Approximate lattices of Euclidean spaces, also known as Meyer sets, are aperiodic subsets with fascinating properties. In general, approximate lattices are defined as approximate subgroups of locally compact groups that are discrete and have finite co-volume. A theorem of Lagarias [Meyer’s concept of quasicrystal and quasiregular sets. Comm. Math. Phys. 179(2) (1996), 365–376] provides a criterion for discrete subsets of Euclidean spaces to be approximate lattices. It asserts that if a subset X of $\mathbb {R}^n$ is relatively dense and $X - X$ is uniformly discrete, then X is an approximate lattice. We prove two generalizations of Lagarias’ theorem: when the ambient group is amenable and when it is a higher-rank simple algebraic group over a characteristic $0$ local field. This is a natural counterpart to the recent structure results for approximate lattices in non-commutative locally compact groups. We also provide a reformulation in dynamical terms pertaining to return times of cross-sections. Our method relies on counting arguments involving the so-called periodization maps, ergodic theorems and a method of Tao regarding small doubling for finite subsets. In the case of simple algebraic groups over local fields, we moreover make use of deep superrigidity results due to Margulis and to Zimmer.

We introduce the $\ell ^1$-ideal intersection property for crossed product ${\mathrm {C}}^*$-algebras. It is implied by ${\mathrm {C}}^*$-simplicity as well as ${\mathrm {C}}^*$-uniqueness. We show that topological dynamical systems of arbitrary lattices in connected Lie groups, arbitrary linear groups over the integers in a number field and arbitrary virtually polycyclic groups have the $\ell ^1$-ideal intersection property. On the way, we extend previous results on ${\mathrm {C}}^*$-uniqueness of -groupoid algebras to the general twisted setting.

We show that each connected component of the moduli space of smooth real binary quintics is isomorphic to an open subset of an arithmetic quotient of the real hyperbolic plane. Moreover, our main result says that the induced metric on this moduli space extends to a complete real hyperbolic orbifold structure on the space of stable real binary quintics. This turns the moduli space of stable real binary quintics into the quotient of the real hyperbolic plane by an explicit non-arithmetic triangle group.

Let G be a locally compact topological group and $\mathcal {L}(G)$ the space of all its closed subgroups endowed with the Vietoris topology. Let $\mathcal {L}_c(G)$ be the subspace of all compact subgroups of G. Any continuous morphism $\varphi \colon G\to H$ between locally compact groups G and H functorially induces a continuous map $\varphi _*\colon \mathcal {L}_c(G)\to \mathcal {L}_c(H)$ given by $\varphi _*(L)=\varphi (L)$. The main problem addressed in this paper is that of determining the relationship between the openness of $\varphi $ and the openness of $\varphi _*$. For example, we show that if G is locally compact with compact identity component and H is locally compact and totally disconnected, then $\varphi $ is open if and only if $\varphi _*$ is open.

In this paper we study deformations of $C^*$-algebras that are given as cross-sectional $C^*$-algebras of Fell bundles $\mathcal A$ over locally compact groups G. Our deformation comes from a direct deformation of the Fell bundles $\mathcal A$ via certain parameters, such as automorphisms of the Fell bundle, group cocycles, or central group extensions of G by the circle group $\mathbb T$, and then taking cross-sectional algebras of the deformed Fell bundles. We then show that this direct deformation method is equivalent to the deformation via the dual coactions by similar parameters as studied previously in [4, 7].

We study the local theta correspondence for dual pairs of the form $\mathrm {Aut}(C)\times F_{4}$ over a p-adic field, where C is a composition algebra of dimension $2$ or $4$, by restricting the minimal representation of a group of type E. We investigate this restriction through the computation of maximal parabolic Jacquet modules and the Fourier–Jacobi functor.

As a consequence of our results, we prove a multiplicity one result for the $\mathrm {Spin}(9)$-invariant linear functionals of irreducible representations of $F_{4}$ and classify the $\mathrm {Spin}(9)$-distinguished representations.

Let $W_{\mathrm {aff}}$ be an extended affine Weyl group, $\mathbf {H}$ be the corresponding affine Hecke algebra over the ring $\mathbb {C}[\mathbf {q}^{\frac {1}{2}}, \mathbf {q}^{-\frac {1}{2}}]$, and J be Lusztig’s asymptotic Hecke algebra, viewed as a based ring with basis $\{t_w\}$. Viewing J as a subalgebra of the $(\mathbf {q}^{-\frac {1}{2}})$-adic completion of $\mathbf {H}$ via Lusztig’s map $\phi $, we use Harish-Chandra’s Plancherel formula for p-adic groups to show that the coefficient of $T_x$ in $t_w$ is a rational function of $\mathbf {q}$, with denominator depending only on the two-sided cell containing w, and dividing a power of the Poincaré polynomial of the finite Weyl group. As an application, we conjecture that these denominators encode more detailed information about the failure of the Kazhdan-Lusztig classification at roots of the Poincaré polynomial than is currently known.

