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Let $\Gamma$ be a group acting on with finite stabilizers and finite fundamental domain on a building of type $\tilde A_2$. We prove that any non-trivial normal subgroup of $\Gamma$ is of finite index in $\Gamma$.

We study actions of higher rank lattices $\Gamma

We compare two families of left-invariant metrics on a surface group $\Gamma=\pi_1(\Sigma)$ in the context of course-geometry. One family comes from Riemannian metrics of negative curvature on the the surface $\Sigma$, and another from quasi-Fuchsian representations of $\Gamma$. We show that the Teichmuller space $\Teich(\Sigma)$ is the only common part of these two families, even when viewed from the coarse-geometric perspective., Comment: 12 pages

We prove a Central Limit Theorem (CLT) in the non-commutative setting of random matrix products where the underlying process is driven by a subshift of finite type (SFT) with Markov measure. We use the martingale method introduced by Y. Benoist and J.F. Quint in the iid setting., Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures

Individual performance and reputation within a company are major factors that influence wage distribution, promotion and firing. Due to the complexity and collaborative nature of contemporary business processes, the evaluation of individual impact in the majority of organizations is an ambiguous and non-trivial task. Existing performance appraisal approaches are often affected by individuals biased judgements, and organizations are dissatisfied with the results of evaluations. We assert that employees can provide accurate measurement of their peer performance in a complex collaborative environment. We propose a novel metric, the Peer Rank Score (PRS), that evaluates individual reputations and the non-quantifiable individual impact. PRS is based on pairwise comparisons of employees. We show high robustness of the algorithm on simulations and empirically validate it for a genetic testing company on more than one thousand employees using peer reviews over the course of three years.

We give a Super-Rigidity theorem a la Margulis which applies for a wider class of groups. In particular it applies to subgroups which are not assumed to be lattices in the ambient group. Our proof is based on the notion of Algebraic Representation of Ergodic Actions.

We give an extension of Margulis' Super-Rigidity for higher rank lattices. In our approach the target group could be defined over any complete valued field. Our proof is based on the notion of Algebraic Representation of Ergodic Actions.

Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) has been extensively used for imaging the subsurface resistivity distribution and structure. Over the years, many algorithms have been developed in order to solve the subsurface resistivity distribution from the ERT measurements. In this paper a new method for interpreting the ERT measurements is presented. Using supervised learning to train a neural network, we are able to interpret the ERT measurement into a 2D image of the underground resistivity up to depths of 50 meters while using a simple Wenner-Schlumberger survey of 96 electrodes with 1 meter spacing. The neural network is trained and tested using simulative data and it is shown to have superior results over a well established inversion method.

We prove a super-rigidity result for algebraic representations over complete fields of irreducible lattices in product of groups and lattices with dense commensurator groups. We derive some criteria for non-linearity of such groups., Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1311.3696

We introduce a class of countable groups by some abstract group-theoretic conditions. It includes linear groups with finite amenable radical and finitely generated residually finite groups with some non-vanishing $\ell^2$-Betti numbers that are not virtually a product of two infinite groups. Further, it includes acylindrically hyperbolic groups. For any group $\Gamma$ in this class we determine the general structure of its possible lattice embeddings, i.e. of all compactly generated, locally compact groups that contain $\Gamma$ as a lattice. This leads to a precise description of possible non-uniform lattice embeddings of groups in this class. Further applications include the determination of possible lattice embeddings of fundamental groups of closed manifolds with pinched negative curvature., Comment: incorporated suggestions and corrections from referee report; fixed an issue in proof of thm B and generalized Thm 5.11

Let $\Gamma$ be a non-elementary Gromov-hyperbolic group, and $\partial \Gamma$ denote its Gromov boundary. We consider $\Gamma$-invariant proper $\delta$-hyperbolic, quasi-convex metric $d$ on $\Gamma$, and the associated Patterson-Sullivan measure class $[\nu]$ on $\partial^{(2)}\Gamma$, and its square $[\nu\times\nu]$ on $\partial^{(2)}\Gamma$ -- the space of distinct pairs of points on the boundary. We construct an analogue of a geodesic flow to study ergodicity properties of the $\Gamma$-actions on $(\partial\Gamma,\nu)$ and on $(\partial^{(2)}\Gamma,[\nu\times\nu])$., Comment: minor corrections in the introduction, typos

We prove that, under mild assumptions, a lattice in a product of semi-simple Lie group and a totally disconnected locally compact group is, in a certain sense, arithmetic. We do not assume the lattice to be finitely generated or the ambient group to be compactly generated., Comment: 19 pages

Let Gamma be a finitely generated nilpotent group. We consider three closely related problems: (i) the asymptotic cone for an equivariant ergodic family of inner metrics on Gamma, generalizing Pansu's theorem; (ii) the limit shapes for First Passage Percolation for general (not necessarily independent) ergodic processes on edges of a Cayley graph of Gamma; (iii) a sub-additive ergodic theorem over a general ergodic Gamma-action. The limiting objects are given in terms of a Carnot-Caratheodory metric on the graded nilpotent group associated to the Mal'cev completion of Gamma.

