GROUP ACTIONS WITH COMMENSURATED SUBSETS,
WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

arXiv:1302.5982v2 [] 13 Aug 2016

YVES CORNULIER
Abstract. We study commensurating actions of groups and the associated
properties FW and PW, in connection with wallings, median graphs, CAT(0)
cubings and multi-ended Schreier graphs.

1. Introduction
1.A. Commensurated subsets and associated properties.
1.A.1. Context. The source of CAT(0) cubings can be found in several originally
partly unrelated areas, including median graphs, group actions on trees, ends of
Schreier graphs, Coxeter groups, cubulations of 3-dimensional manifolds. The
link with Kazhdan’s Property T was gradually acknowledged, first in the case of
trees, then for finite-dimensional CAT(0) cubings and then for general CAT(0)
cubings; the same arguments were also found at the same time in different languages, notably in terms of wall spaces. The present paper is an attempt to give
a synthesis of those different point of views, and especially to advertise the most
elementary approach, namely that of group actions with commensurated subsets.
Let us emphasize that actions on CAT(0) cubings have now reached a considerable importance in geometric group theory. However, maybe partly because of
the scattering of points of view and the elaborateness of the notion of CAT(0)
cubing, it is sometimes considered as a intermediate tool, for instance to prove
that some group does not have Property T or has the Haagerup Property. This
is certainly unfair, and CAT(0) cubings and consorts are worth much better than
being subcontractors of those analytic properties, and therefore we introduce the
following terminology.
1.A.2. Actions with commensurated subsets. Consider an action of a group G on
a discrete set X (we assume throughout this introduction that groups are discrete,
but will address the setting of topological groups as well). We say that a subset
M ⊂ X is commensurated by the G-action if
ℓM (g) = #(M △ gM) < ∞,

∀g ∈ G,

Date: August 25, 2015.
2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary 20F65, Secondary 20B25, 05C12, 20B27,
20E22.
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where △ denotes the symmetric difference1. We say that M is transfixed if there
exists a G-invariant subset N with M △ N finite. Transfixed subsets are the
trivial instances of commensurated subsets.
1.A.3. Property FW.
Definition 1.A.1. We say that G has Property FW if for every G-set, every
commensurated subset is transfixed.
For every G-set X with a commensurated subset M, define the function ℓM (g) =
#(gM △ M); every such function on G is called a cardinal definite function2 on
G.
Property FW for the group G turns out to have several equivalent characterizations, both geometric and combinatorial, see Section 3 for the relevant definitions
and Proposition 7.I.3 for the proofs.
(i) G has Property FW;
(ii) every cardinal definite function on G is bounded;
(iii) every cellular action on any CAT(0) cube complex has bounded orbits for
the ℓ1 -metric (we allow infinite-dimensional cube complexes);
(iv) every cellular action on any CAT(0) cube complex has a fixed point;
(v) every action on a connected median graph has bounded orbits;
(vi) every action on a nonempty connected median graph has a finite orbit;
(vii) (if G is finitely generated and endowed with a finite generating subset) every
Schreier graph of G has at most 1 end;
(viii) for every set Y endowed with a walling and compatible action on Y and on
the index set of the walling, the action on Y has bounded orbits for the wall
distance;
(ix) every isometric action on an “integral Hilbert space” ℓ2 (X, Z) (X any discrete set), or equivalently on ℓ2 (X, R) preserving integral points, has bounded
orbits;
(x) for every G-set X we have H 1 (G, ZX) = 0.
The implication (iii)⇒(iv) looks at first sight like a plain application of the
center lemma; however this is not the case in general since the CAT(0) cube
complex is not complete and we would only deduce, for instance, a fixed point in
the ℓ2 -completion. The argument (which goes through median graphs) is due to
Gerasimov and is described in §7.A.
Note that FW means “fixed point property on walls”, in view of (viii). 3
1The

notion of commensurated subset is the set analogue of the notion of commensurated
subgroup which is not considered in this paper.
2When X is replaced by an arbitrary measure space and cardinality is replaced by the
measure, we obtain the notion of measure definite function addressed by Robertson and Steger
in [RS].
3The terminology FW is borrowed from Barnhill and Chatterji [BC].

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It follows from (ix) that Property FH implies Property FW. Recall that Property FH means that every isometric action on a real Hilbert space has bounded
orbits, and is equivalent (for countable groups) to the representation-theoretic
Kazhdan’s Property T by Delorme-Guichardet’s Theorem (see [BHV] for a general introduction to these properties). Also, Property FH was characterized by
Robertson-Steger [RS] in a way very similar to the above definition of Property
FW, namely replacing the action on a discrete set X and cardinality of subsets by
a measure-preserving action on a measured space and measure of its measurable
subsets.
Also, since trees are the simplest examples of CAT(0) cube complexes, it follows from (iii) that Property FW implies Serre’s Property FA: every action on a
tree has bounded orbits. This can also be directly viewed with commensurating
actions: if a group G acts on a tree, then it acts on the set of oriented edges, and
for each fixed vertex x0 , the set of oriented edges pointing towards x0 is a commensurated subset, which is transfixed only if the original action has bounded
orbits.
Thus FW is a far-reaching strengthening of Property FA, while weaker than
Property FH. Note that Property FH is of much more analytical nature, but is
has no combinatorial characterization at this time. A considerable work has been
done to settle partial converses to the implication FW⇒FA, the first of which
being Stallings’ characterization of finitely generated groups with several ends.
However, there are a lot of groups satisfying FA but not FW, see Example 5.B.8.
1.A.4. Property PW. In view of (ii), it is natural to introduce the opposite property PW, which was explicitly introduced in [CSVa]:
Definition 1.A.2. The group G has Property PW if it admits a proper commensurating action, in the sense that the cardinal definite function ℓM is proper
on G.
(Recall that f : G → R proper means {x : |f (x)| ≤ r} is finite for all r < ∞.)
Obviously, a group has both Properties PW and FW if and only if it is finite.
We say that an isometric action of a discrete group on a metric space X is proper
if for some x ∈ X, the function g 7→ f (x, gx) is proper; then this holds for all
x ∈ X. Property PW has, in a similar fashion, equivalent restatements:

(iii’) there exists a proper cellular action on a (possibly infinite-dimensional)
complete CAT(0) cube complex with the ℓ1 -metric;
(v’) there is a proper isometric action on a connected median graph;
(viii’) there exists a set Y endowed with a walling and compatible actions on this
set and on the index set of the walling, such the action on Y endowed with
the wall distance is metrically proper;
(ix’) there exists a proper isometric action on an “integral Hilbert space” ℓ2 (X, Z)
(for some discrete set X), actually extending to ℓ2 (X, R).

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Here we enumerate in accordance with the corresponding characterizations of
Property FW; for instance we omit the analogue of (ii) because it would be tautological, while (vii) has no trivial restatement. Actually I do not know any purely
combinatorial definition of Property PW (not explicitly involving any kind of
properness); nevertheless it is a very important feature in geometric group theory, and its refinements (such as proper cocompact actions on finite-dimensional
proper cube complexes) play an essential role in the understanding of 3-manifold
groups, among others.
Similarly as above, we see that Property PW implies the Haagerup Property,
which for a countable group asserts the existence of a proper isometric action on
a Hilbert space. One of the main strengths of the Haagerup Property for a group
G is that it implies that G satisfies the Baum-Connes conjecture in its strongest
form, namely with coefficients [HK].
1.A.5. How to read this paper? After a possible touchdown at the examples in
Section 2, the reader will find basic notions in Section 3. The study of commensurating actions is developed in Section 4 (where all groups can be assumed to be
discrete in a first reading), and is specified to the study of Property FW and its
cousins in Section 5. Section 6 applies basic results on commensurating actions
from Section 4 to the study of cardinal definite functions on abelian groups, with
applications to properties FW and PW. Finally, Section 7, which only uses as a
prerequisite the definitions of Section 3, especially surveys previous work about
median graphs; this survey is at this point is far from comprehensive, but includes
important notions such as the Sageev graph associated to a commensurating action, and Gerasimov’s theorem that any bounded action on a connected median
graph has a finite orbit.
Warning. A significant part of this paper consists of non-original results (see §8);
however the way they are stated here can differ from the classical (and divergent)
points of view. This paper is partly an attempt to a synthesis of these points of
view (see Section 3).
Acknowledgements. I thank Serge Bouc, Pierre-Emmanuel Caprace, Vincent
Guirardel, Frédéric Haglund, Michah Sageev, Todor Tsankov and Alain Valette
for useful conversations. I am grateful to Peter Haissinsky for a number of corrections.
Contents
1. Introduction
1.A. Commensurated subsets and associated properties
2. Classical examples
2.A. Examples with Property PW
2.B. Examples with the negation of Property FW
2.C. Examples with the negation of Property PW

1
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5
5
8
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COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

2.D. Examples with Property FW
2.E. Between Property FW and PW
3. Commensurating actions and other properties
3.A. Wallings
3.B. Ends of Schreier graphs and coforked subgroups
3.C. On the language of “almost invariant” subsets
4. Commensurating actions of topological groups
4.A. The commensurating symmetric group
4.B. Cofinality 6= ω
4.C. Automatic continuity
4.D. Affine ℓp -action
4.E. Boundedness and commensuration
4.F. Induction
4.G. Wreath products
4.H. The transfer character
5. Property FW etc.
5.A. Property FW
5.B. Features of Property FW
5.C. Property PW
6. Cardinal definite function on abelian groups and applications
6.A. Cyclic groups
6.B. Abelian groups
6.C. Polycyclic groups
7. Median graphs
7.A. Median graphs: main examples and first properties
7.B. Median orientations
7.C. Canonical walling of a median graph
7.D. Roller orientations and Roller boundary
7.E. Convex hulls
7.F. Cubes in median graphs
7.G. Gerasimov’s theorem
7.H. Involutive commensurating actions and the Sageev graph
7.I. Link with other properties
8. About this paper
References

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2. Classical examples
2.A. Examples with Property PW. Let us give examples of groups satisfying
Property PW. It can be hard to give accurate references, insofar as the link
different characterizations of Property PW were not originally well-understood,
and also because Property PW was often obtained accidentally. Therefore, in

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the following enumeration, I use a chronological order taking into account the
availability of the methods rather than any findable explicit assertion. From this
prospective, we can agree that Property PW for the trivial group was realized
soon after the Big Bang and that probably a few years later Lucy considered as
folklore that it is also satisfied by Z (but I would be happy to acknowledge any
earlier reference).
The first next examples are groups acting properly on trees; however a finitely
generated group with this property is necessarily virtually free, so this gives a
small class of groups. However, unlike the property of acting properly on a tree,
Property PW is stable under taking direct products and overgroups of finite
index (see Proposition 5.C.2). It follows, for instance, that every finitely generated, virtually abelian group has Property PW; interestingly this provides the
simplest counterexamples to the implication FA⇒FW (e.g., a nontrivial semidirect product Z2 ⋊ (Z/3Z) does the job). All the previous examples are groups
acting properly on a finite product of trees. Further instances of such groups are
lattices (or discrete subgroups) in products of rank one simple groups over
non-Archimedean local fields, and also Burger-Mozes’ groups, which are infinite,
finitely presented and simple. A typical example that is not cocompact is the
lamplighter group F ≀ Z (where F is any finite group), which acts properly on
the product of two trees, or a non-cocompact lattice such as SL2 (Fq [t, t−1 ]).
In chronological order, the next examples seem to be Coxeter groups. This
was proved by Bozejko, Januszkiewicz and Spatzier [BJS]. Actually, they use
a certain action on a space with walls which was explicitly provided (modulo
the language of walls), along with all necessary estimates, by Tits [Tit, 2.22].
While this proves Property PW for all Coxeter groups, they claimed as main
result the much weaker assertion that their infinite subgroups of Coxeter groups
do not have Kazhdan’s Property T. Niblo and Reeves [NRe] refined the result
by exhibiting a proper action of any finitely generated Coxeter group on a finitedimensional proper CAT(0) cube complex; their action is cocompact when the
Coxeter group is Gromov-hyperbolic but not in general. Eventually HaglundWise [HaW2] showed that any finitely generated Coxeter group admits a finite
index subgroup with cocompact such action.
Let us point out that at that time, the Haagerup Property, explicitly studied
and characterized in Akemann-Walter [AW], was not yet popular as it became
after being promoted by Gromov [Gro, 7.A,7.E] and then in the book by Valette
and the other authors of [CCJJV].
Let us give some more recent examples.
• Wise proved in [Wi04] that every group with a finite small cancelation
presentation of type C ′ (1/6) or C ′ (1/4)-T (4) acts properly cocompactly on
a finite-dimensional, locally finite cube complex, and thus have Property
PW. Arzhantseva and Osajda [AO] recently proved that finitely generated
groups with infinite C ′ (1/6) presentations also have Property PW.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

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• Bergeron and Wise then obtained a cubulation which, combined with
a result of Kahn and Markovic [KM], implies that every torsion-free
cocompact lattice of SL2 (C) admits a proper cocompact action on a
finite-dimensional, locally finite CAT(0) cubing.
• Hsu and Wise [HsW] proved that the fundamental group of a graph of
free groups with cyclic edge groups, provided it has no non-Euclidean
Baumslag-Solitar subgroups, has a proper cocompact action on a locally
finite CAT(0) cubing.
• Ollivier and Wise [OW] proved that Gromov random groups at density
d < 1/6 act properly cocompactly on a finite dimensional, locally finite
CAT(0) cube complex.
• Gautero [Gau] proved that the Formanek-Procesi group, a non-linear
semidirect product of two non-abelian free groups of finite rank, has a
proper action on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex.
All the previous examples act properly on a finite-dimensional, locally finite
CAT(0) cube complex. A very different example was discovered by Farley, namely
Thompson’s groups [Far] and more generally diagram groups over finite semigroup presentations. This was extended by Hughes to suitable groups of local
similarities of compact ultrametric spaces [Hu]4.
The author, Stalder and Valette proved in [CSVa] that Property PW is stable
under taking standard wreath products. In general (e.g., in the case of Z ≀ Z),
the methods outputs an infinite-dimensional cube complex even in both groups
act on finite-dimensional ones. The statement given in [CSVa] was weaker, because the authors had primarily the Haagerup Property in mind, but the method
in [CSVb] allows to get the general case. See §4.G and Proposition 5.C.3.
There are natural strengthenings of Property PW, such as, in order of strength:
having a proper action on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex, having a
proper action on a finite-dimensional locally finite CAT(0) cube complex, having a
proper cocompact action on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex. We do not
address them in this paper, although they are of fundamental importance. These
classes are much more restricted. For instance, it was observed in [CSVa] that
the wreath product (Z/2Z) ≀ F2 has Property FW but does not have any proper
action on a finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complex. N. Wright’s result that
finite-dimensional CAT(0) cube complexes have finite asymptotic dimension [Wr]
provides a wealth of other examples, including the wreath product Z ≀ Z, which
has Property PW by [CSVa] (completed in Proposition 5.C.3), or Thompson’s
group F of the interval, which has Property PW by Farley [Far]. I do not know
4Note

that Hughes and Farley calls a proper commensurating action (i.e., whose associated
cardinal definite function is proper) a zipper action. One reason for which we do not follow this
terminology is that in order to understand a (possibly proper) commensurating action, it can
be useful to decompose the set into orbits and analyse individually each orbit; when passing
to an orbit we generally lose the properness. Commensurated subsets are called immobile in
[Ner].

