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We give lower and upper bounds for the separation profile (introduced by Benjamini, Schramm & Tim\'ar) for various graphs using the isoperimetric profile, growth and Hilbertian compression. For graphs which have polynomial isoperimetry and growth, we show that the separation profile $\mathrm{Sep}(n)$ is also bounded by powers of $n$. For many amenable groups, we show a lower bound in $n/ \log(n)^a$ and, for any group which has a non-trivial compression exponent in an $L^p$-space, an upper bound in $n/ \log(n)^b$. We show that solvable groups of exponential growth cannot have a separation profile bounded above by a sublinear power function. In an appendix, we introduce the notion of local separation, with applications for percolation clusters of $ \mathbb{Z}^{d} $ and graphs which have polynomial isoperimetry and growth., Comment: 41 pages

Lower bound on the equivariant Hilbertian compression exponent $\alpha$ are obtained using random walks. More precisely, if the probability of return of the simple random walk is $\succeq \textrm{exp}(-n^\gamma)$ in a Cayley graph then $\alpha \geq (1-\gamma)/(1+\gamma)$. This motivates the study of further relations between return probability, speed, entropy and volume growth. For example, if $|B_n| \preceq e^{n^\nu}$ then the speed is $\preceq n^{1/(2-\nu)}$. Under a strong assumption on the off-diagonal decay of the heat kernel, the lower bound on compression improves to $\alpha \geq 1-\gamma$. Using a result from Naor and Peres on compression and the speed of random walks, this yields very promising bounds on speed and implies the Liouville property if $\gamma <1/2$., Comment: 16 pages

A new proof of a Theorem of Nagnibeda and Pak on critical probabilities is given. The distinctive feature is to use a criterion of Folner which has been largely (and inexplicably) forgotten., Comment: 10 pages. The proof of Theorem 4.1 in the previous version contains a mistake; the validity of the corresponding statement is open (see question 5.5 of the current version). The current Theorem 4.1 gives Folner's original criterion, while Theorem 5.4 shows it can in a weaker guise be applied to actions

To obtain groups with bounded harmonic functions (which are not hyperbolic), one of the most frequent way is to look at some semi-direct products (\eg lamplighter groups). The aim here is to show that many of these semi-direct products do not admit harmonic functions with gradient in $\ell^p$, for $p\in [1,\infty[$., Comment: 10 pages

The vanishing of reduced $\ell^2$-cohomology for amenable groups can be traced to the work of Cheeger & Gromov. The subject matter here is reduced $\ell^p$-cohomology for $p \in ]1,\infty[$, particularly its vanishing. Results showing its triviality are obtained, for example: when $p \in ]1,2]$ and $G$ is amenable; when $p \in ]1,\infty[$ and $G$ is Liouville (in particular, of intermediate growth). This is done by answering a question of Pansu assuming the graph satisfies an isoperimetric profile. Namely, the triviality of the reduced $\ell^p$-cohomology is equivalent to the absence of non-constant bounded (equivalently, not necessarily bounded) harmonic functions with gradient in $\ell^q$ ($q$ depends on the profile). In particular, one reduces questions of non-linear analysis ($p$-harmonic functions) to linear ones (harmonic functions with a restrictive growth condition)., Comment: 25 pages