arXiv research

Study L^2-Betti numbers in prime characteristic for a conjecture about 2-complex towers.

Twists agrarian and $\ell^2$-Betti numbers for locally indicable groups.

Study $L^2$-Betti numbers of Dehn fillings for special groups.

Study extends Elkalla's work on subnormal subgroups to $PD_3$-groups, but $L^2$-Betti numbers need verification.

We prove that every finitely presented group with positive first $\ell^2$-Betti number that virtually surjects onto $\mathbb Z$ is acylindrically hyperbolic. In particular, this implies acylindrical hyperbolicity of finitely presented residually finite groups with positive first $\ell^2$-Betti number as well as groups …

In [DJL07] it was shown that if A is an affine hyperplane arrangement in C^n, then at most one of the L^2-Betti numbers of its complement is non--zero. We will prove an analogous statement for complements of any algebraic curve in C^2. Furthermore we also recast and extend results of [LM06] in terms of L^2-Betti number…

Using the virtual fibering theorem of Agol we show that a sutured 3-manifold $(M, R_+,R_-,γ)$ is taut if and only if the $\ell^2$-Betti numbers of the pair $(M,R_-)$ are zero. As an application we can characterize Thurston norm minimizing surfaces in a 3-manifold $N$ with empty or toroidal boundary by the vanishing of …

We define for arbitrary modules over a finite von Neumann algebra $\cala$ a dimension taking values in $[0,\infty]$ which extends the classical notion of von Neumann dimension for finitely generated projective $\cala$-modules and inherits all its useful properties such as additivity, cofinality and continuity. This all…

We compute the l^2-Betti numbers of the complement of a finite collection of affine hyperplanes in complex space. At most one of the l^2-Betti numbers is non-zero.

Study computability of real numbers from group properties.

Study non-vanishing $\ell^2$-Betti numbers for specific groups.

Proves connection between $\ell^2$-Betti numbers and BNSR invariants.

We determine the L^2-Betti numbers of all one-relator groups and all surface-plus-one-relation groups (surface-plus-one-relation groups were introduced by Hempel who called them one-relator surface groups). In particular we show that for all such groups G, the L^2-Betti numbers b_n^{(2)}(G) are 0 for all n>1. We also o…

Let $G$ be a group with a finite subgroup $H$. We define the $L^2$-multiplicity of an irreducible representation of $H$ in the $L^2$-homology of a proper $G$-CW-complex. These invariants generalize the $L^2$-Betti numbers. Our main results are approximation theorems for $L^2$-multiplicities which extend the approximati…

Groups with specific properties have vanishing $\ell^2$-Betti numbers.

Moduli spaces of real bundles over a real curve arise naturally as Lagrangian submanifolds of the moduli space of semi-stable bundles over a complex curve. In this paper, we adapt the methods of Atiyah-Bott's "Yang-Mills over a Riemann Surface" to compute Z/2-Betti numbers of these spaces, proving formulas recently obt…

Recently Dicks-Linnell determined the $L^2$-Betti numbers of the orientable surface-plus-one-relation groups, and their arguments involved some results that were obtained topologically by Hempel and Howie. Using algebraic arguments, we now extend all these results of Hempel and Howie to a larger class of two-relator gr…

The Thurston norm is derived from polytopes and applied to group cohomology.

Morse inequalities for noncompact manifolds with group action.

We generalize Luck's Theorem to show that the L^2-Betti numbers of a residually amenable covering space are the limit of the L^2-Betti numbers of a sequence of amenable covering spaces. We show that any residually amenable covering space of a finite simplicial complex is of determinant class, and that the L^2 torsion i…

Study on homology growth and $\ell^2$-Betti numbers of Out(W_n).

The first Betti number for a lattice in a classifying space for variations of Hodge structures vanishes.

Proves $L^2$ Frölicher inequality on complex manifolds.

Recently the so-called Atiyah conjecture about l^2-Betti numbers has been disproved. The counterexamples were found using a specific method of computing the spectral measure of a matrix over a complex group ring. We show that in many situations the same method allows to compute homology gradients, i.e. generalizations …

We study the rate of growth of normalized Hodge numbers along a tower of abelian covers of a smooth projective variety with semismall Albanese map. These bounds are in some cases optimal. Moreover, we compute the $L^2$-Betti numbers of irregular varieties that satisfy the weak generic Nakano vanishing theorem e.g., var…

For a small cover Q^n and any principal (Z_2)^m-bundle M^n over Q^n, it was shown in a previous work of the author that the total sum of Z_2-Betti numbers of M^n is at least 2^m. In this paper, we prove that when M^n is connected, the total sum of Z_2-Betti numbers of such an M^n exactly equals 2^m if and only if M^n i…

Suppose X is any finite complex with vanishing L^2 Betti number. We prove upper bounds on the Betti numbers for regular coverings of X, sublinear in the order of covering. The bounds are sensitive to the Novikov-Shubin invariants of X, and are improved in the presence of a spectral gap.