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if, for a finitely generated group, having a proper cellular action on a (finitedimensional / proper / finite-dimensional and proper) CAT(0) cube complex
are distinct properties. [For non-proper actions, there exists [ABJLMS, ChK]
a finitely generated group Q with no non-trivial cellular action on any locally
finite finite-dimensional cube complex; so the free product Q ∗ Q also shares this
property, but it also acts with unbounded orbits on a (not locally finite) tree.]
2.B. Examples with the negation of Property FW. If G is a finitely generated group and H is a subgroup, let us say that H is coforked in G if G/H
has at least 2 ends. This is called “codimension 1 subgroup” by Sageev [Sa95]
and in some subsequent papers but this terminology can be confusing as there is
in general no underlying notion of dimension, or other unrelated such notions in
some cases, and because it is not well-reflected by the geometry of H inside G,
as shown by the following example:
Example 2.B.1. Consider the infinite dihedral group G1 = ha, b | a2 , b2 i with
generating set {a, b, aba} and the group G2 = ht, u | [t, u], u2i ≃ Z × (Z/2Z)
with generating set {tu, u}. Then there exists a isomorphism between the Cayley
graphs of these groups mapping {1, a} to {1, u}. On the other hand, {1, a} is not
coforked in G1 , while {1, u} is coforked in G2 .
Note that the trivial group is coforked in the infinite dihedral group, showing
that an overgroup of finite index of a coforked subgroup may not be coforked. On
the other hand, a finite index subgroup of a coforked subgroup is always coforked
in the whole group.
All the above examples of Property PW groups, provided they are infinite,
fail to have Property FW, i.e., admit a coforked subgroup (assuming they are
finitely generated). Note that any group having a quotient without Property
FW also fails to have Property FW. In particular, any finitely generated group
virtually admitting a homomorphism onto Z, or equivalently having an infinite
virtually abelian quotient, fails to have Property FW. In this case, the kernel of
a homomorphism of a finite index subgroup onto Z is a coforked subgroup.
Also, having in mind that Property FW is inherited by finite index subgroups,
all groups having a finite index subgroup splitting as an nontrivial amalgam fails
to have Property FW, a coforked subgroup being the amalgamated subgroup.
Also, countable infinitely generated groups fail to have Property FW, since they
do not have Property FA [Ser].
Ollivier and Wise [OW] proved that Gromov random groups at density d < 1/5
admit a coforked subgroup.
A wreath product A ≀S B = A(S) ⋊ B, with A nontrivial, S an infinite B-set
and B countable never has Property FW (Proposition 5.B.4). Provided S admits
an infinite orbit Bs, a careful look at the construction shows that ASr{1} is a
coforked subgroup. Of course if A or B does not have Property PW, the wreath
product does not have Property PW.

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The first Grigorchuk group and the Basilica group are examples of self-similar
groups with a natural action on a regular rooted tree. The first has subexponential growth and thus is amenable [Gri] while the second has exponential growth
[GrZ] but yet is amenable [BV]. Both admit Schreier graphs with 2 ends; for the
Grigorchuk group this is established in [GrK] and for the Basilica group this is
obtained in [DDMN]. In both cases, the coforked subgroup is obtained as the
stabilizer of a suitable boundary point of the rooted tree. Accordingly, these
groups do not have Property FW; it is not known if they have Property PW.
The derived subgroup of the full topological group associated to an infinite
minimal subshift is, by a result of Matui [Ma1], an infinite, finitely generated
simple group; it was subsequently shown to be amenable by Juschenko and Monod
[JM]. This group admits a transitive action on Z for which every element acts
with bounded displacement. In particular, it commensurates N; this shows that
this group does not have Property FW. It is not known whether it has Property
PW.
2.C. Examples with the negation of Property PW. For a time the only
known source of non-PW (countable) groups was the class of groups without the
Haagerup Property, and the only known source of groups without the Haagerup
Property was groups with an infinite subgroup with relative Property T. Other
examples appeared in [?], yet, as observed in [Cor2], they have an infinite subset
with relative Property T.
The question whether any group with the Haagerup Property has Property PW
has circulated for many years until solved in the negative by Haglund, who proved
that a group with Property PW has all its infinite cyclic subgroups undistorted
(a more direct approach of Haglund’s theorem is given as Corollary 6.A.3). In
particular, plenty of amenable groups do not have Property FW, although all
amenable groups have the Haagerup Property [AW].
Another approach can be used by used by using Houghton’s characterization
of coforked subgroups of virtually polycyclic groups: it follows that a virtually
polycyclic group has Property PW if and only if it is virtually abelian (see Section 6.C).
2.D. Examples with Property FW. Groups with Kazhdan’s Property T are
the initial source of examples of groups with Property FW. The question of
finding FW groups without Property T was asked in the second arxiv version of
[CDH] and no example seems to have been written before [Cor3]. One example
can be derived from Haglund’s theorem
√ and a bounded generation argument due
to Carter and Keller, namely SL2 (Z[ k]), where k is an arbitrary non-square
positive integer. This group actually has the Haagerup Property. In general, I
conjecture:

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Conjecture 2.D.1. Let S be a connected semisimple Lie group with no compact
simple factor, whose Lie algebra has R-rank at least 2. Then every irreducible
lattice in S has Property FW.
(Irreducible means that the projection of the lattice modulo any simple factor
of S has a dense image.) The conjecture holds for S when it has Kazhdan’s
Property √
T since this is inherited by the lattice. It also includes the above case
of SL2 (Z[ k]), which is an irreducible lattice in SL2 (R)2 . Further instances of
the conjecture are given in [Cor3].
2.E. Between Property FW and PW. The main general question is to describe cardinal definite functions on a given group. Since this is a bit too much,
as it is sensitive on the choice of a commensurated subset in its commensuration
class, the question can be relaxed to: determine cardinal definite functions up to
addition of bounded functions. This has a complete answer for finitely generated
abelian groups, see Proposition 6.B.3. It would be simplistic to reduce this to
the bare study to Properties PW and FW. Also, even if a group has Property
PW, there is still an interesting work to understand in which ways it can act
properly. The natural study, given a group, say finitely generated, is to consider
the class of commensurating actions: the first step being to characterize its coforked subgroups among its subgroups, and then to describe the commensurated
subsets in the associated coset spaces (or more generally the finite partitions by
commensurated subsets), which essentially amounts to describing the space of
ends of the corresponding Schreier graphs.
3. Commensurating actions and other properties
If G is a group, we say that a function G → R is cardinal definite5 if there
exists a G-set X and a G-commensurated subset M ⊂ X such that f (g) =
ℓM (g) = #(M △ gM) for all g ∈ G. When G is a topological group, we require,
in addition, that X is a continuous discrete G-set (i.e., stabilizers of points are
open subgroups of G) and M has an open stabilizer. We actually check (Lemma
4.A.5) that f is cardinal definite on the topological group G, if and only if it
is a continuous function on G and is cardinal definite as function on Gδ , which
denotes G endowed with the discrete topology.
3.A. Wallings. There is a well-known close connection between commensurating
actions and wall spaces of Haglund-Paulin [HP]. The suitable definition to make
this connection a perfect dictionary is the following.
5The

terminology “cardinal definite” is in analogy with the notion of measure definite function introduced by Robertson and Steger [RS], where discrete sets with the counting measure
are replaced by general measure spaces.

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Definition 3.A.1. Given a set V and denoting by 2V its power set, a walling on
V with index set I is a map
W

I → 2V
i 7→ Wi

such that for all u, v ∈ V , the number dW (u, v) of i such that Wi separates u and
v (in the sense that u 6= v and #(Wi ∩ {u, v}) = 1) is finite. The Wi are called
halfspaces.
Given a group G and a G-set V , a G-walling (or G-equivariant walling) is the
data of an index G-set I and a walling I → 2V , which is G-equivariant, G acting
by left multiplication on the power set 2V .
If f : V1 → V2 is a map and W a walling on V2 , define the pull-back of W to V1
by f as the composite map f ∗ W = (f −1 ) ◦ W where (f −1 ) is the inverse image
map 2V2 → 2V1 .
Note that dW (u, v) is a pseudo-distance on V and, in the equivariant case, is
preserved by G. Also note that the pull-back f ∗ W is clearly a walling, and that
the map f such as above is an isometry (V1 , df ∗ W ) → (V2 , dW ); moreover if f is
a G-map between G-sets and W is equivariant, then so is f ∗ W.
Proposition 3.A.2. Given a G-set X, there is are canonical reciprocal bijections
{comm. subsets of X} −→ {G-wallings on G indexed by X}
A 7→ {h ∈ G | x ∈ hA}x∈X ;
{x ∈ X | 1 ∈ Wx } →7 (Wx )x∈X .

(Here G is viewed as a G-set under left multiplication.) If the commensurated
subset A ⊂ X and the walling W correspond to each other under this bijection,
then the pseudo-distances dA and dW are equal.
Proof. These maps are reciprocal, defining an even larger bijection between subsets of X and G-equivariant maps X → 2G . Given corresponding A ⊂ X and
the G-equivariant mapping W : X → 2G , a straightforward verification shows
that A is commensurated if and only if W is a walling, also showing the last
statement.

Corollary 3.A.3. Let G be a group and f : G → R a function. Equivalences:
(1) f is cardinal definite;
(2) there exists a G-set V , a G-walling W on V and v ∈ V such that f (g) =
dW (v, gv) for all g.
(3) there is a G-walling W on G such that f (g) = dW (1, g) for all g.
Proof. The equivalence between (1) and (3) is immediate from Proposition 3.A.2
and (3)⇒(2) is trivial, while (2)⇒(3) is obtained by pulling back the walling to
G by the orbital map g 7→ gv.


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Remark 3.A.4. There are several nuances between the original definition of wall
spaces and the definition used here:
(1) we allow ∅ and V among the halfspaces;
(2) we allow multiple halfspaces in the sense that i 7→ Wi is not required to be
injective (although clearly, each halfspace occurs with finite multiplicity,
except possibly ∅ and V );
(3) we use an explicit G-structure on the indexing family of the walling, rather
than considering a subset of the power set (as in the original definition)
or a discrete integral measure on the power set (as in [CSVb]).
(4) we consider subsets (that is, half-spaces, as in [CSVb]) rather than partitions into two subsets (as in the original definition). Unlike in [NRo,
HrWi], we do not assume stability under complementation.
Among those nuances, the most essential is probably the one in (4). The necessity
of considering half-spaces rather than partitions was observed in many places,
including [HrWi, CSVb]. The construction of [CSVa, CSVb] (see §4.G), which
maps a walling (or a measured walling) on a group Γ to a walling on the wreath
product A ≀ Γ, is very far from symmetric with respect to complementation! (For
instance, it maps the walling by singletons to a bounded walling, but maps the
walling by co-singletons to an unbounded walling as soon as Γ is infinite.)
Remark 3.A.5. A variant of the above notion of walling is when the halfspaces
are self-indexed. Here, this corresponds to the assumption that the family of
halfspaces is x 7→ Wx is injective. Although easier at first sight, this condition is
pretty unnatural; for instance, it prevents the use of pullbacks by non-surjective
maps. Also, it does not seriously change the definitions. For example, if G
is finitely generated, then for any G-invariant walling on G, the multiplicity of
any halfspace is actually bounded (see Corollary 4.B.4), so removing redundant
halfspaces preserves, for instance, the properness of the wall distance. See also
Remark 7.I.5.
Let us provide a topological version of Proposition 3.A.2. Let G be a topological group. A continuous discrete G-set is a G-set in which all pointwise stabilizers
Gx , x ∈ X, are open subgroups of G. We call topological commensurated subset
of X a commensurated subset A whose global stabilizer is open in G, or equivalently if the cardinal definite function ℓA is continuous. We will see in Lemma
4.C.3 that if G is locally compact, then any commensurated subset of X is actually a topological commensurated subsets, but this is not true for an arbitrary
topological group.
Proposition 3.A.6. Let G be a topological group and X a discrete G-set. The
bijection of Proposition 3.A.2 actually is a bijection
∼

{comm. subsets of X} −→ {clopen G-wallings on G indexed by X}.

If the commensurated subset A ⊂ X and the walling W correspond to each other
under this bijection, then the pseudo-distances dA and dW are equal. In particular,

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

13

the above bijection restricts to a bijection




top. comm.
clopen G-wallings of X
∼
−→
.
subsets of X
with continuous wall pseudodistance
Proof. The stabilizer Gx of x is an open subgroup and we have Gx Wx = Wx .
Therefore Wx , being a union of right cosets of Gx , is clopen. Thus the bijection of
Proposition 3.A.2 actually has the above form. The second statement is contained
in Proposition 3.A.2 and the third follows.

Remark 3.A.7. The data of a commensurated subset A in G/H is obviously
equivalent to that of a subset B ⊂ G which is right-H-invariant and satisfies
#((B △ gB)/H) < ∞ for all g ∈ G (up to taking the inverse of B, these conditions are precisely those considered by Sageev in [Sa95, Theorem 2.3]). Namely,
denoting by π is the projection G → G/H, we have B = π −1 (A) and A = π(B).
In this language, the halfspace Wg associated to g ∈ G/H in Proposition 3.A.2
is just Wg = B −1 g −1 .
3.B. Ends of Schreier graphs and coforked subgroups. Here we extend the
notion given above for finitely generated discrete groups.
Definition 3.B.1. We say that an open subgroup H of a topological group G is
coforked if there is in G/H a commensurated subset, infinite and coinfinite, with
an open stabilizer.
The openness of the stabilizer is automatic when G is locally compact (see
Corollary 4.C.4), so in that case, if H is an open subgroup of G, it is coforked
in the topological group G if and only it is coforked in Gδ , where Gδ denotes
G endowed with the discrete topology. There are natural extensions of this
definition for the subgroups that are not supposed open, but they are not relevant
here (see Remark 3.B.8)
Definition 3.B.2. If G is a group and S a symmetric generating subset of G,
and X is a G-set, the Schreier graph Sch(X, S) is the graph whose vertex set is
X, and with an oriented edge (x, sx) labeled by s ∈ S for each (s, x) ∈ S × X.
We say that (X, S) is of finite type if the 0-skeleton of the Schreier graph is locally
finite (i.e., every vertex is linked to finitely many vertices). The S-boundary of a
set Y ⊂ X of vertices is the set of elements in Y joined by an edge to an element
outside Y .
Note that (X, S) is of finite type when S is finite, but also holds in the important case where G admits a group topology for which S is compact and X
is a continuous discrete G-set. (In practice, it means that when G is a topological group with a compact generating set, we can apply the following to the
underlying discrete group Gδ .)
We have the following, which for S finite is essentially the contents of [Sa95,
Theorem 2.3].

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Proposition 3.B.3. If (X, S) is of finite type, a subset of X with finite Sboundary is commensurated. Conversely, if G is a topological group, X is a
continuous discrete G-set, S is compact and M is a commensurated G-set with
open stabilizer, then M has a finite S-boundary.
In particular, if G is locally compact and S a compact generating subset, and
X is a continuous discrete G-set, the set of subsets of X with finite S-boundary
is equal to the set of G-commensurated subsets in X (which in particular does
not depend on S).
Proof. If (X, S) is of finite type and s ∈ S, then M △sM is contained in the union
of M r sM and s(M r s−1 M), which are both finite, so M is commensurated.
Conversely, under the additional assumptions and assuming M commensurated, the function g 7→ gM is locally constant and thus has a finite image in
restriction
to the compact set S. So the S-boundary of M, which is the union
S
s∈S M r sM and thus is a finite union of finite sets, is finite.
The second statement follows modulo the fact that for a locally compact group
and continuous discrete G-set, the stabilizer of a commensurated subset is automatically open, see Corollary 4.C.4.

Let us define the space of ends as follows. First, given a graph (identified with
its set of vertices) and a subset Y , we define π0 (Y ) as the set of components of
Y , where two vertices in Y are in the same component if and only if they can be
joined by a sequence of edges with all vertices in Y . Then the space of ends of a
graph L is the (filtering) projective limit of π0 (L r F ), where F ranges over finite
subsets of L; endowing π0 (L r F ) with the discrete topology, the projective limit
is endowed with the projective limit topology; if L has finitely many components
and has a locally finite 0-skeleton, this is a projective limit of finite discrete
sets and thus is a compact totally disconnected space, and is metrizable if L is
countable.
Moreover, the space of ends is nonempty if and only if L is infinite, and has at
least two points if and only if there exists a finite set of vertices whose complement
has two infinite components. Also note that the space of ends of X is the disjoint
union of ends of spaces of its connected components.
Corollary 3.B.4. Let G be a locally compact, compactly generated group and H
an open subgroup in G. Then H is coforked in G if and only if the Schreier graph
of G/H, with respect to some/any compact generating subset of G, has at least 2
ends.

The space of ends can be conveniently described using Boolean algebras. Given
a Boolean algebra A, define a multiplicative character as a unital ring homomorphism of A onto Z/2Z. Multiplicative characters are also sometimes called ultrafilters, because a multiplicative character on a power set 2X = (Z/2Z)X is the
same as an ultrafilter on X, and an multiplicative character on 2X /2(X) is the
same as a non-principal ultrafilter on X. The set χ(A) multiplicative characters

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

15

of A is a compact set, for the topology of pointwise convergence. A basic result
is the following
T
Lemma 3.B.5. For any Boolean algebra A, we have ξ∈χ(A) Ker(ξ) = {0}. In
particular, we have χ(A) = ∅ if and only if A = {0}.
Proof. Clearly, a Boolean algebra admits no nonzero nilpotent element. On the
other hand, if A is an arbitrary commutative ring, an elementary application of
Zorn’s lemma shows that the intersection of all prime ideals is the set of nilpotent
elements [Mat, Theorem 1.2]. Thus if A is a Boolean algebra, this intersection
is trivial. Moreover, a Boolean algebra which is a domain is necessarily equal
to {0, 1}; in other words, the prime ideals in a Boolean algebra are exactly the
kernels of multiplicative characters. So the proof is complete.

