated groups $G_omega$, $omegain{0,1,2}^mathbb N$, constructed by the second author in 1984. We show that among them there is a continuum of pairwise non-quasi-isometric groups with $mathrm{sp}(G_omega)=[-tfrac{1}{2},0]cup[tfrac{1}{2},1]$. Moreover, for each of these groups $G_omega$ there is a continuum of covering groups $G$ with the same spectrum. As the second example we construct a continuum of $2$-generated torsion-free step-3 solvable groups with the spectrum $[-1,1]$. In addition, in relation to the above results we prove a version of Hulanicki Theorem about inclusion of spectra for covering graphs.

On spectra of Koopman, groupoid and quasi-regular representations

In this paper we investigate relations between Koopman, groupoid and quasi-regular representations of countable groups. We show that for an ergodic measure class preserving action of a countable group G on a standard Borel space the associated groupoid and quasi-regular representations are weakly equivalent and weakly contained in the Koopman representation. Moreover, if the action is hyperfinite then the Koopman representation is weakly equivalent to the groupoid. As a corollary of our results we obtain a continuum of pairwise disjoint pairwise equivalent irreducible representations of weakly branch groups. As an illustration we calculate spectra of regular, Koopman and groupoid representations associated to the action of the 2-group of intermediate growth constructed by the second author in 1980.

On irreducibility and disjointness of Koopman and quasi-regular representations of weakly branch groups

We study Koopman and quasi-regular representations corresponding to the action of arbitrary weakly branch group G on the boundary of a rooted tree T. One of the main results is that in the case of a quasi-invariant Bernoulli measure on the boundary of T the corresponding Koopman representation of G is irreducible (under some general conditions). We also show that quasi-regular representations of G corresponding to different orbits and Koopman representations corresponding to different Bernoulli measures on the boundary of T are pairwise disjoint. This gives two continual collections of pairwise disjoint irreducible representations of a weakly branch group. Another corollary of our results is triviality of the centralizer of G in various groups of transformations on the boundary of T.

On diagonal actions of branch groups and the corresponding characters

We introduce notions of absolutely non-free and perfectly non-free group actions and use them to study the associated unitary representations. We show that every weakly branch group acts absolutely non-freely on the boundary of the associated rooted tree. Using this result and the symmetrized diagonal actions we construct for every countable branch group infinitely many different ergodic perfectly non-free actions, infinitely many II$_1$-factor representations, and infinitely many continuous ergodic invariant random subgroups.

Amenability and ergodic properties of topological groups: from Bogolyubov onwards

The purpose of this expository article is to revisit the notions of amenability and ergodicity, and to point out that they appear for topological groups that are not necessarily locally compact in articles by Bogolyubov (1939), Fomin (1950), Dixmier (1950), and Rickert (1967).

Amenable groups without finitely presented amenable covers

The goal of this article is to study results and examples concerning finitely presented covers of finitely generated amenable groups. We collect examples of groups $G$ with the following properties: (i) $G$ is finitely generated, (ii) $G$ is amenable, e.g. of intermediate growth, (iii) any finitely presented group $E$ with a quotient isomorphic to $G$ contains non-abelian free subgroups, or the stronger (iii) any finitely presented group with a quotient isomorphic to $G$ is large.