Homotopy theory with bornological coarse spaces

We propose an axiomatic characterization of coarse homology theories defined on the category of bornological coarse spaces. We construct a category of motivic coarse spectra. Our focus is the classification of coarse homology theories and the construction of examples. We show that if a transformation between coarse homology theories induces an equivalence on all discrete bornological coarse spaces, then it is an equivalence on bornological coarse spaces of finite asymptotic dimension. The example of coarse K-homology will be discussed in detail.Comment: 220 pages (complete revision

Inquisitive bisimulation

Inquisitive modal logic InqML is a generalisation of standard Kripke-style modal logic. In its epistemic incarnation, it extends standard epistemic logic to capture not just the information that agents have, but also the questions that they are interested in. Technically, InqML fits within the family of logics based on team semantics. From a model-theoretic perspective, it takes us a step in the direction of monadic second-order logic, as inquisitive modal operators involve quantification over sets of worlds. We introduce and investigate the natural notion of bisimulation equivalence in the setting of InqML. We compare the expressiveness of InqML and first-order logic in the context of relational structures with two sorts, one for worlds and one for information states. We characterise inquisitive modal logic, as well as its multi-agent epistemic S5-like variant, as the bisimulation invariant fragment of first-order logic over various natural classes of two-sorted structures. These results crucially require non-classical methods in studying bisimulation and first-order expressiveness over non-elementary classes of structures, irrespective of whether we aim for characterisations in the sense of classical or of finite model theory

A classification of separable Rosenthal compacta and its applications

The present work consists of three parts. In the first one we determine the prototypes of separable Rosenthal compacta and we provide a classification theorem. The second part concerns an extension of a theorem of S. Todorcevic. The last one is devoted to applications.Comment: 55 pages, no figure

Compactness of higher-order Sobolev embeddings

We study higher-order compact Sobolev embeddings on a domain $\Omega \subseteq \mathbb R^n$ endowed with a probability measure $\nu$ and satisfying certain isoperimetric inequality. Given $m\in \mathbb N$, we present a condition on a pair of rearrangement-invariant spaces $X(\Omega,\nu)$ and $Y(\Omega,\nu)$ which suffices to guarantee a compact embedding of the Sobolev space $V^mX(\Omega,\nu)$ into $Y(\Omega,\nu)$. The condition is given in terms of compactness of certain one-dimensional operator depending on the isoperimetric function of $(\Omega,\nu)$. We then apply this result to the characterization of higher-order compact Sobolev embeddings on concrete measure spaces, including John domains, Maz'ya classes of Euclidean domains and product probability spaces, whose standard example is the Gauss space

A Thurston boundary for infinite-dimensional Teichm\"uller spaces

For a compact surface $X_0$, Thurston introduced a compactification of its Teichm\"uller space $\mathcal T(X_0)$ by completing it with a boundary $\mathcal{PML}(X_0)$ consisting of projective measured geodesic laminations. We introduce a similar bordification for the Teichm\"uller space $\mathcal T(X_0)$ of a noncompact Riemann surface $X_0$, using the technical tool of geodesic currents. The lack of compactness requires the introduction of certain uniformity conditions which were unnecessary for compact surfaces. A technical step, providing a convergence result for earthquake paths in $\mathcal T(X_0)$, may be of independent interest.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figure

Finsler bordifications of symmetric and certain locally symmetric spaces

We give a geometric interpretation of the maximal Satake compactification of symmetric spaces $X=G/K$ of noncompact type, showing that it arises by attaching the horofunction boundary for a suitable $G$-invariant Finsler metric on $X$. As an application, we establish the existence of natural bordifications, as orbifolds-with-corners, of locally symmetric spaces $X/\Gamma$ for arbitrary discrete subgroups $\Gamma< G$. These bordifications result from attaching $\Gamma$-quotients of suitable domains of proper discontinuity at infinity. We further prove that such bordifications are compactifications in the case of Anosov subgroups. We show, conversely, that Anosov subgroups are characterized by the existence of such compactifications among uniformly regular subgroups. Along the way, we give a positive answer, in the torsion free case, to a question of Ha\"issinsky and Tukia on convergence groups regarding the cocompactness of their actions on the domains of discontinuity.Comment: 88 page