If E is a topological space, write C(X) for the Boolean algebra of continuous
functions E → Z/2Z.
Theorem 3.B.6 (Stone’s representation theorem). Let E be a topological space.
Then we have a canonical continuous map E → χ(C(E)), given by evaluation.
If E is a totally disconnected compact space, then this is a homeomorphism.
Let A be a Boolean algebra. Then we have a canonical unital algebra homomorphism A → C(χ(A)), given by evaluation, and it is an isomorphism.
Proof. The injectivity of E → χ(C(E)) is equivalent to the fact that clopen
subsets separate points. For its surjectivity, consider φ ∈ χ(C(E)); it is enough
to show that there exists x ∈ E such that φ(f ) = f (x) for all f ∈ C(E). Assume
the contrary: for all x ∈ E there exists f ∈ C(E) such that φ(f ) = 1 and
f (x) = 0 (as we can choose by replacing f by 1 − f if necessary). Since E is
compact and totally disconnected, hence 0-dimensional, this implies that there
exists a clopen partition E = E1 ⊔ · · · ⊔ Ek and
Q f1 , . . . , fk ∈ C(E) such that fi
vanishes on Ei and φ(fi ) = 1. Hence if f = fi we get f = 0 and φ(f ) = 1, a
contradiction.
The injectivity of A → C(χ(A)) is established by Lemma 3.B.5. For the
surjectivity, it is enough to show that 1Ω is in the image for any basic clopen subset
of C(χ(A)), namely
Q of the form Ω = {φ : φ(f1 ) = φ(f2 ) = · · · = φ(fk ) = 1}.
Since taking f = fi it can also be described as Ω = {φ : φ(f ) = 1}, we see
that 1Ω is the image of f .


The assignments E 7→ C(E) and 7→ χ(A) are contravariant functors from
the category of topological spaces to the category of Boolean algebras, and the
Stone representation theorem thus shows that they define inverse equivalences
of categories between the category of totally disconnected compact topological
spaces and the category of Boolean algebras.
We now turn back to our setting. As above, we assume that (X, S) is of finite
type; for instance G is a compactly generated locally compact group and S is a
compact generating subset. Let X be a discrete G-set, and let CommG (X) the

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YVES CORNULIER

set of topological G-commensurated subsets of X, which is a Boolean subalgebra
of 2X . For M ⊂ X and x ∈ X, we define δx (M) to be 1 or 0 according to whether
x ∈ M.
Proposition 3.B.7. If X has finitely many G-orbits, the natural compactification
X → χ(CommG (X))
x 7→ δx ,
coincides with the end compactification of the Schreier graph Sch(X, S), and restricts to a natural homeomorphism between the set of ends of the graph Sch(X, S)
and the space of multiplicative characters χ(CommG (X)/2(X) ).
Proof. We can view χ(CommG (X)/2(X) ) as a closed subset of χ(CommG (X)),
consisting of those multiplicative characters vanishing on 2(X) . An easy verification shows that its complement consists of the Dirac multiplicative characters
(δx )x∈X . This is an open discrete, and dense subset in χ(CommG (X)).
To check that this is exactly the end compactification of Sch(X, S), we just
have to show that given a graph with locally finite 0-skeleton, with vertex set L
and finitely many components, if its set of ends is defined as above, then it is
naturally identified with χ(Q(L)/2(L) ), where Q(L) is the set of subsets of L with
finite boundary.
So Q(L)/2(L) is the inductive limit, over finite subsets F of L, of the QF (L)/2F ,
where QF (L) is the set of subsets of L with boundary contained in F ; thus
χ(Q(L)/2(L) ) is the projective limit of all χ(QF (L)/2F ). The Boolean algebra
QF (L)/2F can be described as the set of unions of connected components of
L r F . Since the latter is finite, χ(QF (L)/2F ) can be thus identified with the set
of connected components of L r F . Thus χ(Q(L)/2(L) ) is identified with the set
of ends of L.

We will prove in the sequel that for a compactly generated locally compact
group G, Property FW can be tested on transitive G-sets (see Proposition 5.A.3(1)).
In particular, such a group G has Property FW if and only it has no coforked
open subgroup.
Remark 3.B.8. In this paper we only consider coset spaces of open subgroups.
But ends of pairs of groups H ⊂ G with G locally compact compactly generated
and H closed in G can also be considered. We do not give the general definition
here (due to Houghton [Ho74]), but in case G is a connected Lie group, it corresponds to the ends of the connected manifold G/H. For instance, the upper
unipotent subgroup U of SL2 (R) has a 2-ended coset space SL2 (R)/U. More
generally, for n ≥ 2, in SLn (R), the stabilizer of a nonzero vector in Rn has a
2-ended coset space, namely Rn r {0} (which is homeomorphic to R × Sn−1 ).
Since SLn (R) has Kazhdan’s Property T for n ≥ 3, this shows that the present
study does not carry over this context.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

17

3.C. On the language of “almost invariant” subsets. In the literature,
the following language is sometimes used: let G be a group and H a subgroup.
An H-almost invariant subset of G means a left-H-invariant subset of G whose
projection on H\G is commensurated by the right action of G.
The usual data in this context is the following: a finite family (Hi ) of subgroups
of G and an Hi -almost invariant subset Xi of G, and E is the family of left Gtranslates of all Hi .
We should emphasize that these data are equivalent to that of a G-set X and
a commensurated subset M ⊂ X, with the additional specification of a finite
family (x1 , . . . , xn ) including one element
in each orbit.
S Namely given the above
F
data, consider the disjoint union ni=1 Hi and M = Xi−1 /Hi ; conversely given
X, M, and xi as above, we can define Hi as the stabilizer of xi and Xi = {g ∈
G | g −1 xi ∈ M}.
Inasmuch as the indexing of orbits and choice of representative points is artificial, the data of the G-set X and the commensurated subset A seem enough.
Actually, the family of the left translates of the Xi−1 are nothing else than the
walling (Wx ) given in Proposition 3.A.2. To emphasize the difference of point
of views, we can observe that when we consider an action of G on a set with
a commensurated subset, it is very natural to restrict this action to a smaller
subgroup (this is used many times in §6, when we restrict to abelian subgroups),
while that this does look natural using the additional data (notably because the
orbit decomposition of the subgroup is not the same).
Remark 3.C.1. Given a G-invariant involution σ : X → X, the condition that
Wσ(x) = Wx∗ for all x (∗ denoting the complement) is equivalent to the requirement
that A is a fundamental domain for σ, i.e., X = A ⊔ σ(A) (see §7.H).
The Kropholler conjecture, usually termed in the previous language can be
restated as follows (bi-infinite means infinite and co-infinite):
Conjecture 3.C.2 (Kropholler). Let G be a finitely generated group and G/H a
transitive G-set. Assume that G commensurates an bi-infinite subset M ⊂ G/H.
Assume in addition that M is H-invariant. Then G splits over a subgroup L
commensurate (in the group sense) to H, i.e. such that H ∩ L has finite index in
both H and L.
The conjecture holds when H is finite by Stallings’ theorem. The assumption
that M is H-invariant is essential as otherwise the conjecture would infer that
Properties FW and FA are equivalent (which is not the case, see Example 5.B.8).
Dunwoody extends the conjecture to arbitrary discrete groups; the conclusion
being replaced by the existence of an unbounded action of G on a tree for which
each edge orbit contains an edge whose stabilizer is commensurate (in the group
sense) to H.

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Let us also mention, in the language of commensurated subsets, a basic lemma
of Scott [Sc98, Lemma 2.3]. Let G be a group acting on a set X with a commensurated subset M. Define (as in Proposition 3.A.2) Wx = {g ∈ G | x ∈ gM}.
Denote by px the anti-orbital map g 7→ g −1x; note that it maps Wx into M.
Proposition 3.C.3. Let G be a compactly generated locally compact group and
X a continuous discrete G-set with commensurated subset M. Let x, y ∈ X be
points such that M ∩ Gx and M ∩ Gy are infinite. Then px (Wx ∩ Wy ) is finite if
and only if py (Wx ∩ Wy ) is finite.
Proof. By symmetry, we only have to prove the forward implication. Fix a compact symmetric generating subset S of G. Assume that px (Wx ∩ Wy ) is finite.
Since M ∩ Gx is not transfixed, there exists z ∈ M not in px (Wx ∩ Wy ). Since the
latter is finite, there exists k such that for every x′ ∈ px (Wx ∩ Wy ) there exists
s ∈ S k such that z = sx. In other words, for every g ∈ Wx ∩ Wy , there exists
s ∈ S k such that z = sgx = px (g −1 s−1 ). Since z ∈ M ∩ Gx and z ∈
/ px (Wx ∩ Wy ),
−1 −1
−1 −1
we have g s ∈ Wx and it follows that g s ∈
/ Wy , i.e. sgy ∈
/ M. Thus we
have proved that for every v ∈ py (Wx ∩ Wy ) (which is contained in M), there
exists s ∈ S k such that sv ∈
/ M. So the elements in py (Wx ∩ Wy ) are at bounded
distance to the boundary of M in the Schreier graph of X with respect to S.
Since the latter is locally finite and M has a finite boundary, we deduce that
py (Wx ∩ Wy ) is finite.

If M ∩ Gx is finite but not M ∩ Gy, the conclusion of the previous proposition
fails, as shown by elementary examples in [Sc98, Remark 2.4].
4. Commensurating actions of topological groups
4.A. The commensurating symmetric group. If X is a set, let S(X) be the
group of its permutations. It is endowed with its usual Polish topology, which is
a group topology, for which a basis of neighborhoods of the identity is given by
point stabilizers.
Given a topological group G and an abstract G-set X endowed with the discrete topology, it follows from the definitions that the following conditions are
equivalent:
• for every x ∈ X, the stabilizer Gx is open in G;
• the structural map G × X → X is continuous;
• the structural homomorphism G → S(X) is continuous.
We then say that X is a continuous discrete G-set.
Consider now a set X and a subset M. Let S(X, M) be the group of permutations of X commensurating M. It acts faithfully on the set CommM (X) of
subsets of X commensurate to M. We endow S(X, M) with the group topology
induced by the inclusion in S(CommM (X)).

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

19

Lemma 4.A.1. A basis of neighborhoods of the identity in S(X, M) is given by
the subgroups HM (F ) for F finite subset of G, where HM (F ) is the pointwise
stabilizer of F in the stabilizer of M. In particular, the inclusion S(X, M) →
S(X) is continuous.
Proof. Let us first observe that the action of S(X, M) on X is continuous. Indeed,
the stabilizer of x ∈ X contains the intersection of the stabilizers of M ∪ {x} and
of M r {x}, and therefore is open. This shows that all HM (F ) are open in
S(X, M).
LetSP be a finite subset of CommM (X) and H its pointwise stabilizer. Define
F = N ∈P M △ N. Then F is finite and H contains HM (F ). This shows that
the HM (F ) form a basis of neighborhoods of the identity.


Given a continuous discrete G set and commensurated subset, a natural requirement is that M has an open stabilizer. This is (obviously) automatic if G
is discrete, but also, more generally, when G is locally compact, or has an open
Polish and separable subgroup, see §4.C. It follows from Lemma 4.A.1 that this
holds if and only if the homomorphism G → S(X, M) is continuous.
We should note that the automatic continuity does not hold in general. The
simplest counterexample is the tautological one: if X is any infinite set and M
an infinite subset with infinite complement, then S(X, M) is dense in S(X) and
we see that the stabilizer of M in S(X) is not open. Therefore, if we define G
as the group S(X, M) endowed with the topology induced by the inclusion into
S(X), then X is a continuous discrete G-set and M is commensurated but does
not have an open stabilizer.
Remark 4.A.2. There is a natural faithful action of S(X, M) on the two-point
compactification of X given by the disjoint union of the one-point compactifications of M and its complement. The compact-open topology then coincides with
the topology of S(X, M) described above. When both M and its complement
are infinite, S(X, M) has index 1 or 2 in the full homeomorphism group of this
2-point compactification (the index is 2 precisely when M and its complement
have the same cardinality).

Definition 4.A.3. Let G be a topological group. We define a cardinal definite
function on G as a function of the form ℓM for some continuous discrete G-set X
and commensurated subset M ⊂ X with open stabilizer.
Lemma 4.A.4. On a topological group, a sum of finitely many cardinal definite functions is cardinal definite. More generally, an arbitrary sum of cardinal
definite functions, if finite and continuous, is cardinal definite.
Proof. Let (ℓi )i∈I be cardinal definite functions on G. Write ℓi = ℓMi with Mi ⊂
Xi is a commensuratedP
subset with open stabilizer, Xi being a continuous discrete
G-set. Assume that
ℓi is everywhere finite and continuous. Let X be the
disjoint union of the Xi and M ⊂ X the union of the Mi . Then X is a continuous

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YVES CORNULIER

P
discrete G-set, M is commensurated by G and ℓM = ℓi ; since it is continuous,
M has an open stabilizer (namely {ℓM = 0}) and thus ℓM is cardinal definite. 

Let G be a topological group. Denote by Gδ the group G endowed with the
discrete topology.

Lemma 4.A.5. A function G → R is cardinal definite if and only if it is cardinal
definite on Gδ and is continuous on G.
Proof. The “only if” condition is clear. Conversely, suppose that ℓ is continuous
and cardinal definite on Gδ . So ℓ = ℓM for some G-set X and commensurated
subset M. Note that X may not be a continuous G-set. Decomposing X into Gorbits, each of the corresponding cardinal definite functions on Gδ are continuous
(since they vanish on the stabilizer of M, which is open). Hence in view of
Lemma 4.A.4, we can S
suppose that X is G-transitive. We can suppose that M
is not invariant; thus g,h∈G gM △ hM is not empty; being G-invariant, it is
therefore equal, by transitivity, to all of X. The Boolean algebra generated by
the gM △ hM when g, h range over G defines an invariant partition of X by finite
subsets; by transitivity all these subsets have the same cardinal n.
Note that M is a union of components of the partition. Define X ′ as the
quotient of X by this partition and M ′ the image of M in X ′ . The stabilizer of
any element of X ′ is the stabilizer of some component of the partition of X and
thus, as a finite intersection of subsets of the form gM △ hM, is open. So X ′ is
a continuous discrete G-set. Since ℓM is open, the stabilizer of M, and hence of
M ′ , is open. So ℓM ′ is cardinal definite. Since ℓM (g) = nℓM ′ (g), we deduce from
Lemma 4.A.4 that ℓM is cardinal definite.

Question 4.A.6. If P is a set, define a cardinal definite kernel on P as a function
P × P → R of the form
(x, y) 7→ κ(x, y) = #(Ax △ Ay )

for some set X and function x 7→ Ax from P to the power set of X, requiring that
κ takes finite values, i.e. that the Ax are in a single commensuration class. Clearly
is G is a group and f is a cardinal definite function on G then (g, h) 7→ f (g −1h)
is a left-invariant cardinal definite kernel. Conversely, if κ is a left-invariant
cardinal definite kernel, is the function g 7→ 2f (1, g) cardinal definite? The
analogous question for measure definite kernels and functions is also open, see
[CSVb, Remark 2.9]. (Here the factor 2 is needed, otherwise this is false, e.g. if
G is a cyclic group of order 2.)
4.B. Cofinality 6= ω. Here we give a finiteness result on commensurating actions
of topological groups with uncountable cofinality. It is useful even in the special
case of a finitely generated acting group. The following definition is classical for
discrete groups.
Definition 4.B.1. We say that a topological group has uncountable cofinality
(or cofinality 6= ω) if it cannot be written as the union of an infinite (strictly)

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

21

increasing sequence of open subgroups, or equivalently if any continuous isometric
action of G on any ultrametric space has bounded orbits.
For instance, if G is generated by a compact subset, then it has cofinality
6= ω. For σ-compact locally compact groups, the converse holds; in particular, a
countable discrete group has cofinality 6= ω if and only if it is finitely generated.
On the other hand, there exist uncountable discrete groups with cofinality 6= ω,
such as the full group of permutations of any infinite set.
Proposition 4.B.2. Let G be a topological group with uncountable cofinality.
Let X be a discrete continuous G-set. Let M ⊂ X be a commensurated subset
with an open stabilizer, and let (Xi )i∈I be the orbit decomposition of the G-set X.
Then Xi ∩ M is G-invariant for all but finitely many i’s.
Proof. Let us first give the argument when G is generated by a compact set S.
Since M has an open stabilizer, the function g 7→ gM is locally constant
and thus
S
has a finite image in restriction to S, and in particular the union s∈S (M △ sM)
is finite and thus is contained in the union of finitely many G-orbits; if Z is
another G-orbit, it follows that Z is G-invariant.
Let us now prove the general case. Let J be the set of i such that Xi ∩ M
is not G-invariant. We need to show that J is finite. Otherwise,
there exists a
T
decreasing sequence of non-empty subsets Jn ⊂ J with Jn = ∅. Define
Gn = {g ∈ G : ∀i ∈ Jn : g(M ∩ Xi ) = M ∩ Xi }.

