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Boundary amenability for word hyperbolic groups and an application to smooth dynamics of simple groups. (English) Zbl 0838.20042

Denote by \(\Gamma\) a hyperbolic group in the sense of Gromov, fix a finite generating set of \(\Gamma\) and let \(\partial\Gamma\) denote the boundary of the Cayley graph. Let \(\mu\) denote any finite Borel measure on \(\partial\Gamma\) and assume that \(\mu\) is quasi-invariant under the action of \(\Gamma\) on \(\partial\Gamma\). Then the action of \(\Gamma\) on \((\partial\Gamma, \mu)\) is amenable.
The following application of this result is given. A group is almost simple if every normal subgroup is finite. Let \(G\) be a connected, almost simple Lie group with \(\mathbb{R}\text{-rank}(G)\geq 2\). Let \(M\) be a compact manifold and suppose there is a real analytic action of \(G\) on \(M\) preserving a real analytic connection and a finite measure. Then \(\pi_1 (M)\) is not isomorphic to a subgroup of a hyperbolic group.

MSC:

20F65 Geometric group theory
43A05 Measures on groups and semigroups, etc.
37A99 Ergodic theory
22E46 Semisimple Lie groups and their representations
53C23 Global geometric and topological methods (à la Gromov); differential geometric analysis on metric spaces
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