The study examines the asymptotic behavior of cohomology groups of algebraic group subgroups.

Gromov-Thurston covers have Betti numbers as expected.

In this note we explain how the computation of the spectrum of the lamplighter group from \cite{Grigorchuk-Zuk(2000)} yields a counterexample to a strong version of the Atiyah conjectures about the range of $L^2$-Betti numbers of closed manifolds.

We make a detailed study of various (quadratic and linear) Morse-Bott trace functions on the orthogonal groups $O(n)$. We describe the critical loci of the quadratic trace function Tr$(AXBX^T)$ and determine their indices via perfect fillings of tables associated with the multiplicities of the eigenvalues of $A$ and $B…

We give a survey on L^2-invariants such as L^2-Betti numbers and L^2-torsion taking an algebraic point of view. We discuss their basic definitions, properties and applications to problems arising in topology, geometry, group theory and K-theory.

In this paper, we prove that the $L^2$ Betti numbers of an amenable covering space can be approximated by the average Betti numbers of a regular exhaustion, proving a conjecture that we made in an earlier paper. We also prove that an arbitrary amenable covering space of a finite simplicial complex is of determinant cla…

Let $R$ be an infinite commutative ring with identity and $n\geq 2$ be an integer. We prove that for each integer $i=0,1,\cdots ,n-2,$ the $L^{2}$-Betti number $b_{i}^{(2)}(G)=0,$ $\$when $G=\mathrm{GL}_{n}(R)$ the general linear group, $\mathrm{SL}_{n}(R)$ the special linear group, $$ the group generated by…

We show that a finite type duality group of dimension $d>2$ is the fundamental group of a $(d+3)$-manifold with rationally acyclic universal cover. We use this to find closed manifolds with rationally acyclic universal cover and some nonvanishing $L^2$-Betti numbers outside the middle dimension, which contradicts a rat…

We derive Price inequalities for harmonic forms on manifolds without conjugate points and with a negative Ricci upper bound. The techniques employed in the proof work particularly well for manifolds of non-positive sectional curvature, and in this case we prove a strengthened Price inequality. We employ these inequalit…

We show that a finitely generated residually finite rationally solvable (or RFRS) group $G$ is virtually fibred, in the sense that it admits a virtual surjection to $\mathbb{Z}$ with a finitely generated kernel, if and only if the first $L^2$-Betti number of $G$ vanishes. This generalises (and gives a new proof of) the…

In this paper, we prove that the L^2 Betti numbers of an amenable covering space can be approximated by the average Betti numbers of a regular exhaustion, under some hypotheses. We also prove that some L^2 spectral invariants can be approximated by the corresponding average spectral invariants of a regular exhaustion. …

We prove that the mod $2$ Betti numbers of double coverings of a complex hyperplane arrangement complement are combinatorially determined. The proof is based on a relation between the mod $2$ Aomoto complex and the transfer long exact sequence. Applying the above result to the icosidodecahedral arrangement ($16$ planes…

New groups algebraically fibre with high-dimensional hyperbolic groups.

We prove the existence of positive lower bounds on the Cheeger constants of manifolds of the form $X/Γ$ where $X$ is a contractible Riemannian manifold and $Γ<\Isom(X)$ is a discrete subgroup, typically with infinite co-volume. The existence depends on the $L^2$-Betti numbers of $Γ$, its subgroups and of a uniform latt…

We investigate how one can twist L^2-invariants such as L^2-Betti numbers and L^2-torsion with finite-dimensional representations. As a special case we assign to the universal covering of a finite connected CW-complex X together with an element phi in H^1(X;R) a phi-twisted L^2-torsion function from R^{>0} to R, provid…

The action dimension of a discrete group $Γ$ is the smallest dimension of a contractible manifold which admits a proper action of $Γ$. Associated to any flag complex $L$ there is a right-angled Artin group, $A_L$. We compute the action dimension of $A_L$ for many $L$. Our calculations come close to confirming the conje…

We propose an intuitive interpretation for nontrivial $L^2$-Betti numbers of compact Riemann surfaces in terms of certain loops in embedded pairs of pants. This description uses twisted homology associated to the Hurewicz map of the surface, and it satisfies a sewing property with respect to a large class of pair-of-pa…

Studied $L^2-$invariants on stratified spaces, proving their stability.

Vanishing results for reduced $L_{p,q}$-cohomology are established in the case of twisted products, which are a~generalization of warped products. Only the case $q \leq p$ is considered. This is an extension of some results by Gol'dshtein, Kuz'minov and Shvedov about the $L_{p}$-cohomology of warped cylinders. One of t…

We study the convergence of volume-normalized Betti numbers in Benjamini-Schramm convergent sequences of non-positively curved manifolds with finite volume. In particular, we show that if $X$ is an irreducible symmetric space of noncompact type, $X \neq \mathbb H^3$, and $(M_n)$ is any Benjamini-Schramm convergent sequ…

The paper proves macroscopic versions of conjectures about scalar curvature and volume bounds.