Note that Gn contains the stabilizer of M, which isSopen by assumption. So (Gn )
is an ascending sequence of open subgroups, and Gn = G because
S for a fixed
g, if n is large enough, the finite subset M △ gM does not intersect i∈Jn Xi . So
by the cofinality assumption, G = Gn for some n, that is, M ∩ Xi is G-invariant
for all i ∈ Jn . This contradicts the definition of J.

Corollary 4.B.3. Let G be a topological group with uncountable cofinality. Then
every cardinal definite function on G is a finite sum of cardinal definite functions
associated to transitive actions of G.

Using the dictionary between commensurating actions and wallings (Proposition 3.A.6), we get
Corollary 4.B.4. Let G be a topological group with uncountable cofinality. Then
for every clopen G-walling on G, there are finitely many G-orbits of halfspaces
distinct from ∅ and G. In particular, halfspaces distinct from ∅ and G have a
bounded multiplicity.

Proposition 4.B.2 also has a geometric interpretation for actions on median
graphs, see Corollary 7.E.6.

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4.C. Automatic continuity.
Proposition 4.C.1. Let G be a Baire separable topological group (e.g., a Polish
group). Let G act continuously on a discrete set X with a commensurated subset
M. Then the corresponding homomorphism G → S(X, M) is continuous (i.e.,
M has an open stabilizer, or, still equivalently, ℓM is continuous).
S
Proof. Let D be a dense countable subgroup. Define Y = g∈D M △ gM. Then
Y is a countable D-invariant subset of X; since Y has a closed stabilizer in G, it
follows that Y is G-invariant. Then M ∩ Y c is G-invariant. Thus the stabilizer
H of M in G is equal to the stabilizer of M ∩ Y , which has countable index since
the orbit of M ∩ Y ranges over subsets of Y that are commensurate to M ∩ Y .
Moreover, H is a closed subgroup of G since the G-action on X is continuous.
By the Baire property, it follows that H is an open subgroup of G.

Note that the result immediately extends to topological groups having a dense
separable open subgroup. Let us now provide a result encompassing locally compact groups.
For a topological group G, consider the following property:
(*) if o(G) is the intersection of all open subgroups of G, then G/o(G) is
non-Archimedean, in the sense that it admits a basis of neighborhoods of
1 consisting of open subgroups.
Example 4.C.2. For a Hausdorff topological group G, we have the following
chain of implications: G is non-Archimedean ⇒ the intersection of open subgroups of G is reduced to {1} ⇒ G is totally disconnected.
For a locally compact group, all implications are equivalences and thus every
locally compact group satisfies (*). However, in general both implications are not
equivalences, even in the realm of abelian Polish groups. An example of a nontrivial Polish group that is totally disconnected, but with no open subgroup other
than itself is given by C. Stevens in [Ste]. An example of a Polish group in which
the intersection of open subgroups is trivial, but that is not non-Archimedean is
the group of functions N → Q such that lim+∞ f = 0, under addition, with the
topology defined by the invariant complete distance
X
d(f, g) = kf − gk∞ +
2−n δ0,f (n)−g(n) ,
n≥0

where δ is the Kronecker symbol.
Note that all topological subgroups of S(X), for any set X, are non-Archimedean
and thus satisfy (*). Actually, a Polish group is non-Archimedean if and only if
it is isomorphic to some closed subgroup of S(N).
Proposition 4.C.3. Let G be a Baire topological group with Property (*). Then
G satisfies the automatic continuity property of Proposition 4.C.1.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

23

Proof. Use the notation of Proposition 4.C.1. Observe that
ℓM (g) =#(M △ gM) = #(gM r M) + #(g −1 M r M)
X
=
1gM (x) + 1g−1 M (x).
x∈M
/

Since each x ∈ X has an open stabilizer, each function x 7→ ux (g) = 1gM (x) +
1g−1 M (x) is continuous, as well as each finite sum of these. It follows that ℓM ,
as a filtering supremum of continuous functions, is lower semicontinuous. Hence
for every r, Kr = {x ∈ G : ℓ(x) ≤ r} is closed. By the Baire property, there
exists r such that Kr has non-empty interior. Note that Kr is symmetric and
Kr Kr ⊂ K2r . It follows that K2r is a neighborhood of 1 in G.
The action of o(G) on X is trivial and ℓM is o(G)-invariant; thus ℓM is bounded
on o(G)K2r . By (*), the latter contains an open subgroup L of G. Since ℓM is
bounded on L, the subset M is L-transfixed (by Theorem 4.E.1), and hence has
the same stabilizer as some finite subset of X. By continuity of the action on X,
we deduce that M has an open stabilizer.

Corollary 4.C.4. Let G be a locally compact group. Then for every continuous discrete G-set, every commensurated subset has an open stabilizer. In other
words, for every pair of sets M ⊂ X and homomorphism f : G → S(X, M), the
continuity of the composite map G → S(X) implies the continuity of f .


4.D. Affine ℓp -action. Let X be a set and M a subset. We denote by RX the
space of all functions X → R, and by ℓ◦ (X) = R(X) its space consisting of of
finitely supported functions. By p we denote any real number in [1, ∞[. By the
symbol ⋆, we mean either p or ◦. Define
ℓ⋆M (X) = {f ∈ RX : f − 1M ∈ ℓ⋆ (X)} = ℓ⋆ (X) + 1M .

It only depends on the commensuration class of M, and for M finite it is equal
to ℓ⋆ (X). The subset ℓpM (X) is endowed with a canonical structure of an affine
space over ℓp (X) and the corresponding ℓp -distance. We have ℓ◦M (X) ⊂ ℓpM (X) ⊂
ℓqM (X) for all p ≤ q. We also denote, for I ⊂ R, the subset ℓ⋆M (X, I) as the set
of elements in ℓ⋆M (X) with values in I.
There is a natural linear action of S(X) on RX , which preserves the subspaces
ℓ⋆ (X). The stabilizer of each of the affine subspaces ℓ⋆M (X) is precisely S(X, M).

Lemma 4.D.1. For every p, the action of S(X, M) on ℓpM (X) is continuous.

Proof. Since this action is isometric, it is enough to check that the orbital map
ix : g 7→ gx is continuous for every x ranging over a dense subset, namely ℓ◦M (X).
For such an x, the stabilizer is open and thus the continuity of the orbital map
follows.

Let us observe that the normed affine spaces ℓ⋆M (X) as well as the actions of
S(X, M) only depend on the commensuration class of M.

24

YVES CORNULIER

We endow S(X, M) with the left-invariant pseudo-distance dM (g, h) = #(gM△
hM). Note that is is continuous, but does not define the topology of S(X, M)
since it is not Hausdorff (for #(X) ≥ 3); however the topology of S(X, M) is
defined by the family of pseudo-distances dN when N ranges over subsets commensurate to M. We have dM (g, h) = ℓM (g −1h), with the length ℓM defined by
ℓM (g) = #(M △ gM).
Proposition 4.D.2. The action of S(X, M) on ℓpM (X) is faithful, continuous
and metrically proper. Moreover, the injective homomorphism
αp : S(X, M) → Isom(ℓpM (X))

has a closed image, namely the set ΞpM (X) of affine isometries of ℓpM (X) that
preserve the set of points in ℓpM (X, {0, 1}), and whose linear part preserves the
closed cone ℓp (X, [0, ∞[).

Proof. Note that the set ℓpM (X, {0, 1}) is equivariantly identified with the set of
indicator functions of elements of CommM (X). Since S(X, M) acts faithfully on
CommM (X), it follows that the action on ℓpM (X) is faithful.
Another consequence is that if both M and its complement are infinite, αp (S(X, M))
and ΞpM (X) are both transitive on ℓpM (X, {0, 1}). If M or its complement is finite,
it still holds that αp (S(X, M)) and ΞpM (X) have the same orbits on ℓpM (X, {0, 1}),
by an argument left to the reader.
Let us check that αp (S(X, M)) = ΞpM (X). The inclusion ⊂ is clear; conversely,
given φ ∈ ΞpM (X), after composition by an element of αp (S(X, M)) (using the
previous observation about orbits), we obtain an element φ1 with φ1 (1M ) = 1M .
The 1-sphere in ℓpM (X, {0, 1}) around 1M can be described as the disjoint union
A ⊔ B, wherein A consists of elements of the form 1M ∪{x} = 1M + δx for x ∈
/M
and B of elements of the form 1M r{x} = 1M − δx for x ∈ M. Note that φ1
preserves this 1-sphere. Since it moreover satisfies the condition on the linear
part, it preserves both A and B. Thus the actions of φ1 on A and B defines a
permutation σ of X preserving M by φ1 (1M + δx ) = 1M + δσ(x) for x ∈
/ M and
φ1 (1M − δx ) = 1M − δσ(x) for x ∈ M. Thus αp (σ) and φ1 coincide on 1M and
A ∪ B, which together generate affinely ℓpM (X). Thus φ1 = αp (σ) and we deduce
that φ ∈ αp (S(X, M)).
Finally we see the metric properness as a consequence of the equality kg1M −
h1M kp = dM (g, h).

4.E. Boundedness and commensuration. Note that if N is commensurate
to M, then dM −dN is bounded. In particular, the bornology on S(X, M) defined
by dM is canonical.
The affine action gives a short proof of the following combinatorial result of
Brailovsky, Pasechnik and Praeger [BPP]. Recall from the introduction that in a
G-set X, a subset M is transfixed if there is a G-invariant subset N commensurate
to M, i.e. satisfying #(M △ N) < ∞.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

25

Theorem 4.E.1. Let G be a subgroup of S(X, M). Then ℓM (G) is bounded if
and only if M is transfixed by G.
Proof. Obviously if N is commensurate to M and G-invariant then dM is bounded
by 2#(M △ N) on G. Conversely, assume that dM is bounded on G. Then the
action of G on ℓ2M (X) has bounded orbits. By the center lemma (see [BHV,
Lemma 2.2.7]), it has a fixed point f . Then, since f is G-invariant, the subset
{x ∈ X : f (x) ≥ 1/2} is G-invariant; moreover since f ∈ ℓ2M (X), this subset is
commensurate to M.

This provides an analogue of Corollary 4.B.3 for bounded cardinal definite functions, relaxing the cofinality hypothesis.
Corollary 4.E.2. Let G be a topological group. Then every bounded cardinal
definite function on G is a finite sum of (bounded) cardinal definite functions
associated to transitive actions of G, and cannot be written as an infinite sum of
nonzero cardinal definite functions.
Proof. If ℓ = ℓM is cardinal definite and bounded, then M is transfixed by Theorem 4.E.1, i.e. is commensurate to a G-invariant subset N. The finite subset
M △ N meets finitely many G-orbits; if V is any other orbit, then M ∩ V is
invariant. The result follows.

Remark 4.E.3. Brailovsky, Pasechnik and Praeger [BPP] proved that if supG ℓM <
∞ then G preserves a subset N commensurate to M (with an explicit but nonoptimal bound on #(N △ M). An almost optimal result was subsequently provided by P. Neumann [Neu]: if supG #(gM r M) = m < ∞, then there exists N
G-invariant with #(N △ M) ≤ max(0, 2m − 1).
This can be restated with only symmetric differences. First note that because
of the existence of N, gM r M and M r gM have the same cardinality for all
g. Therefore Neumann’s result can be restated as: if supG ℓM = m < ∞, then m
is even and there exists a G-invariant subset N of X, commensurate to M with
#(N △ M) ≤ max(0, m − 1).

Remark 4.E.4. Let s(m) be the optimal bound in the above result, so that
Neumann’s result can be stated as: s(m) ≤ m − 1 for all m ≥ 1 and s(m) =
s(m − 1) for odd m, so we can focus on s(m) for even m.
The inequality s(m) ≤ m − 1 is maybe an equality for all even m. This holds
when m = 2d ≥ 1 is a power of 2, taking X to be the projective space Pd (F2 )
and M a hyperplane, so #(M) = 2d − 1, #(X r M) = 2d ; if G is any subgroup
of GLd+1 (F2 ) transitive on X, then supg∈G ℓM (g) = 2d and the only G-invariant
subsets N are ∅ and the whole projective space, so the one minimizing #(M △N)
is N = ∅, which satisfies #(M △ N) = #(M) = 2d −
P1.
In general, write its binary representation as m = j∈J 2j (since m is even, J is
F
F
a finite subset of the positive integers), define X = j∈J Pj (F2 ) and M = Hj ,
where Hj is a hyperplane in Pj (F2 ). Then #(M) = m−#(J), supg∈G ℓM (g) = m,

26

YVES CORNULIER

and the G-invariant subset N minimizing M △ N is N = ∅. So if jm is the
number of digits 1 in the binary writing of m (so jm ≤ log2 (m) + 1), then we
have m − jm ≤ s(m) ≤ m − 1 for all even m ≥ 2 (thus Neumann’s upper bound
is “asymptotically optimal”).
The left bound m − jm is not always sharp. For m = 6 (where m − jm = 4),
consider the transitive action of G = X = Z/10Z on itself. Consider the subset
M = {0, 1, 2, 5, 7}. Then a direct verification shows that #(M ∩ (g+M)) ≥ 2
for all g, so #(M △ (g+M)) ≤ 6 for all g; thus s(6) = 5. In general, I do
not know if for odd n, Z/2nZ always contains an n-element subset M such
that #(M ∩ (q+M)) ≥ (n − 1)/2 for all q ∈ Z/2nZ. (For n = 9 the subset
{0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 11, 15, 17} works, thus s(10) = 9.)
Proposition 4.E.5. Let G be a topological group and N a normal subgroup.
Let ℓ be a cardinal definite function on G whose restriction to N is bounded.
Then there exists a cardinal definite function ℓ̄ on G/N such that, denoting by
π : G → G/N the natural projection, the function ℓ − ℓ̄ ◦ π is bounded.
Lemma 4.E.6. Let G be a topological group and N a normal subgroup. Let ℓ be
a cardinal definite function on G vanishing on N (and hence N-invariant). Then
the resulting cardinal definite function ℓ̄ on G/N is cardinal definite.
Proof. Note that the function ℓ̄ on G/N is continuous by definition of the quotient
topology.
Let X be a continuous discrete G-set and M ⊂ X a G-commensurated subset
with open stabilizer such that ℓM = ℓ. We begin with the case when X is Gtransitive. Let X ′ be the quotient of X by the N-action and M ′ the image of
M in X ′ . Then all fibers of X → X ′ have the same cardinal α, and the inverse
image of gM ′ △ M ′ is gM △ M. In follows that either M is G-invariant (in which
case ℓ = 0 and there is nothing to prove), or that α is finite. Then ℓM = αℓM ′ .
Since the action on X ′ factors through a continuous action of G/N, we see that
ℓM ′ is cardinal definite on G/N, and hence ℓ̄ = αℓM ′ is cardinal definite on G/N
as well (by Lemma 4.A.4).
F
In general, assume X arbitrary.
Decompose
X
into
G-orbits
as
X
=
Xi ,
P
yielding a decomposition ℓ = ℓi . Since M ∩ Xi is N-invariant, ℓi is N-invariant
and hence factors, by the P
transitive case, through a cardinal definite function ℓ̄i
on G/N. Then since ℓ̄ =
ℓ̄i is finite and continuous, it is cardinal definite by
Lemma 4.A.4.

Proof of Proposition 4.E.5. Let X be a continuous discrete G-set and M ⊂ X a
G-commensurated subset with an open stabilizer such that ℓM = ℓ. By Theorem
4.E.1, M is commensurate to an N-invariant subset M ′ . Then ℓM ′ factors through
a cardinal definite function on G/N by Lemma 4.E.6, proving the proposition. 

