Coboundaries of commuting Borel automorphisms

We show that if \(S\), \(T\) are two commuting automorphisms of a standard Borel space such that they generate a free Borel \(\mathbb{Z}^2\)-action then \(S\) and \(T\) do not have same sets of real valued bounded coboundaries. We also prove a weaker form of Rokhlin Lemma for Borel \(\mathbb{Z}^d\)-actions.

Minimal definable graphs of definable chromatic number at least three

We show that there is a Borel graph on a standard Borel space of Borel chromatic number three that admits a Borel homomorphism to every analytic graph on a standard Borel space of Borel chromatic number at least three. Moreover, we characterize the Borel graphs on standard Borel spaces of vertex-degree at most two with this property and show that the analogous result for digraphs fails.

BROOKS’ THEOREM FOR MEASURABLE COLORINGS

We generalize Brooks’ theorem to show that if $G$ is a Borel graph on a standard Borel space $X$ of degree bounded by $d\geqslant 3$ which contains no $(d+1)$-cliques, then $G$ admits a ${\it\mu}$-measurable $d$-coloring with respect to any Borel probability measure ${\it\mu}$ on $X$, and a Baire measurable $d$-coloring with respect to any compatible Polish topology on $X$. The proof of this theorem uses a new technique for constructing one-ended spanning subforests of Borel graphs, as well as ideas from the study of list colorings. We apply the theorem to graphs arising from group actions to obtain factor of IID $d$-colorings of Cayley graphs of degree $d$, except in two exceptional cases.

On Polish groups admitting a compatible complete left-invariant metric

We prove that the set of all Polish groups admitting a compatible complete left-invariant metric (called CLI) is coanalytic non-Borel as a subset of a standard Borel space of all Polish groups. As an application of this result, we show that there does not exist a weakly universal CLI group. This, in particular, answers in the negative a question of H.Becker.

Bi-Borel reducibility of essentially countable Borel equivalence relations

This note answers a questions from [2] by showing that considered up to Borel reducibility, there are more essentially countable Borel equivalence relations than countable Borel equivalence relations. Namely:Theorem 0.1. There is an essentially countable Borel equivalence relation E such that for no countable Borel equivalence relation F (on a standard Borel space) do we haveThe proof of the result is short. It does however require an extensive rear guard campaign to extract from the techniques of [1] the followingMessy Fact 0.2. There are countable Borel equivalence relationssuch that:(i) eachExis defined on a standard Borel probability space (Xx, μx); each Ex is μx-invariant and μx-ergodic;(ii) forx1 ≠ x2 and A μxι -conull, we haveExι/Anot Borel reducible toEx2;(iii) if f: Xx → Xxis a measurable reduction ofExto itself then(iv)is a standard Borel space on which the projection functionis Borel and the equivalence relation Ê given byif and only ifx = x′ andzExz′ is Borel;(V)is Borel.We first prove the theorem granted this messy fact. We then prove the fact.(iv) and (v) are messy and unpleasant to state precisely, but are intended to express the idea that we have an effective parameterization of countable Borel equivalence relations by points in a standard Borel space. Examples along these lines appear already in the Adams-Kechris constructions; the new feature is (iii).Simon Thomas has pointed out to me that in light of theorem 4.4 [5] the Gefter-Golodets examples of section 5 [5] also satisfy the conclusion of 0.2.

Amenable versus hyperfinite Borel equivalence relations

LetXbe a standard Borel space (i.e., a Polish space with the associated Borel structure), and letEbe acountableBorel equivalence relation onX, i.e., a Borel equivalence relationEfor which every equivalence class [x]Eis countable. By a result of Feldman-Moore [FM],Eis induced by the orbits of a Borel action of a countable groupGonX.The structure of general countable Borel equivalence relations is very little understood. However, a lot is known for the particularly important subclass consisting of hyperfinite relations. A countable Borel equivalence relation is calledhyperfiniteif it is induced by a Borel ℤ-action, i.e., by the orbits of a single Borel automorphism. Such relations are studied and classified in [DJK] (see also the references contained therein). It is shown in Ornstein-Weiss [OW] and Connes-Feldman-Weiss [CFW] that for every Borel equivalence relationEinduced by a Borel action of a countable amenable groupGonXand for every (Borel) probability measure μ onX, there is a Borel invariant setY⊆Xwith μ(Y) = 1 such thatE↾Y(= the restriction ofEtoY) is hyperfinite. (Recall that a countable group G isamenableif it carries a finitely additive translation invariant probability measure defined on all its subsets.) Motivated by this result, Weiss [W2] raised the question of whether everyEinduced by a Borel action of a countable amenable group is hyperfinite. Later on Weiss (personal communication) showed that this is true forG= ℤn. However, the problem is still open even for abelianG. Our main purpose here is to provide a weaker affirmative answer for general amenableG(and more—see below). We need a definition first. Given two standard Borel spacesX, Y, auniversally measurableisomorphism betweenXandYis a bijection ƒ:X→Ysuch that both ƒ, ƒ-1are universally measurable. (As usual, a mapg:Z→W, withZandWstandard Borel spaces, is calleduniversally measurableif it is μ-measurable for every probability measure μ onZ.) Notice now that to assert that a countable Borel equivalence relation onXis hyperfinite is trivially equivalent to saying that there is a standard Borel spaceYand a hyperfinite Borel equivalence relationFonY, which isBorelisomorphic toE, i.e., there is a Borel bijection ƒ:X→YwithxEy⇔ ƒ(x)Fƒ(y). We have the following theorem.