Along the way, we show that upon specializing $\mathbf {q}=q>1$, the map from J to the Harish-Chandra Schwartz algebra is injective. As an application of injectivity, we give a novel criterion for an Iwahori-spherical representation to have fixed vectors under a larger parahoric subgroup in terms of its Kazhdan-Lusztig parameter.

In this paper we solve a long-standing problem which goes back to Laurent Schwartz’s work on mean periodic functions. Namely, we completely characterize those locally compact Abelian groups having spectral synthesis. So far a characterization theorem was available for discrete Abelian groups only. Here we use a kind of localization concept for the ideals of the Fourier algebra of the underlying group. We show that localizability of ideals is equivalent to synthesizability. Based on this equivalence we show that if spectral synthesis holds on a locally compact Abelian group, then it holds on each extensions of it by a locally compact Abelian group consisting of compact elements, and also on any extension to a direct sum with a copy of the integers. Then, using Schwartz’s result and Gurevich’s counterexamples, we apply the structure theory of locally compact Abelian groups to obtain our characterization theorem.

We show how finiteness properties of a group and a subgroup transfer to finiteness properties of the Schlichting completion relative to this subgroup.n Further, we provide a criterion when the dense embedding of a discrete group into the Schlichting completion relative to one of its subgroups induces an isomorphism in (continuous) cohomology. As an application, we show that the continuous cohomology of the Neretin group vanishes in all positive degrees.

The notion of strong 1-boundedness for finite von Neumann algebras was introduced in [Jun07b]. This framework provided a free probabilistic approach to study rigidity properties and classification of finite von Neumann algebras. In this paper, we prove that tracial von Neumann algebras with a finite Kazhdan set are strongly 1-bounded. This includes all property (T) von Neumann algebras with finite-dimensional center and group von Neumann algebras of property (T) groups. This result generalizes all the previous results in this direction due to Voiculescu, Ge, Ge-Shen, Connes-Shlyakhtenko, Jung-Shlyakhtenko, Jung and Shlyakhtenko. Our proofs are based on analysis of covering estimates of microstate spaces using an iteration technique in the spirit of Jung.

Let G be a locally compact, Hausdorff, second countable groupoid and A be a separable, $C_0(G^{(0)})$-nuclear, G-$C^*$-algebra. We prove the existence of quasi-invariant, completely positive and contractive lifts for equivariant, completely positive and contractive maps from A into a separable, quotient $C^*$-algebra. Along the way, we construct the Busby invariant for G-actions.

For a connected Lie group G and an automorphism T of G, we consider the action of T on Sub$_G$, the compact space of closed subgroups of G endowed with the Chabauty topology. We study the action of T on Sub$^p_G$, the closure in Sub$_G$ of the set of closed one-parameter subgroups of G. We relate the distality of the T-action on Sub$^p_G$ with that of the T-action on G and characterise the same in terms of compactness of the closed subgroup generated by T in Aut$(G)$ when T acts distally on the maximal central torus and G is not a vector group. We extend these results to the action of a subgroup of Aut$(G)$ and equate the distal action of any closed subgroup ${\mathcal H}$ on Sub$^p_G$ with that of every element in ${\mathcal H}$. Moreover, we show that a connected Lie group G acts distally on Sub$^p_G$ by conjugation if and only if G is either compact or is isomorphic to a direct product of a compact group and a vector group. Some of our results generalise those of Shah and Yadav.

We study the density of the Burau representation from the perspective of a non-semisimple topological quantum field theory (TQFT) at a fourth root of unity. This gives a TQFT construction of Squier’s Hermitian form on the Burau representation with possibly mixed signature. We prove that the image of the braid group in the space of possibly indefinite unitary representations is dense. We also argue for the potential applications of non-semisimple TQFTs toward topological quantum computation.

For an even positive integer n, we study rank-one Eisenstein cohomology of the split orthogonal group $\mathrm {O}(2n+2)$ over a totally real number field $F.$ This is used to prove a rationality result for the ratios of successive critical values of degree-$2n$ Langlands L-functions associated to the group $\mathrm {GL}_1 \times \mathrm {O}(2n)$ over F. The case $n=2$ specializes to classical results of Shimura on the special values of Rankin–Selberg L-functions attached to a pair of Hilbert modular forms.

