Local rigidity for actions of Kazhdan groups on noncommutative Lp-spaces

Abstract

Let Γ be a discrete group and 𝒩 a finite factor, and assume that both have Kazhdan's Property (T). For p ∈ [1, +∞), p ≠ 2, let π : Γ →O(Lp(𝒩)) be a homomorphism to the group O(Lp(𝒩)) of linear bijective isometries of the Lp-space of 𝒩. There are two actions πl and πr of a finite index subgroup Γ+ of Γ by automorphisms of 𝒩 associated to π and given by πl(g)x = (π(g) 1)*π(g)(x) and πr(g)x = π(g)(x)(π(g) 1)* for g ∈ Γ+ and x ∈ 𝒩. Assume that πl and πr are ergodic. We prove that π is locally rigid, that is, the orbit of π under O(Lp(𝒩)) is open in Hom (Γ, O(Lp(𝒩))). As a corollary, we obtain that, if moreover Γ is an ICC group, then the embedding g ↦ Ad (λ(g)) is locally rigid in O(Lp(𝒩(Γ))), where 𝒩(Γ) is the von Neumann algebra generated by the left regular representation λ of Γ.