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

27

4.F. Induction. Let G be a group and H a subgroup. Let X be an H-set.
Endow G × X with left and right commuting actions of G and H by
g(g0 , x0 )h = (gg0h, h−1 x),

and define the additive6 induced action
indG
H (X) = (G × X)/H,
which naturally inherits from the structure of a left G-set. For instance, for every
subgroup L of H, we have a natural identification indG
H (H/L) = G/L.
Denote by π the projection G × X → (G × X)/H. Note that if F is a right
transversal (so that G is set-wise the product F H) then π restricts to a bijection
from F ×X to (G×X)/H = indG
H (X). Also, note that π is injective in restriction
to {1} × X, giving rise an H-equivariant embedding of X into indG
H (X).
Lemma 4.F.1. Suppose that G is a topological group, H is open in G and that
X is a continuous discrete H-set. Then indG
H (X) is a continuous discrete G-set.
Proof. We need to show that the stabilizer in G of π(g0 , x0 ) is open for every
(g0 , x0 ) ∈ G × X. An element g ∈ G belongs to this stabilizer if and only there
exists h ∈ H such that g(g0, x0 ) = (g0 , x0 )h, that is, h−1 x0 = x0 and g = g0 hg0−1 .
Thus the stabilizer of π(g0 , x0 ) is equal to g0 Hx0 g0−1 , which is open in H and
hence in G.

Proposition 4.F.2. Assume that H has finite index in G. Suppose that M is an
H-commensurated subset of X and F is a right transversal of G modulo
S H (so
G = F H), with 1 ∈ F . Identify M to π({1} × M) and define M ′ = f ∈F f M.
Then M ′ is commensurated by the G-action and M ′ ∩ X = M. In particular, the
restriction of ℓM ′ to H is ≥ ℓM .
If G is a topological group, H is open and M has an open stabilizer in H, then
M ′ has an open stabilizer in G.
Proof. Fix g ∈ G. For every f ∈ F , there exists a unique f ′ ∈ F such that
gf ∈ f ′ H. Write gf = f ′ hf . Then gf M = f ′ hf M ⊂ f ′ M ∪ (M △ hf M), where
M △ hf M is finite. Thus, using that F is finite, gM ′ r M ′ is finite for all g ∈ G.
Since G is a group, it follows that M ′ △SgM ′ is finite for all g.
Since 1 ∈ F , we have M ′ = M ∪ f ∈F r{1} f M, while if f ∈
/ H we have
′
f M ∩ X = ∅. Hence M ∩ X = M.
If L is the stabilizer ofTM in H, then L is open by assumption. We then see
that M ′ is stabilized by f ∈F f Lf −1 , which is open.

6There

is also a multiplicative induced action

−1
IndG
· ξ(g)},
H (X) = {ξ : G → X | ∀h ∈ H, g ∈ G, ξ(gh) = h

where G acts by g · ξ(x) = ξ(g −1 x), which is notably used in representation theory; we do not
consider it here.

28

YVES CORNULIER

Corollary 4.F.3. Let G be a topological group and H an open subgroup of finite
index. Then for every cardinal definite function ℓ on H, there exists a cardinal
definite function ℓ′ on G such that ℓ′ |H ≥ ℓ.
4.G. Wreath products. If H is a discrete group, G is a topological group,
Y is a continuous discrete G-set, the wreath product H ≀Y G is by definition
the semidirect product H (Y ) ⋊ G,Lwhere G acts by shifting the direct sum (or
restricted direct product) H (Y ) = y∈Y H. Since the action of G on the discrete
group H (Y ) is continuous, this semidirect product is a topological group with the
product topology.
There is a simple way to define a commensurating action of H ≀Y G out of a
commensurating action of H. Let H act on a set X, commensurating a subset
M. Then H ≀Y G acts on X × Y , where the action of the y-th summand H (y) ≃ H
in H (Y ) is given by the standard H-action on X × {y} and is the trivial action
on X × (Y r {y}), and the action of G permutes the components. Note that
this action is continuous, the stabilizer of a point (x, y) being the open subgroup
(y)
H (Y r{y}) Hx Gy . This action commensurates M ×Y , which has an open stabilizer
(as it contains the open subgroup G), and the length is given by
X
ℓM ×Y ((hy )y∈Y g) =
ℓM (hy ).
y∈Y

Interestingly, this length is usually unbounded even if ℓM is bounded. For record:
PropositionP4.G.1. For every cardinal definite function ℓ on H, the function
(hy )y∈Y g 7→ y∈Y ℓM (hy ) is cardinal definite on H ≀Y G. In particular, the function f g 7→ 2#(Supp(f )) (where f ∈ H (Y ) and g ∈ G) is cardinal definite on
H ≀Y G.
Proof. The first statement has already been proved. The second statement is the
particular case where ℓ = 21Hr{1} ; it is indeed cardinal definite, associated to the
left action of H on itself and the commensurated subset M = {1}.

We now proceed to describe another more elaborate construction due to the
author, Stalder and Valette [CSVa]. The construction is described in [CSVa] in
terms of wallings so we need to translate it into commensurating actions. We
here deal with a standard wreath product H ≀ G (i.e., G is discrete and Y is G
with the left action by translation).
Start from a G-set X with a commensurated subset M. For x ∈ X, define
Wx = {h ∈ G | x ∈ hM}. Let ZX be the set of pairs (x, µ), where x ∈ X and µ
is a finitely supported function from the complement Wx∗ = G r Wx to H. Let
H ≀ G act on ZX as follows:
g · (x, µ) = (gx, g · µ);

λ · (x, µ) = (x, λ|Wx∗ µ),

where g · µ(γ) = µ(g −1γ). Define N = M × {1} ⊂ ZX .

g ∈ G, λ ∈ H (G)

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

29

Proposition 4.G.2. The subset N of ZX is commensurated by the G-action and
we have the following two lower bounds, for g ∈ G and w ∈ H (G)
ℓN (wg) ≥ #(M △ gM);

and the upper bound
ℓN (wg) ≤ #(M △ gM) +

ℓN (wg) ≥

X

sup

#(M r γM) +

γ∈Supp(w)

#(M r γM)

γ∈Supp(w)

X

#(M r γM).

γ∈g −1 Supp(w)

Proof. This actually follows from Proposition 3.A.2 and the verifications in [CSVa],
but it is instructive to provide a direct proof.
For w ∈ H (G) and g ∈ G, let us describe N r wgN. Elements (x, µ) in this set
satisfy x ∈ M, µ = 1, and also g −1 w −1 (x, 1) ∈
/ N. The latter condition means
−1
∗
that either g x ∈
/ M or w|Wx 6= 1. Note that w|Wx∗ 6= 1 means Supp(w) * Wx ,
which in turn means Supp(w)−1 x * M. In other words, N r wgN = A ∪ B where
A = {(x, 1) : x ∈ M r gM};

B = {(x, 1) : x ∈ M, Supp(w)−1 x * M};

similarly wgN r N = C ∪ D where
C = {(x, w|Wx∗ ) : x ∈ gMrM};

D = {(x, w|Wx∗ ) : x ∈ gM, Supp(w)−1x * M}

Note that #(A ∪ C) = #(M
#(M △ gM). On the
S △ gM) and thus ℓN (wg) ≥ S
other hand, we have B = γ∈Supp(w) M r γM and D = γ∈Supp(w) gM r γM.
Since #(B) ≤ ℓN (wg) ≤ #(A ⊔ C) + #(B) + #(D), this gives the second lower
bound and the upper bound.

Let us also observe that if X is G-transitive, then ZX is (H ≀ G)-transitive, and
if L ⊂ G is the stabilizer of x0 ∈ X, then the stabilizer of (x0 , 1) ∈ ZX is H (Ax0 ) L.
4.H. The transfer character. Let X be a set and M a subset. We define a
map, which by anticipation of Proposition 4.H.1 we call transfer character.
trM : S(X, M) → Z
g 7→ #(g −1 M r M) − #(M r g −1 M)
X
=
1g−1 M (x) − 1M (x)
x∈X

Denote by S0 (X) the group of finitely supported permutations of X, and S0+ (X)
its subgroup of index of alternating permutations (which has index 2 in S0 (X)
unless X is empty or a singleton).
Proposition 4.H.1. The function trM is a continuous homomorphism from
S(X, M) to Z, and is bounded above by ℓM . It is surjective, unless M or M c is
finite (in which case it is zero). It does not depend on the choice of M within its
commensurability class, and trM c = −trM . If X is infinite, its kernel S ◦ (X, M)
is a perfect group, and is generated by S(M) ∪ S(M c ) ∪ S0+ (X).

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YVES CORNULIER

Proof. The upper bound is obvious.
Let us check that trM = trN when M, N are commensurate; it is enough to
prove it when M = N ⊔ F with F finite. We write
!
!
X
X
trM (g) − trN (g) =
1g−1 M (x) − 1M (x) −
1g−1 N (x) − 1N (x)
x∈X

=

X

x∈X

Now we have
trM (gh) =

X

x∈X

=

X

x∈X

=

X

x∈X

x∈X

1g−1 F (x) − 1F (x) = trF (g) = 0.

1(gh)−1 M (x) − 1M (x)
1(gh)−1 M (x) − 1h−1 M (x) +

X

x∈X

1h−1 M (x) − 1M (x)

1g−1 M (hx) − 1M (hx) + trM (h) = trM (g) + trM (h)

The homomorphism is continuous because its kernel contains the stabilizer of
M, which is open by definition of the topology of S(X, M).
Now let g belong to the kernel of trM . Then the finite sets g −1 M r M and M r
g −1 M have the same cardinal, hence there exists a finitely supported permutation
s exchanging these two finite subsets and being the identity on the complement;
also let τ be either the identity when s is even, or a transposition supported by
M or M c when s is odd. Then τ s is an even permutation, and τ sg stabilizes M.
This shows the generation statement. If both M, M c are infinite, all of S(M),
S(M c ) and S0+ (X) are perfect groups and hence it follows that the kernel of trM
is a perfect group. If one (and only one) of M and M c is finite, then this kernel
is just S(X), which is perfect.

Corollary 4.H.2. If X is a topological group and X is a continuous discrete
G-set and M a commensurate subset with open stabilizer, then the above transfer
map is a continuous homomorphism, bounded above by ℓM .

Of course the transfer map trM can be bounded on G even when the action
is not transfixing, for instance when G admits no continuous homomorphism
onto Z.
It is possible to classify normal subgroups of S(X, M). For the sake of simplicity, let us focus on the countable case. Recall that S(Z) has exactly 4 normal
subgroups: {1}, S(Z), S0 (Z) and S0+ (Z).
Define SM (X) the group of permutations of X that are identity on a cofinite
subset of M.
Proposition 4.H.3. The normal subgroups of S(Z, N) are the following:
• {1}, S0 (Z), S0+ (Z);

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

31

• SN (Z), S−N (Z)
• S ◦ (Z, N) and the subgroups properly containing it (which have finite index
and are indexed by positive integers, since S(Z, N)/S ◦ (Z, N) ≃ Z).
In particular, the only closed normal subgroups of S(Z, N) are {1} and the subgroups containing Ker(trN ) (which are open).
Proof. Let N be a normal subgroup. A standard argument, left to the reader,
shows that if N is not contained in S0 (Z), then it contains S0 (Z), which we now
assume.
Define N ′ = N ∩ S ◦ (Z, N). The argument of the proof of Proposition 4.H.1
shows that N is generated by S0 (Z) and the stabilizer of N in N, which can
be viewed as a normal subgroup of S(N) × S(−N) containing finitely supported
permutations, and therefore, by simplicity of S(N)/S0 (N) is one of the four
possibilities: S0 (N)×S0 (−N), S0 (N)×S(−N), S(N)×S0 (−N), S(N)×S(−N).
Accordingly, N ′ is equal to S0 (Z), SN (Z), S−N (Z), or S ◦ (Z, N).
We claim that if trN is nonzero on N, then N ′ = S ◦ (Z, N).
Granting the claim, we deduce that either N ′ = N, in which case N is equal to
one of the above four subgroups, or N contains S ◦ (Z, N), concluding the proof.
To check the claim, we see that if trN (g) 6= 0, then g or g −1 has at least one
infinite orbit starting in M c and ending in M. Composi
A suitable commutator then provides an element in N with infinite support
contained in M, and another one in M c , so that N ′ = S ◦ (Z, N).

When X is uncountable the description takes a little more effort; still we have:

Proposition 4.H.4. If X is infinite and M a subset, the closure of S0+ (X) in
S(X, M) is equal to S ◦ (X, M), and is a topologically simple topological group.

Proof. If g ∈ S ◦ (X, M), then there exists s ∈ S0+ (X) such that sg(M) = M.
Further, given a finite subset F of X there exists s′ ∈ S0+ (X), stabilizing M, such
that s′ sg is the identity on F . This shows that S0 (X) is dense in S ◦ (X, M). Since
the latter is a closed subgroup, we deduce that the closure of S0 (X) is S ◦ (X, M).
Since, by a simple argument, any normal subgroup of S ◦ (X, M) not contained
in S0 (X) contains the dense subgroup S0 (X), it follows that S ◦ (X, M) is topologically simple.

Let us turn back to the definition of the transfer character (the following remarks follow discussions with Pierre-Emmanuel Caprace). Define, on S(X, M),
the gain map sM (g) = #(g −1 M r M). Note that by definition, we have trM (g) =
sM (g)−sM (g −1 ) and ℓM (g) = sM (g)+sM (g −1 ). We have the following immediate
properties:
Proposition 4.H.5. The gain map sM : S(X, M) → N satisfies:
• sM is bi-invariant by the stabilizer of M and in particular is continuous;
• sM is sub-additive: sM (gh) ≤ sM (g) + sM (h) for all g, h ∈ S(X, M);
• is M, N are commensurate, then |sM − sN | ≤ #(M △ N);

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YVES CORNULIER

• in restriction to S ◦ (X, M), we have sM = 12 ℓM .
Proof. Define SM (g) = g −1M r M, so that sM = # ◦ SM .
Then for all g, h ∈ S(X, M) such that hM = M, we have SM (hg) = SM (g)
and SM (gh) = h−1 SM (g); in particular, sM (hg) = sM (gh) = sM (g).
Also for all g, h ∈ S(X, M), we have SM (gh) ⊂ SM (h) ∪ h−1 SM (g), which
implies the sub-additivity.
The third property follows from the particular case when #(M △ N) = 1,
which is checked by hand, and the last assertion is trivial.

A consequence of the sub-additivity is that sM (g n )/n converges when n → +∞,
to a number σM (g); note that σM (g) − σM (g −1) = trM (g). An argument similar
to that of Proposition 6.B.3 actually shows that this limit is an integer (namely,
the number of infinite hgi-orbits that start in M c and end up in M). Unlike sM ,
the function σM is invariant under conjugation: σM (hgh−1 ) = σM (g) for all g, h.
Remark 4.H.6. Unlike the transfer character, the function σM , which is upper
semi-continuous as an infimum of continuous functions (namely g 7→ sM (g n )/n)
fails to be continuous on S(X, M) when M and M c are both infinite: indeed, take
X = Z×{±1} and M = N×{±1}. Define f, fn ∈ S(X, M) as follows: f (m, ε) =
m + ε; fn (m, 1) = m + 1 if −n ≤ m < n, fn (n, 1) = (n, −1), fn (m, 1) = (m, 1) if
|m| > n, and fn (m, −1) = −fn (−m, 1). Then fn (M) = f (M) for all n ≥ 2 and
(fn ) converges pointwise to f . Therefore (fn ) tends to f in S(X, M). On the
other hand, σM (fn ) = 0 because fn has finite order, while σM (f ) = 1. Note that
an alternative asymptotic definition of trM is to define it as σM (g) − σM (g −1 ).
Beware that σM is not sub-additive in general; still we have σM (gh) ≤ σM (g) +
σM (h) when g, h commute.
5. Property FW etc.
5.A. Property FW.
Definition 5.A.1. Let G be a topological group. We say that G has Property
FW if for every continuous discrete G-set, any commensurated subset with open
stabilizer is transfixed (i.e., is commensurate to an invariant subset).
By Theorem 4.E.1, this amounts to saying that every cardinal definite (Definition 4.A.3) function on G is bounded. This allows the following generalization:
if L ⊂ G, we say that (G, L) has relative Property FW if every cardinal definition
function on G is bounded on L. In case L is a subgroup, Theorem 4.E.1 shows
that this means that for every continuous discrete G-set X and commensurated
subset M with open stabilizer, M is transfixed in restriction to L.
If in Definition 5.A.1 we restrict to transitive actions, we get the following a
priori weaker notion.

