Krieger's finite generator theorem for actions of countable groups I

For an ergodic probability-measure-preserving action $G \curvearrowright (X, \mu)$ of a countable group $G$, we define the Rokhlin entropy $h_G^{\mathrm{Rok}}(X, \mu)$ to be the infimum of the Shannon entropies of countable generating partitions. It is known that for free ergodic actions of amenable groups this notion coincides with classical Kolmogorov--Sinai entropy. It is thus natural to view Rokhlin entropy as a close analogue to classical entropy. Under this analogy we prove that Krieger's finite generator theorem holds for all countably infinite groups. Specifically, if $h_G^{\mathrm{Rok}}(X, \mu) < \log(k)$ then there exists a generating partition consisting of $k$ sets

Weak containment and Rokhlin entropy

We define a new notion of weak containment for joinings, and we show that this notion implies an inequality between relative Rokhlin entropies. This leads to new upper bounds to Rokhlin entropy. We also use this notion to study how Pinsker algebras behave under direct products, and we study the Rokhlin entropy of restricted actions of finite-index subgroups.Comment: References update

Every action of a non-amenable group is the factor of a small action

It is well known that if $G$ is a countable amenable group and $G \curvearrowright (Y, \nu)$ factors onto $G \curvearrowright (X, \mu)$, then the entropy of the first action must be greater than or equal to the entropy of the second action. In particular, if $G \curvearrowright (X, \mu)$ has infinite entropy, then the action $G \curvearrowright (Y, \nu)$ does not admit any finite generating partition. On the other hand, we prove that if $G$ is a countable non-amenable group then there exists a finite integer $n$ with the following property: for every probability-measure-preserving action $G \curvearrowright (X, \mu)$ there is a $G$-invariant probability measure $\nu$ on $n^G$ such that $G \curvearrowright (n^G, \nu)$ factors onto $G \curvearrowright (X, \mu)$. For many non-amenable groups, $n$ can be chosen to be $4$ or smaller. We also obtain a similar result with respect to continuous actions on compact spaces and continuous factor maps

Burnside's Problem, spanning trees, and tilings

In this paper we study geometric versions of Burnside's Problem and the von Neumann Conjecture. This is done by considering the notion of a translation-like action. Translation-like actions were introduced by Kevin Whyte as a geometric analogue of subgroup containment. Whyte proved a geometric version of the von Neumann Conjecture by showing that a finitely generated group is non-amenable if and only if it admits a translation-like action by any (equivalently every) non-abelian free group. We strengthen Whyte's result by proving that this translation-like action can be chosen to be transitive when the acting free group is finitely generated. We furthermore prove that the geometric version of Burnside's Problem holds true. That is, every finitely generated infinite group admits a translation-like action by $\Z$. This answers a question posed by Whyte. In pursuit of these results we discover an interesting property of Cayley graphs: every finitely generated infinite group $G$ has some Cayley graph having a regular spanning tree. This regular spanning tree can be chosen to have degree 2 (and hence be a bi-infinite Hamiltonian path) if and only if $G$ has finitely many ends, and it can be chosen to have any degree greater than 2 if and only if $G$ is non-amenable. We use this last result to then study tilings of groups. We define a general notion of polytilings and extend the notion of MT groups and ccc groups to the setting of polytilings. We prove that every countable group is poly-MT and every finitely generated group is poly-ccc.Comment: 24 pages; 1 figure; minor revision

A subgroup formula for f-invariant entropy

We study a measure entropy for finitely generated free group actions called f-invariant entropy. The f-invariant entropy was developed by Lewis Bowen and is essentially a special case of his measure entropy theory for actions of sofic groups. In this paper we relate the f-invariant entropy of a finitely generated free group action to the f-invariant entropy of the restricted action of a subgroup. We show that the ratio of these entropies equals the index of the subgroup. This generalizes a well known formula for the Kolmogorov--Sinai entropy of amenable group actions. We then extend the definition of f-invariant entropy to actions of finitely generated virtually free groups. We also obtain a numerical virtual measure conjugacy invariant for actions of finitely generated virtually free groups.Comment: Corollary 1.3 has been removed due to an error in its proof. Corollary 1.2 is ne