We announce results about the structure and arithmeticity of all possible lattice embeddings of a class of countable groups which encompasses all linear groups with simple Zariski closure, all groups with non-vanishing first l2-Betti number, word hyperbolic groups, and, more general, convergence groups., Comment: 7 pages

In this paper we discuss some connections between measurable dynamics and rigidity aspects of group representations and group actions. A new ergodic feature of familiar group boundaries is introduced, and is used to obtain rigidity results for group representations and to prove simplicity of Lyapunov exponents for some dynamical systems., Comment: For the Proceedings of the ICM 2014, 27 pages

We revisit Margulis-Zimmer Super-Rigidity and provide some generalizations. In particular we obtain super-rigidity results for lattices in higher-rank groups or product of groups, targeting at algebraic groups over arbitrary fields with absolute values. We also obtain cocycle super-rigidity results for a wide class of groups with respect to mixing actions. Our approach is based on a systematic study of algebraic representations of ergodic actions., Comment: 25 pages. The file is different from a previously distributed file by the same name. 2nd submission: an inaccuracy in the definition of a morphism of bi-algebraic representations was fixed

We study vanishing results for L2-cohomology of countable groups under the presence of subgroups that satisfy some weak normality condition. As a consequence we show that the L2-Betti numbers of SL(n,R) for any infinite integral domain R vanish below degree n-1. We also give a uniform proof for the vanishing of L2-Betti numbers of Thompson's groups F and T., Comment: Final version

Consider homogeneous G/H and G/F, for an S-algebraic group G. A lattice {\Gamma} acts on the left strictly conservatively. The following rigidity results are obtained: morphisms, factors and joinings defined apriori only in the measurable category are in fact algebraically constrained. Arguing in an elementary fashion we manage to classify all the measurable {\Phi} commuting with the {\Gamma}-action: assuming ergodicity, we find they are algebraically defined.

This note describes a unified approach to several superrigidity results, old and new, concerning representations of lattices into simple algebraic groups over local fields. For an arbitrary group $\Gamma$ and a $\Gamma$-boundary $B$ we associate certain generalized Weyl group $W_{\Gamma,B}$ and show that any representation with a Zariski dense unbounded image in a simple algebraic group, $\rho:\Gamma\to \mathbf{H}$, defines a special homomorphism $W_{\Gamma,B}\to {\rm Weyl}(\mathbf{H})$. This general fact allows to deduce the aforementioned superrigidity results., Comment: 7 pages

We study rigidity properties of lattices in hyperbolic n-space with n>2 and of surface groups in the context of (integrable) measure equivalence. The results for lattices in hyperbolic n-space with n>2 are generalizations of Mostow rigidity; they include a cocycle version of strong rigidity and an integrable measure equivalence classification. Despite the lack of Mostow rigidity for n=2 we show that cocompact lattices in SL(2,R) allow a similar integrable measure equivalence classification., Comment: 50 pages; final version

We identify the images of the comparision maps from ordinary homology and Sobolev homology, respectively, to the $l^1$-homology of a word-hyperbolic group with coefficients in complete normed modules. The underlying idea is that there is a subdivision procedure for singular chains in negatively curved spaces that is much more efficient (in terms of the $l^1$-norm) than barycentric subdivision. The results of this paper are an important ingredient in a forthcoming proof of the authors that hyperbolic lattices in dimension at least 3 are rigid with respect to integrable measure equivalence. Moreover, we prove a proportionality principle for the simplicial volume of negatively curved manifolds with regard to integrable measure equivalence., Comment: 24 pages

The title refers to the area of research which studies infinite groups using measure-theoretic tools, and studies the restrictions that group structure imposes on ergodic theory of their actions. The paper is a survey of recent developments focused on the notion of Measure Equivalence between groups, and Orbit Equivalence between group actions. We discuss known invariants and classification results (rigidity) in both areas., Comment: A survey for the Proceedings of a Conference honoring Robert Zimmer's 60th birthday. 61 pages. Referees comments are incorporated, in particular sections 3.1.2 (cost) and 3.1.4 (Cowling Haagerup invariant) were updated. Some new references added

