Stable Exponents in Discrete Groups

It is known that in a word hyperbolic group the stable exponent of every nontorsion element is an integer. We prove that this is also true in finitely generated nilpotent groups. On the other hand, we show that for any rational number 1 there exists a torsionfree CAT(0) group containing an element whose stable exponent is equal to .     

Spherical functions and conformal densities on spherically symmetric -spaces

Let be a -space which is spherically symmetric around some point and whose boundary has finite positive dimensional Hausdorff measure. Let be a conformal density of dimension on . We prove that is a weak limit of measures supported on spheres centered at . These measures are expressed in terms of the total mass function of and of the dimensional spherical function on . In particular, this result proves that is entirely determined by its dimension and its total mass function. The results of this paper apply in particular for symmetric spaces of rank one and semi-homogeneous trees.

     

Injective linear cellular automata and sofic groups

Let V be a finite-dimensional vector space over a field and let G be a sofic group. We show that every injective linear cellular automaton τ: V ^G → V ^G is surjective. As an application, we obtain a new proof of the stable finiteness of group rings of sofic groups, a result previously established by G. Elek and A. Szabó using different methods.     

Positive Eigenfunctions of the Laplacian and Conformal Densities on Homogeneous Trees

In this paper, we study some asymptotic aspects of the positiveeigenfunctions of the combinatorial Laplacian associated toa homogeneous tree. The results are inspired by results of DennisSullivan concerning -harmonic functions on the hyperbolic spacesHⁿ and contained in the paper [9].     

An analogue of Fekete’s lemma for subadditive functions on cancellative amenable semigroups

We prove an analogue of Fekete’s lemma for subadditive right-subinvariant functions defined on the finite subsets of a cancellative left-amenable semigroup. This extends results previously obtained in the case of amenable groups by E. Lindenstrauss and B. Weiss and by M. Gromov.     

Amenability and Linear Cellular Automata Over Semisimple Modules of Finite Length

Let M be a semisimple left module of finite length over a ring R and let G be an amenable group. We show that an R-linear cellular automaton τ:M^G → M^G is surjective if and only if it is pre-injective.     

The Myhill property for strongly irreducible subshifts over amenable groups

Let G be an amenable group and let A be a finite set. We prove that if X ? A ^G is a strongly irreducible subshift then X has the Myhill property, that is, every pre-injective cellular automaton ?? : X ?? X is surjective.     

Symbolic coding for the geodesic flow associated to a word hyperbolic group

 Let Γ be a word hyperbolic group M. Gromov has constructed a compact space equipped with a flow which is defined up to orbit-equivalence and which is called the geodesic flow of Γ. In the special case where Γ is the fundamental group of a Riemannian manifold of negative sectional curvature, is the unit tangent bundle of the manifold equipped with the usual geodesic flow. In this paper, we construct, for every hyperbolic group Γ, a subshift of finite type and a continuous map from the suspension of this subshift onto , which is uniformly bounded-to-one and which sends each orbit of the suspension flow onto an orbit of the geodesic flow. Received: 25 January 2002 / Revised version: 20 August 2002 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 20F67, 20F65, 20F69, 53C23, 53C21, 37D40, 37B10, 54H20