Cost, ℓ2\ell^2-Betti numbers and the sofic entropy of some algebraic actions

In 1987, Ornstein and Weiss discovered that the Bernoulli $2$-shift over the rank two free group factors onto the seemingly larger Bernoulli $4$-shift. With the recent creation of an entropy theory for actions of sofic groups (in particular free groups), their example shows the surprising fact that entropy can increase under factor maps. In order to better understand this phenomenon, we study a natural generalization of the Ornstein--Weiss map for countable groups. We relate the increase in entropy to the cost and to the first $\ell^2$-Betti number of the group. More generally, we study coboundary maps arising from simplicial actions and, under certain assumptions, relate $\ell^2$-Betti numbers to the failure of the Juzvinski{\u\i} addition formula. This work is built upon a study of entropy theory for algebraic actions. We prove that for actions on profinite groups via continuous group automorphisms, topological sofic entropy is equal to measure sofic entropy with respect to Haar measure whenever the homoclinic subgroup is dense. For algebraic actions of residually finite groups we find sufficient conditions for the sofic entropy to be equal to the supremum exponential growth rate of periodic points

Krieger's finite generator theorem for actions of countable groups III

We continue the study of Rokhlin entropy, an isomorphism invariant for probability-measure-preserving actions of countable groups introduced in Part I. In this paper we prove a non-ergodic finite generator theorem and use it to establish sub-additivity and semi-continuity properties of Rokhlin entropy. We also obtain formulas for Rokhlin entropy in terms of ergodic decompositions and inverse limits. Finally, we clarify the relationship between Rokhlin entropy, sofic entropy, and classical Kolmogorov--Sinai entropy. In particular, using Rokhlin entropy we give a new proof of the fact that ergodic actions with positive sofic entropy have finite stabilizers.Comment: Minor revision

Locally Nilpotent Groups and Hyperfinite Equivalence Relations

A long standing open problem in the theory of hyperfinite equivalence relations asks if the orbit equivalence relation generated by a Borel action of a countable amenable group is hyperfinite. In this paper we show that this question has a positive answer when the acting group is locally nilpotent. This extends previous results obtained by Gao-Jackson for abelian groups and by Jackson-Kechris-Louveau for finitely generated nilpotent-by-finite groups. Our proof is based on a mixture of coarse geometric properties of locally nilpotent groups together with an adaptation of the Gao-Jackson machinery

Arbitrarily Large Residual Finiteness Growth

The residual finiteness growth of a group quantifies how well approximated the group is by its finite quotients. In this paper, we construct groups with arbitrarily large residual finiteness growth. We also demonstrate a new relationship between residual finiteness growth and some decision problems in groups, which we apply to our new groups.Comment: 6 page

Group Colorings and Bernoulli Subflows

In this paper we study the dynamics of Bernoulli flows and their subflows over general countable groups from the symbolic and topological perspectives. We study free subflows (subflows in which every point has trivial stabilizer), minimal subflows, disjointness of subflows, the problem of classifying subflows up to topological conjugacy, and the differences in dynamical behavior between pairs of points which disagree on finitely many coordinates. We call a point hyper aperiodic if the closure of its orbit is a free subflow and we call it minimal if the closure of its orbit is a minimal subflow. We prove that the set of all (minimal) hyper aperiodic points is always dense but also meager and null. By employing notions and ideas from descriptive set theory, we study the complexity of the sets of hyper aperiodic points and of minimal points and completely determine their descriptive complexity. In doing this we introduce a new notion of countable flecc groups and study their properties. We obtain a dichotomy for the complexity of classifying free subflows up to topological conjugacy. For locally finite groups the topological conjugacy relation for all (free) subflows is hyperfinite and nonsmooth. For nonlocally finite groups the relation is Borel bireducible with the universal countable Borel equivalence relation. A primary focus of the paper is to develop constructive methods for the notions studied. To construct hyper aperiodic points, a fundamental method of construction of multi-layer marker structures is developed with great generality. Variations of the fundamental method are used in many proofs in the paper, and we expect them to be useful more broadly in geometric group theory. As a special case of such marker structures, we study the notion of ccc groups and prove the ccc-ness for countable nilpotent, polycyclic, residually finite, locally finite groups and for free products.Comment: 247 pages; several figure