We analyse volume-preserving actions of product groups on Riemannian manifolds. To this end, we establish a new superrigidity theorem for ergodic cocycles of product groups ranging in linear groups. There are no a priori assumptions on the acting groups, except a spectral gap assumption on their action. Our main application to manifolds concerns irreducible actions of Kazhdan product groups. We prove the following dichotomy: Either the action is infinitesimally linear, which means that the derivative cocycle arises from unbounded linear representations of all factors. Otherwise, the action is measurably isometric, in which case there are at most two factors in the product group. As a first application, this provides lower bounds on the dimension of the manifold in terms of the number of factors in the acting group. Another application is a strong restriction for actions of non-linear groups., Comment: To appear in the Duke Mathematical Journal; 32 pages. Minor revisions, including the addition of a variation on Theorem A

These notes contain an Ergodic-theoretic account of the Cocycle Superrigidity Theorem recently discovered by Sorin Popa. We state and prove a relative version of the result, discuss some applications to measurable equivalence relations, and point out that Gaussian actions (of ``rigid'' groups) satisfy the assumptions of Popa's theorem., Comment: v.2: slight changes in the presentation, (some) typos corrected, wq-normal subgroups added. 35 pages

We propose a new approach to superrigidity phenomena and implement it for lattice representations and measurable cocycles with homeomorphisms of the circle as the target group. We are motivated by Ghys' theorem stating that any representation $\ro:\Gamma\to\Homeo_+(S^1)$ of an irreducible lattice $\Gamma$ in a semi-simple real Lie group $G$ of higher rank, either has a finite orbit or, up to a semi-conjugacy, extends to $G$ which acts through an epimorphism $G\to\PSL_{2}(\RR)$. Our approach, based on the study of abstract boundary theory and, specifically, on the notion of a generalized Weyl group, allows: (A) to prove a similar superrigidity result for irreducible lattices in products $G=G_{1}\times... G_{n}$ of $n\ge 2$ general locally compact groups, (B) to give a new (shorter) proof of Ghys' theorem, (C) to establish a commensurator superrigidity for general locally compact groups, (D) to prove first superrigidity theorems for $\tilde{A}_{2}$ groups. This approach generalizes to the setting of measurable circle bundles; in this context we prove cocycle versions of (A), (B) and (D). This is the first part of a broader project of studying superrigidity via generalized Weyl groups., Comment: 38 pages, 1 reference fixed, 1 ref added

We consider the problems of measurable isomorphisms and joinings, measurable centralizers and quotients for certain classes of ergodic group actions on infinite measure spaces. Our main focus is on systems of algebraic origin: actions of lattices and other discrete subgroups on homogeneous spaces G/H where H is a sufficiently rich unimodular subgroup in a semi-simple group G. We also consider actions of discrete subgroups of isometries Isom(X) of a pinched negative curvature space X, acting on the space of horospheres Hor(X). For such systems we prove that the only measurable isomorphisms, joinings, quotients etc. are the obvious algebraic (or geometric) ones. This work was inspired by the previous work of Shalom and Steger, but uses completely different techniques which lead to more general results.

Let R a be countable ergodic equivalence relation of type II_1 on a standard probability space (X,m). The group Out(R) of outer automorphisms of R consists of all invertible Borel measure preserving maps of the space which map R-classes to R-classes modulo those which preserve almost every R-class. We analyze the group Out(R) for relations R generated by actions of higher rank lattices, providing general conditions on finiteness and triviality of Out(R) and explicitly computing this group for the standard actions. The method is based on Zimmer's superrigidity for measurable cocycles, Ratner's theorem and Gromov's Measure Equivalence construction., Comment: 41 pages

Consider a countable group Gamma acting ergodically by measure preserving transformations on a probability space (X,mu), and let R_Gamma be the corresponding orbit equivalence relation on X. The following rigidity phenomenon is shown: there exist group actions such that the equivalence relation R_Gamma on X determines the group Gamma and the action (X,mu,Gamma) uniquely, up to finite groups. The natural action of SL_n(Z) on the n-torus R^n/Z^n, for n>2, is one of such examples. The interpretation of these results in the context of von Neumann algebras provides some support to the conjecture of Connes on rigidity of group algebras for groups with property T. Our rigidity results also give examples of countable equivalence relations of type II, which cannot be generated (mod 0) by a free action of any group. This gives a negative answer to a long standing problem of Feldman and Moore., Comment: 26 pages, published version

In this paper the notion of Measure Equivalence (ME) of countable groups is studied. ME was introduced by Gromov as a measure-theoretic analog of quasi-isometries. All lattices in the same locally compact group are Measure Equivalent; this is one of the motivations for this notion. The main result of this paper is ME rigidity of higher rank lattices: any countable group which is ME to a lattice in a simple Lie group G of higher rank, is commensurable to a lattice in G., Comment: 23 pages, published version