Paradoxical decompositions and invariant measures

Abstract

Suppose <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper G"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>G</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">G</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> is a certain group of bijections of a given set <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper X"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>X</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">X</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>. A subset <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper E"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>E</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">E</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> of <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper X"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>X</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">X</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> is countably <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper G"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>G</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">G</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>-paradoxical if it contains disjoint subsets <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper A comma upper B"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:mo>,</mml:mo> <mml:mi>B</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">A,B</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>, each of which can be taken apart into countably many pieces that may be rearranged via <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper G"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>G</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">G</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> to form a partition of <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper E"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>E</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">E</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>. We prove that the existence of a countably additive measure on <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper P left-parenthesis upper X right-parenthesis"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>P</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>X</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">P(X)</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> that normalizes <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper X"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>X</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">X</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> and vanishes on all countably <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper G"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>G</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">G</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>-paradoxical sets implies the existence of a countably additive, <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper G"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>G</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">G</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>-invariant measure on <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper P left-parenthesis upper X right-parenthesis"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>P</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>X</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">P(X)</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula> normalizing <inline-formula content-type="math/mathml"> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" alttext="upper X"> <mml:semantics> <mml:mi>X</mml:mi> <mml:annotation encoding="application/x-tex">X</mml:annotation> </mml:semantics> </mml:math> </inline-formula>.

Locations

• Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society - View - PDF