An étale structure over a topological space X is a continuous family of structures (in some first-order language) indexed over X. We give an exposition of this fundamental concept from sheaf theory and its relevance to countable model theory and invariant descriptive set theory. We show that many classical aspects of spaces of countable models can be naturally framed and generalized in the context of étale structures, including the Lopez-Escobar theorem on invariant Borel sets, an omitting types theorem, and various characterizations of Scott rank. We also present and prove the countable version of the Joyal–Tierney representation theorem, which states that the isomorphism groupoid of an étale structure determines its theory up to bi-interpretability; and we explain how special cases of this theorem recover several recent results in the literature on groupoids of models and functors between them.

We establish a derived geometric Satake equivalence for the quaternionic general linear group ${\textrm{GL}}_{n}({\mathbb H})$. By applying the real–symmetric correspondence for affine Grassmannians, we obtain a derived geometric Satake equivalence for the symmetric variety ${\textrm{GL}}_{2n}/\textrm{Sp}_{2n}$. We explain how these equivalences fit into the general framework of a geometric Langlands correspondence for real groups and the relative Langlands duality conjecture. As an application, we compute the stalks of the IC-complexes for spherical orbit closures in the quaternionic affine Grassmannian and the loop space of ${\textrm{GL}}_{2n}/\textrm{Sp}_{2n}$. We show that the stalks are given by the Kostka–Foulkes polynomials for ${\textrm{GL}}_n$ but with all degrees doubled.

For a certain class of real analytic varieties with Lie group actions, we develop a theory of (free-monodromic) tilting sheaves, and apply it to flag varieties stratified by real group orbits. For quasi-split real groups, we construct a fully faithful embedding of the category of tilting sheaves to a real analog of the category of Soergel bimodules, establishing real group analogs of Soergel’s structure theorem and the endomorphism theorem. We apply these results to give a purely geometric proof of the main result of Bezrukavnikov and Vilonen [Koszul duality for quasi-split real groups, Invent. Math. 226 (2021), 139–193], which proves Soergel’s conjecture [Langlands’ philosophy and Koszul duality, in Algebra – representation theory (Constanta, 2000), NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, vol. 28 (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 2001), 379–414] for quasi-split groups.

A tame dynamical system can be characterized by the cardinality of its enveloping (or Ellis) semigroup. Indeed, this cardinality is that of the power set of the continuum $2^{\mathfrak c}$ if the system is non-tame. The semigroup admits a minimal bilateral ideal and this ideal is a union of isomorphic copies of a group $\mathcal H$, called the structure group. For almost automorphic systems, the cardinality of $\mathcal H$ is at most ${\mathfrak c}$ that of the continuum. We show a partial converse of this which holds for minimal systems for which the Ellis semigroup of their maximal equicontinuous factor acts freely, namely that the cardinality of $\mathcal H$ is $2^{{\mathfrak c}}$ if the proximal relation is not transitive and the subgroup generated by products $\xi \zeta ^{-1}$ of singular points $\xi ,\zeta $ in the maximal equicontinuous factor is not open. This refines the above statement about non-tame Ellis semigroups, as it locates a particular algebraic component of the latter which has such a large cardinality.

We determine the geometric monodromy groups attached to various families, both one-parameter and multi-parameter, of exponential sums over finite fields, or, more precisely, the geometric monodromy groups of the $\ell $-adic local systems on affine spaces in characteristic $p> 0$ whose trace functions are these exponential sums. The exponential sums here are much more general than we previously were able to consider. As a byproduct, we determine the number of irreducible components of maximal dimension in certain intersections of Fermat surfaces. We also show that in any family of such local systems, say parameterized by an affine space S, there is a dense open set of S over which the geometric monodromy group of the corresponding local system is a fixed known group.

We perform a general study of the structure of locally compact modules over compactly generated abelian groups. We obtain a dévissage result for such modules of the form ‘compact-by-sheer-by-discrete’, and then study more specifically the sheer part. The main typical example of a sheer module is a polycontractible module, that is, a finite direct product of modules, each of which is contracted by some group element. We show that every sheer module has a ‘large’ polycontractible submodule, in some suitable sense. We apply this to the study of compactly generated metabelian groups. For instance, we prove that they always have a maximal compact normal subgroup, and we extend the Bieri–Strebel characterization of compactly presentable metabelian groups from the discrete case to this more general setting.