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33

Definition 5.A.2. Let G be a topological group. We say that G has Property
FW’ if for every continuous discrete transitive G-set, any commensurated subset
is either finite or cofinite.
The negation of Property FW’ is also known as “semisplittable”.
We use the notion of topological groups with uncountable cofinality (or cofinality 6= ω) from §4.B; important examples of such groups are compactly generated
groups and in particular finitely generated discrete groups.
Proposition 5.A.3. Let G be a topological group.
(1) If G has uncountable cofinality, then G has Property FW if and only it
has Property FW’;
(2) if G has countable cofinality, then G does not have Property FW.
Proof. The
S first part immediately follows from Proposition 4.B.2. For the second,
if G = F Gn with (Gn ) an nondecreasing union of proper open subgroups, then
if T = G/Gn is endowed with the natural G-action and xn is its base-point,
then {gn | n ≥ 0} is commensurated but not transfixed.

Remark 5.A.4. If G has countable cofinality (e.g. is discrete, infinitely generated
and countable), it does not have Property FW by Proposition 5.A.3(2), while G
may have either Property FW’ or not. For instance, no infinite countable locally
finite group has Property FW’ (by a result of D. Cohen [Coh], using the action
of G on itself), while the infinitely generated group SLn (Q) has Property FW’
for all n ≥ 3 [Cor3].
5.B. Features of Property FW.
Proposition 5.B.1. Let G be a topological group and H an open subgroup of
finite index. Then G has Property FW if and only if H has Property FW.
Proof. We begin with the easier implication. If H has Property FW and ℓ is a
cardinal definite function on G, write G = F H with F finite; if m is an upper
bound for ℓ on F ∪ H then 2m is an upper bound for ℓ.
Conversely suppose that G has Property FW and let ℓ be a cardinal definite
function on H. Then by Corollary 4.F.3 (which uses additive induction of actions), there exists a cardinal definite function ℓ′ on G such that ℓ′ |H ≥ ℓ. By
Property FW, ℓ′ is bounded and hence ℓ is bounded.

The simplest example of a group without Property FW is Z, using that the left
action on itself commensurates N; combined with Proposition 5.B.1 this yields.
Corollary 5.B.2. For every finitely generated group Γ with Property FW, every
finite index subgroup of Γ has a finite abelianization. More generally, if G is a
totally disconnected locally compact group, then for every open subgroup of finite
index H, the quotient H/[H, H] is compact.

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YVES CORNULIER

Proof. By Proposition 5.B.1, we are reduced to check that any totally disconnected locally compact abelian group with Property FW is compact. Indeed,
modding out by a compact open subgroup, we are reduced to the discrete case.
Now since any infinite discrete abelian group has an infinite countable quotient,
we are reduced to a infinite countable discrete abelian group D. By Proposition
5.A.3(2), Property FW for D implies that D is finitely generated, and hence
admits Z as a quotient, a contradiction.

Property FW is obviously stable under taking quotients. The following proposition shows it is also stable by taking extensions.
Proposition 5.B.3. Let G be a topological group and N a normal subgroup.
Suppose that (G, N) has relative Property FW and G/N has Property FW. Then
G has Property FW.
Proof. Let ℓ be a cardinal definite function on G. Then by relative Property FW,
ℓ is bounded on N. Hence by Proposition 4.E.5, there exists a function ℓ′ on G
factoring through a cardinal definite function on G/N such that ℓ−ℓ′ is bounded.
By Property FW for G/N, ℓ′ is bounded. So ℓ is bounded as well.

The next result shows that except some degenerate cases, wreath products
(defined in §4.G) never have Property FW.
Proposition 5.B.4. Let G be a topological group, Y an infinite continuous discrete G-set and H a nontrivial discrete group. Then the wreath product H ≀Y G
does not have Property FW. In particular, if H, G are discrete groups with H
nontrivial and G infinite then H ≀ G does not have Property FW.
Proof. By Proposition 4.G.1, the function wg 7→ 2#(Supp(w)) is cardinal definite
on H ≀Y G; it is unbounded as soon as Y is infinite. (The proof of Proposition
4.G.1 also shows that if Y has an infinite G-orbit then H ≀Y G does not have
Property FW’.

Proposition 5.B.4 was obtained for standard wreath products with a similar
argument in [CMV, Theorem 3], although claiming a weaker statement.
Remark 5.B.5. A more careful look at the proof of Proposition 5.B.4 (see the
stabilizer computations before Proposition 4.G.1) shows that if H is a nontrivial
finitely generated discrete group, G is a compactly generated locally compact
group and y ∈ Y has an infinite G-orbit, then H (Y r{y}) Gy is coforked in H ≀Y G.
In particular, if G is an infinite finitely generated discrete group, then H (Gr{1})
is coforked in the standard wreath product H ≀ G.
We now recall some geometric rigidity properties
• A topological group is strongly bounded (SB) if every continuous isometric
action on a metric space has bounded orbits, or equivalently if every continuous subadditive nonnegative real-valued function is bounded (strong

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

35

boundedness is sometimes called Bergman Property, strong Bergman Property, strong uncountable cofinality).
• A topological group has Property FH if for every continuous isometric action on a Hilbert space there is a fixed point, or equivalently (by the center
lemma) orbits are bounded. For σ-compact locally compact groups, the
Delorme-Guichardet Theorem [BHV, §2.12] states that Property FH is
equivalent to Kazhdan’s Property T (defined in terms of unitary representations).
• A topological group has Property FA if for every continuous isometric
action on the 1-skeleton of a tree, there is a fixed point, or equivalently
(by the center lemma) orbits are bounded. By Bass-Serre Theory [Ser], a
topological group has Property FA if and only if it satisfies the following
three conditions
– it has no continuous homomorphism onto Z;
– it has no decomposition as a nontrivial amalgam over open subgroups;
– it has uncountable cofinality (as a topological group).
• Cofinality 6= ω (see §4.B) can also be characterized as: every continuous
isometric action on any ultrametric space has bounded orbits.
Proposition 5.B.6. For a topological group G, we have the following implications
SB ⇒ FH ⇒ FW ⇒ FA ⇒ (cofinality 6= ω).
Proof. The left implication is trivial. The last implication is due to Serre [Ser,
§6.1]: let (Gn ) be a nondecreasing sequence of subgroups
whose union is G) and
F
define T as the G-set given as the disjoint union G/Gn ; endow it with the
graph structure joining any g ∈ G/Gn to its image in G/Gn+1. Then T is an
unbounded tree on which G acts transitively by automorphisms. So G does not
have Property FA.
The implication FH⇒FW is a consequence of Proposition 4.D.2 for p = 2 (it is
essentially half of the original proof by Alperin [Al] of the implication FH⇒FA).
For the implication FW⇒FA, we essentially repeat the other half of the same
result of Alperin: assume that G has Property FW and let G act continuously
on a tree. Consider the action of G on the set X of oriented edges. This action
is continuous, as the stabilizer of a given oriented edge is the pointwise stabilizer
of a pair of vertices. Fix a vertex x0 and let M be the set of edges pointing
towards x0 . Then the stabilizer of M is open, since it contains the stabilizer of
x0 . Moreover, M is commensurated and ℓM (g) = d(x0 , gx0 ) for all g ∈ G. By
Property FW, ℓM is bounded. Thus the orbit of x0 is bounded and hence there
is a fixed point in the 1-skeleton.

Remark 5.B.7. The implications of Proposition 5.B.6 are not equivalences, even
for countable discrete groups. Let us begin with the easiest:
• (uncountable cofinality) ⇒
/ FA: Z is a counterexample;

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• FH⇒
/ SB: consider any infinite discrete (finitely generated) group with
Property T, e.g. SL3 (Z).
• That FA⇒
/ FW is now well-known; see Example 5.B.8.
• FW⇒
/ FH: a counterexample (from [Cor3]) is SL2 (Z[1/2]), see Example
6.A.7
Example 5.B.8. Let us provide two types of finitely generated groups with
Property FA but not Property FW (the first examples appeared in [Sc77, Example
2.5]).
(1) Finitely generated groups with Property FA but without hereditary Property FA, i.e. with a finite index subgroup without Property FA. By Proposition 5.B.1, such groups do not have Property FW. There are a lot of
such groups. For instance, any infinite finitely generated Coxeter group
whose Coxeter graph has no ∞-label has this property. This includes
the examples in [ChN, Example 2] (which are lattices in the group of
isometries of the Euclidean plane). Such groups (as all finitely generated
Coxeter groups) actually have Property PW [BJS], and have Property
FA, as any group generated by a finite set S such that S ∪ S 2 consists of
torsion elements [Ser, Corollaire 2, p. 90]. Another elementary example
is the following: let D be a finitely generated group with finite abelianization with a finite index subgroup D1 with infinite abelianization (e.g.
the infinite dihedral group) and F a nontrivial finite group. Then the
standard wreath product D ≀ F = D F ⋊ F has Property FA by the general criterion of the author and A. Kar [CoK, Theorem 1.1]; besides it
admits D1F as a subgroup of finite index with infinite abelianization and
thus failing to have Property FA. Also, if E is a finitely generated group
with finite abelianization but splits as a nontrivial amalgam, then the
wreath product E ≀ F has Property FA again by [CoK, Theorem 1.1] but
admits the finite index subgroup E F , which fails to have Property FA. In
case every finite index subgroup of E has a finite abelianization (e.g. E is
the free product of two infinite finitely generated simple groups), E ≀ F is
then an example of a finitely generated group with Property FA, without
hereditary Property FA but all of whose finite index subgroups have a
trivial abelianization.
(2) Finitely generated groups with hereditary Property FA and without Property FW. For instance, if B is any nontrivial finitely generated group with
finite abelianization (e.g. a nontrivial finite group) and if Γ is any infinite
finitely generated group with hereditary Property FA (e.g. with Property
FW), then by the criterion of [CoK, Theorem 1.6], the standard wreath
product B ≀ Γ has hereditary Property FA, while it does not have Property FW by Proposition 5.B.4. Other examples with hereditary Property
FA and without Property FW are Grigorchuk’s groups [Gri], as well as
topological full groups of minimal Cantor systems (see §2.B).

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37

Remark 5.B.9. Proposition 5.A.3(1) can be extended to relative versions. Namely,
if L ⊂ G is any subset and G has cofinality 6= ω, then relative Property FW for
(G, L) can be tested on transitive actions of G.
Also, Proposition 5.B.6 extends to the relative case: just define relative Property FH, FA, cofinality 6= ω by saying that every continuous isometric action of G
on a Hilbert space (resp. tree, resp. ultrametric space) is bounded in restriction
to L.
Concerning Proposition 5.B.1, it is obvious that relative Property FW for
(G, L), when L is a subgroup, does not change if L varies in its group commensuration class. Also, its proof shows that, for any open subgroup H of G and
subset L of H, (G, L) has relative Property FW if and only (H, L) has Property
FW.
Proposition 5.B.3 also extends the following relative version: if (G, N) has
relative Property FW, if L is an N-invariant subset of G and (G/N, L/N) has
relative Property FW then (G, L) has relative Property FW.
5.C. Property PW.
Definition 5.C.1. A locally compact group G has Property PW if it has a proper
cardinal definite function.
Observe that if a locally compact group G has both Properties PW and FW
then it is compact. More generally, if it has Property PW and (G, L) has relative
Property FW for some subset L, then L is compact. Also observe that from the
bare existence of a proper continuous real-valued function, every locally compact
group with Property PW is σ-compact.
Observe that Property PW for locally compact groups is stable by taking closed
subgroups.
Proposition 5.C.2. Let G be a locally compact group. Then
(1) if H an open subgroup of finite index, then G has Property PW if and
only if H has Property PW;
(2) if G is a topological direct product G1 × G2 where G1 , G2 are closed subgroups with Property PW, then G has Property PW.
(3) if W is a compact normal subgroup, then G has Property PW if and only
if G/W has Property PW.
Proof. We begin with (1). Leaving aside the trivial implication, assume that
H has Property PW. Let ℓ be a proper cardinal definite function on H. Using
additive induction of H-sets (Corollary 4.F.3), there exists a cardinal definite
function ℓ′ on G with ℓ′ |H ≥ ℓ. In particular, ℓ′ |H is proper. Now it is easily
checked for an arbitrary length function that properness on an open finite index
subgroup implies properness; thus ℓ′ is proper and G has Property PW.
The assertion (2) is essentially immediate, by choosing commensurating actions
of Gi on sets Xi and considering the action of G1 × G2 on the disjoint union
X1 ⊔ X2 .

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For (3), the “if” implication is trivial and the converse follows from the fact
that compact groups have Property FW and Proposition 4.E.5.

Let us now mention the following slight generalization of the main result from
[CSVa]. There, H was assumed finite, but the easy trick to carry over arbitrary
H was used in [CSVb] in a similar context.
Theorem 5.C.3. Let H, G be discrete groups with Property PW. Then the standard wreath product H ≀ G has Property PW.
Proof. Start from an action of G on a set X with a commensurated subset M such
that ℓM is proper, and consider the action on X ′ × {0, 1} with commensurated
subset M ′ = M × {0} ∪ M ∗ × {1}. Then perform, out of the latter action, the
construction ZX ′ of Proposition 4.G.2 to obtain a cardinal definite function ℓ on
H ≀ G satisfying
ℓ(wg) ≥
sup
ℓM (γ).
γ∈{g}∪Supp(w)

By properness of ℓM , for every n the subset Fn = ℓ−1
M ([0, n]) of G is finite. By the
above inequality, for every wg such that ℓ(wg) ≤ n, we have {g} ∪ Supp(w) ⊂ Fn .
(Note that in case H is finite, this shows that ℓ is proper.)
Now let us also use that H has Property PW, let ℓ0 be a proper cardinal
definite function
on H; by Proposition 4.G.1, the function wg 7→ ℓ′ (wg), defined
P
as ℓ′ (wg) = γ∈G ℓ0 (hγ ), is cardinal definite. Define Fn′ = ℓ−1
0 ([0, n]); this is a
finite subset of H.
Defining ℓ1 = ℓ + ℓ′ , if ℓ1 (wg) ≤ n, then ℓ(wg) ≤ n so {g} ∪ Supp(w) ⊂ Fn
by the above, and ℓ′ (wg) ≤ n, so wγ ∈ Fn′ for all γ ∈ G. Thus w ∈ (Fn′ )Fn and
g ∈ Fn , which leaves finitely many possibilities for wg. Thus the cardinal definite
function ℓ1 is proper.

Remark 5.C.4. There is an analogue of Property FW and its cousins for actions
by group automorphisms. Namely, a group G has Property FG if whenever it acts
by automorphisms on a discrete group H commensurating (in the group sense) a
subgroup P also commensurated by H, there exists a subgroup P ′ commensurate
to P and invariant by G (there is an obvious relative version). The existence of P ′
can also be characterized by the boundedness of the length LP (g) = log([P : P ∩
g(P )][g(P ) : P ∩ g(P )]), by a result of Schlichting (rediscovered by Bergman and
Lenstra [BLe]). By a projective limit construction [ShW], these properties can
also be characterized in terms of actions by topological automorphisms on totally
disconnected locally compact group, namely by the condition that every such
action preserves a compact open subgroup. Property FG implies Property FW
(since any action on a set X commensurating a subset M induces an action on the
group C (X) commensurating the subgroup C (M ) , where C is a 2-element group),
but the converse does not hold, since SL3 (Z[1/2]) does not have Property FG, as
we see by using its action by conjugation on SL3 (Q2 ). In particular, Property FG
does not follow from Property T. On the other hand, Shalom and Willis [ShW,

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

39

Theorem 1.3] proved that SLd (Z) for d ≥ 3 as well as many other
√ non-uniform
lattices have Property FG; the argument also carrying over SL2 (Z[ 2]). The only
source of Property FG I know uses distortion of abelian subgroups.
6. Cardinal definite function on abelian groups and applications
6.A. Cyclic groups. Let N be the set of nonnegative integers.
Proposition 6.A.1. Let ℓ be an unbounded cardinal definite function on Z associated to a transitive Z-set X. Then there exists a bounded function b : Z → N
such that we have ℓ(n) = |n| + b(n) for all n ∈ Z.
Proof. Since ℓ = ℓM is unbounded, X is infinite and hence we can identify X
to Z. Then M ⊂ Z is commensurated by translations and hence has a finite
boundary in the standard Cayley graph of Z. It follows that M is commensurate
to ∅, Z, N or −N. The first two cases are excluded since ℓ is unbounded, and in
the last two cases, we obtain that ℓ(n) = |n| + b(n) with b : Z → Z bounded. It
turns out that b(Z) ⊂ N; indeed, for all k ≥ 1 and n, we have, by subadditivity
|kn| + b(kn) = ℓ(kn) ≤ kℓ(n) = k|n| + kb(n),

whence, dividing by k we obtain min(b)/k ≤ b(n) for all k ≥ 1, and picking
k > − min(b) we deduce that b(n) > −1, whence b(n) ≥ 0.

