Integral formulas with distribution kernels for irreducible projections in L2 of a nilmanifold

AbstractLet N be a simply connected nilpotent Lie group and Γ a discrete uniform subgroup. The authors consider irreducible representations σ in the spectrum of the quasi-regular representation N × L2(Γ/N) → L2(Γ→) which are induced from normal maximal subordinate subgroups M ⊆ N. The primary projection Pσ and all irreducible projections P ⩽ Pσ are given by convolutions involving right Γ-invariant distributions D on Γ→, Pf(Γn) = D ∗ f(Γn) = <D, n · f>all f ϵ C∞(Γ/N), where n · f(ζ) = f(ζ · n). Extending earlier work of Auslander and Brezin, and L. Richardson, the authors give explicit character formulas for the distributions, interpreting them as sums of characters on the torus Tκ = (Γ ∩ M) · [M, M]⧹M. By examining these structural formulas, they obtain fairly sharp estimates on the order of the distributions: if σ is associated with an orbit O ⊆ n∗ and if V ⊆ n∗ is the largest subspace which saturates θ in the sense that f ϵ O ⇒ f + V ⊆ O. As a corollary they obtain Richardson's criterion for a projection to map C0(Γ→) into itself. The authors also resolve a conjecture of Brezin, proving a Zero-One law which says, among other things, that if the primary projection Pσ maps Cr(Γ→) into C0(Γ→), so do all irreducible projections P ⩽ Pσ. This proof is based on a classical lemma on the extent to which integral points on a polynomial graph in Rn lie in the coset ring of Zn (the finitely additive Boolean algebra generated by cosets of subgroups in Zn). This lemma may be useful in other investigations of nilmanifolds

Reconstructing Bohr's Reply to EPR in Algebraic Quantum Theory

Halvorson and Clifton have given a mathematical reconstruction of Bohr's reply to Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR), and argued that this reply is dictated by the two requirements of classicality and objectivity for the description of experimental data, by proving consistency between their objectivity requirement and a contextualized version of the EPR reality criterion which had been introduced by Howard in his earlier analysis of Bohr's reply. In the present paper, we generalize the above consistency theorem, with a rather elementary proof, to a general formulation of EPR states applicable to both non-relativistic quantum mechanics and algebraic quantum field theory; and we clarify the elements of reality in EPR states in terms of Bohr's requirements of classicality and objectivity, in a general formulation of algebraic quantum theory.Comment: 13 pages, Late

Amenability of groups and GG-sets

This text surveys classical and recent results in the field of amenability of groups, from a combinatorial standpoint. It has served as the support of courses at the University of G\"ottingen and the \'Ecole Normale Sup\'erieure. The goals of the text are (1) to be as self-contained as possible, so as to serve as a good introduction for newcomers to the field; (2) to stress the use of combinatorial tools, in collaboration with functional analysis, probability etc., with discrete groups in focus; (3) to consider from the beginning the more general notion of amenable actions; (4) to describe recent classes of examples, and in particular groups acting on Cantor sets and topological full groups