Bounded cohomology of lattices in higher rank Lie groups

We prove that the natural map H_b ²(Γ)?H²(Γ) from bounded to usual cohomology is injective if Γ is an irreducible cocompact lattice in a higher rank Lie group. This result holds also for nontrivial unitary coefficients, and implies finiteness results for Γ: the stable commutator length vanishes and any C¹–action on the circle is almost trivial. We introduce the continuous bounded cohomology of a locally compact group and prove our statements by relating H_b ^•(Γ) to the continuous bounded cohomology of the ambient group with coefficients in some induction module. Received July 14, 1998 / final version received January 7, 1999