Definition 6.A.2. Let G be a compactly generated locally compact group and Z
an infinite discrete cyclic subgroup. Let | · | be the word length in G with respect
to a compact generating subset. If g is a generator of Z, the limit limn→∞ |g n |/n
exists; Z is called distorted if this limit is zero and undistorted otherwise. (This
does not depend on the choice of the compact generating subset of G.)
Let us also say that G has uniformly undistorted discrete cyclic subgroups (the
word “discrete” can be dropped if G is discrete) if
inf lim |g n |/n > 0,
g n→∞

where g ranges over non-elliptic elements, i.e., generators of infinite discrete cyclic
subgroups.
The following corollary was first obtained indirectly by F. Haglund by studying
the dynamics of isometries of CAT(0) cube complexes.
Corollary 6.A.3. Let G be a compactly generated locally compact group and
Z an infinite discrete cyclic subgroup. If Z is distorted then (G, Z) has relative
Property FW. In particular, if G has Property PW then Z is undistorted; actually
G has uniformly undistorted cyclic subgroups.
Proof. Let f be a cardinal definite function on G. Then f is a length function,
and in particular f is asymptotically bounded by the word length of G. If Z
is distorted, it follows that f is sublinear on Z with respect to the usual word
length on Z ≃ Z. By Lemma 6.A.1, it follows that f is bounded on Z. For the

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YVES CORNULIER

uniform statement, assume that f is proper; then for every non-elliptic element
g, Lemma 6.A.1 implies f (g n ) ≥ |n| for all n ≥ 1. For some constant c > 0, we
have f ≤ c| · |, where | · | is the word length on G. Hence limn→∞ |g n|/|n| ≥ 1/c,
which is independent of g.

Example 6.A.4. The central generator z of the √
discrete Heisenberg group H is
n
quadratically distorted, in the sense that |z | ≃ n; it follows that H does not
have Property PW (this example was noticed in [Hag]).
Example 6.A.5. Let us indicate examples of finitely generated groups in which
infinite cyclic subgroups are all undistorted, but not uniformly.
(1) Let u ∈ GL4 (Z) be a matrix whose characteristic polynomial P is irreducible over Q with exactly
√ on the unit circle; for
√ 2 complex eigenvalues
2
2
instance P = (X + (1 + 2)X + 1)(X + (1 − 2)X + 1) and u is its
companion matrix. Then the corresponding semidirect product Z4 ⋊u Z
has its cyclic subgroups undistorted, but not uniformly. Indeed, if p is
the projection to the sum in R4 of eigenvalues of modulus 6= 1, then for
g ∈ Z4 r {0} (written multiplicatively), we have limn→∞ |g n |/n ≃ kp(g)k,
which is never zero but accumulates at zero. It follows that Z4 ⋊u Z does
not have Property PW (this also follows from Proposition 6.C.5).
(2) If a finitely generated group admits a subgroup isomorphic to Z[1/p] for
some prime p, or more generally a non-cyclic torsion-free locally cyclic
subgroup, then its cyclic subgroups are not uniformly undistorted. It is
likely that there are examples in which they are all undistorted.
Example 6.A.6. Groups with Property PW are not the only instances of finitely
generated groups with uniformly undistorted cyclic subgroups. Other examples
include cocompact lattices in semisimple Lie groups, and finitely generated subgroups of the group of permutations of Z with bounded displacement.
Example 6.A.7. Let A be the ring of integers √
a number field which is not Q or
an imaginary quadratic extension, e.g., A = Z[ 2]. Then SL2 (A) has Property
FW. Note that in contrast, it has the Haagerup Property, as a discrete subgroup
n1
(actually a non-uniform irreducible lattice)
×SL2 (C)n2
√ in some product SL2 (R)
with n1 + n2 ≥ 2. For instance, A = Z[ 2] is a lattice in SL2 (R)2 . To see Property FW, first observe that the condition on A implies that A× has an infinite
order element; a first consequence is that, denoting by U12 and U21 the upper
and lower unipotent subgroups in A, that U12 and U21 are both exponentially
distorted. In particular, since they are finitely generated abelian groups and are
thus boundedly generated by cyclic subgroups, it follows from Corollary 6.A.3
that (SL2 (A), U12 ∪ U21 ) has relative Property FW. Now a more elaborate consequence of the condition on A is the theorem of Carter, Keller and Paige, see
Witte Morris [Wit]: SL2 (A) is boundedly generated its two unipotent subgroups.

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41

It follows, using the trivial observation that (G, L) has relative Property FW implies (G, Ln ) has relative Property FW for all n ≥ 1, that SL2 (A) has Property
FW.
Proposition 6.A.8. Let G be a compactly generated locally compact abelian
group. Let Z be a normal infinite cyclic discrete subgroup. Then either (G, Z)
has relative Property FW, or Z is a topological direct factor in some open normal
subgroup of finite index of G containing Z.
Proof. Assume that (G, Z) does not have relative Property FW. Let H1 be the
centralizer of Z in G, which is open of index at most 2. Let X be a continuous
discrete G-set and M a commensurated subset with
Sopen stabilizer such that ℓM is
unbounded on Z. Decompose X into Z-orbits as i∈I Xi . Note that G permutes
the Z-orbits and thus naturally acts on I; since the stabilizer of Xi contains the
stabilizer of any x ∈ Xi , this action is continuous. Let J be
S the set of i such that
Mi = Xi ∩ M is infinite and coinfinite in Xi . Then XJ = i∈J Xi is G-invariant.
Define K = I r J, MJ = M ∩ XJ , MK = M r XJ . Then ℓM = ℓMJ + ℓMK . Since
Z is compactly generated, it follows from Proposition 4.B.2 that MK is transfixed
by Z, so ℓMK is bounded on Z. Thus ℓMJ is unbounded on Z and in particular
J 6= ∅. Again by Proposition 4.B.2, J is finite. So some open subgroup of finite
index H2 of G fixes J pointwise. Define H = H1 ∩ H2 .
Let us pick j ∈ J. Then Z acts on Xj with a single infinite orbit; therefore
if L is the pointwise stabilizer of Xj in H, we have H = Z × L as an abstract
group; thus the continuous homomorphism Z × L → H is bijective; since Z × L
is σ-compact, it is a topological group isomorphism.

Example 6.A.9. Let Γ be a cocompact lattice in PSL2 (R) and Γ̃ its inverse
g 2 (R). Then Γ̃ does not have Property PW. Indeed, its center Z ≃ Z
image in PSL
is not virtually a direct factor: this is well-known and follows from the fact
that for any finite index subgroup Λ of Γ̃ there exist g ≥ 2 and 2g elements
x1 , y1 , . . . , yg ∈ Γ̃ (actually generating
Q a finite index subgroup of Λ, namely Λ
itself if Λ is torsion-free) such that gi=1 [xi , yi ] is a nontrivial element of Z.
On the other hand, Γ̃ has its infinite cyclic subgroups undistorted (and actually
uniformly undistorted). Note that it also has the Haagerup Property, because
g 2 (R) has the Haagerup Property, by [CCJJV, Chap. 4].
PSL
6.B. Abelian groups.

Lemma 6.B.1. Let A be a compactly generated locally compact abelian group and
X a continuous discrete transitive A-set with a non-transfixed commensurated
subset; denote by K the kernel of the A-action on X. Then there is a continuous
surjective homomorphism χ : A → Z (unique up to multiplication by −1) such
that the kernel K is an open finite index subgroup of Ker(χ). In particular, the
associated cardinal definite function on A has the form g 7→ [Ker(χ) : K]|χ(g)| +
b(g) where b : A → N is a bounded continuous function.

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YVES CORNULIER

Proof. Denote A′ = A/K. In particular, the action of A′ is simply transitive;
since point stabilizers are open it follows that A′ is discrete, and hence finitely
generated by assumption. Since the action is simply transitive, we also deduce
′
that A′ is multi-ended, and therefore
S is virtually infinite cyclic. Write A = Z × F
′
with F finite abelian. Define M = g∈F gM; it is F -invariant and commensurate
to M. By Lemma 6.A.1, ℓM ′ (n, f ) = |F ||n| + b′ (n) with b′ bounded and hence
ℓM (n, f ) = |F ||n| + b(n) with b bounded; the same argument as in the proof of
Lemma 6.A.1 shows that b ≥ 0. Letting χ denote the composite homomorphism
A → A′ → Z, observe that |F | = [Ker(χ) : K] and χ is determined up to the
sign, so the proof is complete.

Lemma 6.B.2. Let A be an abelian group. Let (χi )i∈I be a family of pairwise
non-proportional nonzero homomorphisms A → R. Then the family (|χi |) is
linearly independent over R, in the space of functions A → R modulo bounded
functions.
Proof. We have to show thatPfor every nonzero finitely supported family of real
scalars (λi )i∈I , the function i λi |χi | is unbounded. Assuming by contradiction
the contrary (i.e., the above sum is bounded), we can suppose I nonempty finite
and that all λi are nonzero. Then we can find a finitely generated subgroup of
A on which the restrictions of the χi are pairwise non-proportional. Therefore
we are reduced to the case when A is finitely generated, and actually we can
also suppose that A = Zk , since all homomorphisms to R vanish on the torsion
subgroup of A.
Write V = Rk , so that A ⊂ V . Extend χi to a continuous homomorphism
χ̂i : V → R. Writing each element in V as the sum of an
P element of A and
ˆ
a bounded element, we see that the function g 7→ f (g) = i∈I λi |χ̂i (g)| is still
bounded on V . Since fˆ(g n ) = nfˆ(g) for all g ∈ V and n ≥ 0, by computing
limn→∞ fˆ(g n )/n, we see that actually fˆ(g) = 0 for all g ∈ V . We thus have
X λi
|χ̂1 (g)| = −
|χ̂i (g)| ∀g ∈ V ;
λ
i>1 1

let Vi ⊂ V be the
S hyperplane {χ̂i = 0}. The right-hand term is a smooth
function outside i>1 Vi , which does not contain V1 because the hyperplanes Vi
are pairwise distinct. But the left-hand term is smooth at no point of V1 . This
is a contradiction.

Proposition 6.B.3. Let A be a compactly generated locally compact abelian group
and f a continuous cardinal definite function on A. Then there exist finitely many
continuous homomorphisms χi : A → Z and a bounded function b : A → N such
that, for all g ∈ A we have
X
|χi (g)| + b(g).
f (g) =
i

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43

Moreover, if the χi : A → Z are required to be surjective, this decomposition
is unique modulo P
the ordering of the χi and changing χi into −χi . We call
the term f0 (g) = i |χi (g)| the homogeneous part of f ; it is given by f0 (g) =
limn→∞ f (g n )/n, and satisfies f0 (ng) = |n|f0 (g) for all n ∈ Z.
P
Proof. To prove the existence, first by Corollary 4.B.3 we have f = ki=1 fi where
fi is a cardinal definite function associated to a transitive continuous action. By
Lemma 6.B.1, we have fi (g) = ni |χi (g)| + bi (g), where ni is a nonnegative integer
and χi is a homomorphism to Z (which we can suppose to be surjective if fi is
unbounded and 0 otherwise), and bi bounded and valued in N.
The uniqueness statement immediately follows from Lemma 6.B.2 and the last
statement is clear.

Recall that given a compactly generated locally compact group G, a closed
subgroup H is undistorted if it is compactly generated and the word metric of H
is equivalent to the restriction of the word metric of G. The following corollary
generalizes the second statement in Corollary 6.A.3.
Corollary 6.B.4. Let A be a compactly generated locally compact abelian group;
let | · | be the word length with respect to some compact generating subset of A and
let ℓ be a cardinal definite function on A. Assume that ℓ is proper. Then there
exists some constants c > 0, c′ ∈ R such that ℓ ≥ c| · | − c′ .

Proof. Any compactly generated locally compact abelian group A has a cocompact lattice isomorphic to Zk for some k, so we can suppose A ≃ Zk .
The result then follows from the following claim: let f be a proper cardinal
definite function on Zk . Then for some norm on Rk we have fP≥ k · k.
In view of Proposition 6.B.3, we can suppose that f =
i∈I |χi | + b with
k
χi : Z → Z a surjective homomorphism and b ≥ 0 a bounded function. Denote
k
by χP
i the unique extension χ̂i as a continuous homomorphism R → R. Define
k
fˆ =
|χ̂i |. Then fˆ is a seminorm on R ; since its restriction to Zk is proper, it
is actually a norm. Since f ≥ fˆ on Zk , the claim is proved.

Corollary 6.B.5. If G is a compactly generated locally compact group with Property PW, then any compactly generated closed abelian subgroup A is undistorted.

Proof. Let f be a proper cardinal definite function on G. Let l be the word length
in G with respect to a compact generating subset. Then f ≤ cl for some c > 0.
By Corollary 6.B.5, the restriction of f to A is equivalent to the word length of
A. Hence the latter is asymptotically bounded by the restriction to A of the word
length of G, which means that A is undistorted.

Remark 6.B.6. Proposition 6.B.3 shows that if G is an abelian compactly generated locally compact group and f a cardinal definite function on G, there exists
a (unique) least element f0 in the set of cardinal definite functions f ′ such that
f − f ′ is bounded. I do not know if such a statement holds for more general
compactly generated locally compact groups.

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YVES CORNULIER

Let us mention in the abelian case that if f = ℓM , then f0 has, by construction
(see the proof of Lemma 6.B.1), the form ℓM ′ with M ′ commensurate to M.
Lemma 6.B.7. Let G be a compactly generated locally compact group with a
closed normal discrete subgroup A isomorphic to Zd . Suppose that A is undistorted in G. Then the homomorphism G → GLd (Z) has a finite image.
Proof. Let S be the image in GLd (Z) of a compact, symmetric generating subset
of G. Since Zd is undistorted, for every x ∈ Zd there exists a constant C such that,
in Zd , for all n ∈ N and g ∈ S n , we have kgxn g −1k ≤ Cn + C (where we write the
law of Zd multiplicatively and fix a norm k · k on Rd ). Rewriting this additively
gives kn(g.x)k ≤ Cn + C; dividing by n ≥ 1, this yields kg.xk ≤ C + C/n ≤ 2C
for all g ∈ S n , this bound does not depend on n and this shows that for every
x ∈ Zd , the subset {g.x : g ∈ G} is bounded. In particular, the union of orbits
of all basis elements in Zd is finite, so there is some finite index subgroup of G
fixing all basis elements. Thus G → GLd (Z) has a finite image.

The following proposition partly generalizes Proposition 6.A.8.
Proposition 6.B.8. Let G be a compactly generated locally compact abelian
group with Property PW. Let A be a closed normal abelian subgroup; suppose
that A is discrete and free abelian of finite rank. Then A is a topological direct
factor in some open normal subgroup of finite index of G containing A.
Proof. By Property PW, the identity component of G is compact. By Corollary
6.B.5, A is undistorted in G. By Lemma 6.B.7, the centralizer H1 of A in G
(which is closed and contains A) has finite index in G, hence is open in G. Let
X be a continuous discrete G-set and M a commensurated subset with open
stabilizer such that ℓM is proper (we will only use that ℓM is proper on A).
Arguing exactly as in the proof of Proposition 6.A.8, we can suppose that
I = J in the notation therein, i.e., we can suppose that I = J is finite and for
every j ∈ J we have Mj and Xj r Mj both infinite. Let H be a normal open
subgroup of finite index of G contained in H1 and fixing J pointwise.
For each j ∈ J, let Aj be the kernel of the action of A on Xj . Then Xj can be
identified to A/Aj , where A acts by left translations. The centralizer of the group
of left translations in any group Γ in S(Γ) is the group of right translations, which
means left translations in case Γ is abelian. Since H centralizes A, we deduce that
H acts on Xj by left translations. Let Lj be the kernel of the action of H on Xj .
Let χj : A → Z be the surjective homomorphism associated to the action of A on
Xj ; pick j1 , . . . , jk so that χj1 , . . . , χjk are independent, where A ≃ Zk (they exist
T
by properness of ℓMj on A). Define L = ki=1 Lji . We claim that H is the direct
product A × L as a topological group. Indeed, we have A ∩ L = {1}, because
T
since ki=1 Ker(χji ) = {1} on A; moreover AL = H because L is the kernel
S
of the image of the action homomorphism H → S( ki=1 Xji ) and the image of
this homomorphism coincides with its restriction to A. Thus A × L → H is a

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45

bijective continuous homomorphism; since A × L is σ-compact it follows that is
is a topological group isomorphism.

