Geometry, Topology and Dynamics Seminar
Thomas Sinclair
UCLA
von Neumann algebras of negatively curved groups
Abstract: Negatively curved groups have long been and continue to be one of the most intensely studied classes of discrete groups. These groups have also played an important role in functional analysis, notably via K-theory and the Baum-Connes conjecture. In this talk I will survey some recent results in the classification of von Neumann algebras generated by negatively curved groups and their measurable actions. I will explain how negative curvature is central to these results in terms of a broad, cohomogical-type property such groups possess. As an application, I will show how these techniques generalize some results on the measurable dynamics of hyperbolic groups. No knowledge of von Neumann algebras will be assumed.
Monday September 8, 2014 at 3:00 PM in SEO 636