Equivariant maps for measurable cocycles with values into higher rank Lie groups

TL;DR

This paper extends the construction of equivariant maps with bounded Jacobian from group representations to measurable cocycles for higher rank Lie groups, enabling new geometric and dynamical insights.

Contribution

It introduces a method to construct smooth, equivariant maps with bounded Jacobian for measurable cocycles, generalizing previous results from representations.

Findings

Constructed measurable maps for cocycles with bounded Jacobian

Defined volume for equivariant maps in this context

Proved a mapping degree theorem for these maps

Abstract

Let $G$ a semisimple Lie group of non-compact type and let $\mathcal{X}_G$ be the Riemannian symmetric space associated to it. Suppose $\mathcal{X}_G$ has dimension $n$ and it has no factor isometric to either $\mathbb{H}^2$ or $\text{SL}(3,\mathbb{R})/\text{SO}(3)$. Given a closed $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold $N$, let $\Gamma=\pi_1(N)$ be its fundamental group and $Y$ its universal cover. Consider a representation $\rho:\Gamma \rightarrow G$ with a measurable $\rho$-equivariant map $\psi:Y \rightarrow \mathcal{X}_G$. Connell-Farb described a way to construct a map $F:Y\rightarrow \mathcal{X}_G$ which is smooth, $\rho$-equivariant and with uniformly bounded Jacobian. In this paper we extend the construction of Connell-Farb to the context of measurable cocycles. More precisely, if $(\Omega,\mu_\Omega)$ is a standard Borel probability $\Gamma$-space, let $\sigma:\Gamma \times \Omega \rightarrow G$ be a measurable cocycle. We construct a measurable map $F: Y \times \Omega \rightarrow \mathcal{X}_G$ which is $\sigma$-equivariant, whose slices are smooth and they have uniformly bounded Jacobian. For such equivariant maps we define also the notion of volume and we prove a sort of mapping degree theorem in this particular context.