6.C. Polycyclic groups. The following theorem is chronologically the first obstruction to Property PW (although it was not yet interpreted this way then).
Theorem 6.C.1 (Houghton [Ho82]). Let Γ be a virtually polycyclic group of
Hirsch length k. Then a subgroup Λ is coforked if and only if it has Hirsch length
k − 1 and has a normalizer of finite index.
It is sometimes tempting to consider residually virtually abelian finitely generated groups; however since these include finite groups and since virtually abelian
finitely generated groups are residually finite, this is just the same as residually
finite. To avoid this, the natural definition is the following classical one.
Definition 6.C.2. A discrete group is crystallographic if it finitely generated,
virtually abelian without nontrivial normal subgroup. We say that a discrete
group Γ is residually crystallographic if the intersection VD(Γ) of normal subgroups N with Γ/N crystallographic, is trivial.
By Bieberbach’s theorem, a discrete group is crystallographic if and only it
admits a faithful, cocompact proper action on a Euclidean space. (A direct consequence, which can also be seen algebraically by using the notion of FC-center,
is that finite index subgroups of crystallographic groups are crystallographic.)
The notation VD comes from the fact that Γ/VD(Γ) is often virtually abelian
(see Lemma 6.C.7), so that VD(Γ) can be thought as a kind of “virtual derived
subgroup”.
Lemma 6.C.3. Let Γ be a virtually polycyclic group with Hirsch length k and Λ
a subgroup. If Λ has Hirsch length k − 1 and has its normalizer has finite index
in Γ, then it contains a finite index subgroup of VD(Γ).
Proof. Let L1 be the normalizer of Λ; it has finite index. The group L1 /Λ has
Hirsch length 1 so has a infinite cyclic subgroup L/Λ of finite index.
The subgroup gΛg −1 T
only depends on the class T
of g in G/L. Consider the
finite intersection N = g∈G/L gΛg −1. Since N = g∈G gΛg −1, it is normal in
Q
G. Also, the diagonal map L → g∈G/L L/gΛg −1 ≃ ZG/L has kernel equal to
N and it follows that L/N is a finitely generated abelian group. Thus Γ/N is
virtually abelian. If N ′ /N is its maximal finite normal subgroup, then Γ/N ′ is
crystallographic and thus VD(Γ) ⊂ N ′ . So VD(Γ) ∩ N has finite index in VD(Γ)
and is contained in Λ.

Corollary 6.C.4. Let Γ be a virtually polycyclic group and Λ a subgroup. If Λ
is coforked then it contains a finite index subgroup of VD(Γ).

Proposition 6.C.5. Let Γ be a virtually polycyclic group. Then (Γ, VD(Γ)) has
relative Property FW.

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YVES CORNULIER

Proof. Consider a transitive commensurating action of Γ on a set X with commensurated subset M, and x ∈ X, and let H be the stabilizer of x. Then by
Corollary 6.C.4, H contains a finite index subgroup Q1 of VD(Γ). Since VD(Γ)
is finitely generated, it contains a characteristic subgroup of finite index Q contained in Q1 . So Q is normal in Γ and fixes a point in the transitive Γ-set X. It
follows that the Q-action on X is identically trivial. Thus the action of VD(Γ) on
X factors through a finite group, which has Property FW, so it leaves invariant
a subset commensurate to M. This shows that (Γ, VD(Γ)) has relative Property
FW.

Note that Proposition 6.C.5, which has just been proved using Theorem 6.C.1,
easily implies Theorem 6.C.1 (precisely, it boils down the proof of Theorem 6.C.1
to the case when Γ is virtually abelian). Let us now provide a proof of Proposition
6.C.5 not relying on Theorem 6.C.1, but relying instead on the results of Section
6.
Alternative proof of Proposition 6.C.5. We argue by induction on the Hirsch length
of VD(Γ). If it is zero, there is nothing to prove. Otherwise, VD(Γ) contains a
an infinite Γ-invariant subgroup Λ of minimal nonzero Hirsch length. Passing
to a finite index characteristic subgroup, we can suppose that Γ is abelian and
torsion-free. Let us show that (Γ, Λ) has relative Property FW. Otherwise, by
contradiction there is a cardinal definite function f on Γ such that f is unbounded on Λ. Let P ⊂ Λ be the maximal subgroup of Λ on which f is bounded
(which exists by an easy argument using that Λ is finitely generated abelian).
By minimality of Λ, the action of Γ on Λ ⊗ Q is irreducible. It follows that the
intersection
of Γ-conjugates of P is zero. Thus therePexist γ1 , . . . , γk ∈ Γ such
Tk
that i=1 γi P γi−1 = {0}. Therefore, defining f ′ (g) = i f (γi−1 gγi ), the function
f ′ is cardinal definite and is not bounded on any nontrivial subgroup of Λ. By
Proposition 6.B.3, it follows that f is proper on Λ. By Proposition 6.B.8 (which,
as indicated in its proof, only uses the properness of the cardinal definite function
on Λ), Λ is a direct factor of some normal finite index subgroup H of Γ; thus
clearly Λ ∩ VD(H) = {1}. Thus the image of Λ in Γ/VD(H) is infinite. Since H
has finite index in Γ, the group Γ/VD(H) is virtually abelian thus its quotient by
some finite normal subgroup is a crystallographic quotient of Γ in which Λ has
an infinite image. Thus the image of Λ in Γ/VD(Γ) is infinite. This contradicts
Λ ⊂ VD(Γ).
Thus (Γ, Λ) has relative Property FW. Since Λ ⊂ VD(Γ), we have VD(Γ/Λ) =
VD(Γ)/Λ. By induction, (Γ/Λ, VD(Γ)/Λ) has relative Property FW. So by the
relative version of Proposition 5.B.3 (see Remark 5.B.9), (Γ, VD(Γ)) has relative
Property FW.

If Γ is a group, recall that its first Betti number b1 (Γ) is the Q-rank of
Hom(Γ, Z), which is either a finite integer or +∞ (this definition is questionable
when Γ is infinitely generated but this is the one we use; for instance b1 (Q) = 0

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

47

with this definition). Note that if Λ ⊂ Γ has finite index then b1 (Λ) ≥ b1 (Γ).
Also, its first virtual Betti number is defined as vb1 (Γ) = supΛ b1 (Λ), where Λ
ranges over finite index subgroups of Γ.
Lemma 6.C.6. Let Γ be a group and N1 , N2 normal subgroups. If Γ/Ni is crystallographic for i = 1, 2 then so is Γ/(N1 ∩ N2 ).
Proof. The group Γ/(N1 ∩ N2 ) is naturally a fibre product of Γ/N1 and Γ/N2 , i.e.
a subgroup of the product Γ/N1 × Γ/N2 both of whose projections are surjective.
In particular, it is virtually abelian, and if F is a finite normal subgroup, each of
the projections of F is normal and therefore is trivial, so that F is trivial.

Lemma 6.C.7. Let Γ be a discrete group with vb1 (Γ) < ∞. Then Γ/VD(Γ) is
crystallographic.
Proof. Equivalently, we have to show that if Γ is residually crystallographic and
k = vb1 (Γ) < ∞ then Γ is crystallographic.
Let N be a normal subgroup of finite index in Γ having a surjective homomorphism onto Zk . Let N ′ /[N, N] be the largest finite normal subgroup of Γ/[N, N];
then Γ/N ′ is crystallographic, so it is enough to prove that N ′ = 1. Since Γ is
residually crystallographic, this amounts to proving that for every normal subgroup P such that Γ/P is crystallographic, we have N ′ ⊂ P . By Lemma 6.C.6,
we can suppose P ⊂ N ′ and thus have to show that P = N ′ . The crystallographic
group Γ/P is the extension of N ′ /P and Γ/N ′ . Since vb1 (Γ) = vb1 (Γ/N ′ ) = k
and Γ/P is virtually abelian, we deduce that N ′ /P is finite; since this is a finite
normal subgroup of Γ/P , it is then trivial and thus P = N ′ .

Thus we have the following corollary of Proposition 6.C.5:
Corollary 6.C.8. Let Γ be a virtually polycyclic group. Then Γ has Property
PW if and only it is virtually abelian.
Proof. Clearly Zk has Property PW and hence, by Proposition 5.C.2(1), every
finitely generated virtually abelian group has Property PW.
Conversely, if Γ is virtually polycyclic with Property PW, it follows from
Proposition 6.C.5 and Lemma 6.C.7 that Γ is finite-by-(virtually abelian). Since
any virtually polycyclic group is residually finite, it follows that Γ is virtually
abelian.

Remark 6.C.9. The classes of crystallographic groups and residually crystallographic groups is obviously not stable under taking subgroups, since nontrivial
finite subgroups are not (residually) crystallographic but can be embedded into
crystallographic groups: every finite group F embeds into the crystallographic
group Z ≀ F . Also, if Γ is a torsion-free finite index subgroup in SL3 (Z), then Γ ∗ Z
is torsion-free and residually crystallographic although its subgroup Γ is not. A
source of (torsion-free) residually crystallographic groups is given by finitely generated RFRS groups (“residually finite rational solvable”): a group Γ is RFRS if it

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YVES CORNULIER

has a descending sequence (Γn ) of finite index normal subgroups such that Γ0 = Γ
and Γi+1 contains the intersection of all kernels of homomorphisms Γi → Q for
all i ≥ 1: indeed for every x we have pi (x) 6= 1 for large i, where pi is the quotient
map to the quotient Γ/[Γi , Γi ] by its largest finite normal subgroup. On the other
hand, the class of RFRS groups is stable under taking subgroups.
Let us give a little variation beyond the virtually polycyclic case. We need the
following lemma.
Lemma 6.C.10. Let A be a finitely generated abelian group and f a proper
cardinal definite function on A. Then there exists m such that for every abelian
overgroup of finite index B ⊃ A and measure definite function f ′ on B extending
f , we have [B/TB : A/TA ] ≤ m, where TA and TB denote the torsion groups in
A and B. In particular, if B is torsion-free then [B : A] ≤ m.
Proof. Define V = A⊗Z R and let ΓA be the image of A in V ; it is a lattice. Let f0
be the homogeneous part of f , which extends naturally to V ; since f is proper,
f0−1 ({0}) = {0}. Consider the open polyhedron Ω = {x ∈ V : |f0 (x)| < 1}.
There exists a positive lower bound for the covolume of a lattice Λ in V such
that Λ ∩ Ω = {0}; in particular, there is an upper bound m for the index of an
overgroup Λ of ΓA such that Λ ∩ Ω = {0}.
Let now f0′ be the homogeneous part of f ′ . Since for g ∈ B we have f0′ (g) =
limn→∞ f ′ (g n! )/n! and g n! ∈ A for large n, we have (f0′ )|A = f0 . Also define ΓB
as the image B in V . So ΓB is a lattice in V containing the lattice ΓA , and since
f0 takes integer values on B, we have ΓB ∩ Ω = {0}. So [ΓB : ΓA ] ≤ m. But
ΓB = B/TB and ΓA = A/TA , so [ΓB : ΓA ] = [B/TB : A/TA ] ≤ m.

Corollary 6.C.11. Let G be a locally compact group with Property PW. Then
every discrete torsion-free abelian subgroup H of finite Q-rank is free abelian (of
finite rank).
Proof. (Recall that by definition a torsion-free abelian group has finite Q-rank if
it is isomorphic to a subgroup of Qk for some k, and its Q-rank is the minimal
possible k.)
Let SA ⊂ H be a free abelian subgroup of maximal rank. So we can write
H = An (nondecreasing union) with [An : A] < ∞. By Lemma 6.C.10, we
have an upper bound on [An : A], and therefore [H : A] < ∞ and thus H is free
abelian of finite rank.

7. Median graphs
In the previous chapters, we developed the theory avoiding references to median
graphs and CAT(0) cube complexes. In this chapter we pursue the study using
the notion of median graphs, still avoiding CAT(0) cube complexes, with the
exceptions of Remarks 7.F.8 and 7.F.9, and Corollary 7.G.4.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

49

7.A. Median graphs: main examples and first properties. On a metric
space (D, d), we write, unless ambiguous, xy = d(x, y). Define the total interval
[x, y], for x, y ∈ D as the set of t such that xt + ty = xy. The metric space D
is called median if for all x, y, z, the intersection [x, y] ∩ [y, z] ∩ [z, x] is a single
point, called the median of (x, y, z) and denoted m(x, y, z).
A subset E of a median space D is called totally convex if [x, y] ⊂ E for all
x, y ∈ E, and biconvex7 if both E and its complement E c are totally convex; we
call proper biconvex subsets those biconvex subsets distinct from ∅ and D. Denote
by BD the set of biconvex subsets of D. For x ∈ D, denote by BD (x), or B(x) if
there is no ambiguity, the set of biconvex subsets of D containing x.
A graph (not oriented, without multi-edges and self-loops and identified with
its set of vertices) is median if each of its connected components (as a graph) is
a median metric space.
A median subgraph of a connected median graph is a connected full subgraph
that is isometrically embedded, and stable under taking median of triples.
Example 7.A.1 (hypercubes). Let X be a set. Endow the power set 2X with a
graph structure by calling N, N ′ adjacent if #(N △ N ′ ) = 1; thus N, N ′ are in
the same component if and only if they are commensurate (in other words, the
connected component of N is the set 2X
N of subsets of X having finite symmetric
difference with N) and their graph distance is then #(N △ N ′ ). Then this graph
is median. Indeed, the total interval [N, N ′ ] between any two commensurate
subsets N, N ′ is the set of subsets trapped between N ∩ N ′ and N ∪ N ′ . It
easily follows that the intersection [N, N ′ ] ∩ [N ′ , N ′′ ] ∩ [N ′′ , N] is the singleton
{(N ∩ N ′ ) ∪ (N ′ ∩ N ′′ ) ∪ (N ′′ ∩ N)} (more symmetrically described as the set of
elements belonging to at least two of the three subsets N, N ′ , N ′′ ) and thus the
graph is median.
Note that all components of the graph 2X , which are called hypercubes (or cubes
when X is finite), are isomorphic as graphs, but not canonically; it is useful to
define all of them altogether, especially when dealing with group actions.
Example 7.A.2. Let X be a set. Endow ZX with a graph structure by calling
f, f ′ adjacent if f − f ′ or f ′ − f is the Dirac function at some x ∈ X. Similarly as
in Example 7.A.1, this is a median graph; the connected component of f is the set
of f ′ such that f ′ − f has a finite support, in which case the total interval [f, f ′ ]
is the set of functions g such that min(f, f ′ ) ≤ g ≤ max(f, f ′ ), and the median
of f, f ′ , f ′′ is the function mapping x to the median point in (f (x), f ′(x), f ′′ (x)).
Proposition 7.A.3. Let G be a topological group and f a cardinal definite function on G. Then there exists a connected median graph with a continuous isometric action of G and a vertex v such that f (g) = d(v, gv) for all G.
7A

biconvex subset is sometimes called a halfspace. In this paper, we rather reserve the
word halfspace to the context of wallings, although in the sequel we will indeed prove that in
connected median graphs, there is a walling for which the halfspaces are the biconvex subsets.

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Proof. Let X be a discrete continuous G-set and M a commensurated subset
with open stabilizer such that f = ℓM . Consider the action of G on the power set
2X , endowed with the median graph structure given in Example 7.A.1. Then by
assumption, this action preserves the connected component D = 2X
M . Moreover,
since points in X and M have open stabilizers, so do all elements in 2X
M . So the
action of G on X is continuous. If v = M, then we have f (g) = d(v, gv) for all
g ∈ G.

Although the construction is canonical, there is no uniqueness statement in
Proposition 7.A.3. Here the median graph constructed is, in a certain sense,
huge (e.g., it is not locally finite unless X is finite). There are indeed improved
versions of the proposition, see §7.H. Before this, we will show (Corollaries 7.C.7
and 7.C.9) that, up to multiplication by 2, the converse of proposition holds:
every action on a connected median graph and choice of vertex gives rise to a
cardinal definite function.
Let us now give basis properties of median graphs. As a warm-up let us begin
with the following easy but very useful observation.

Lemma 7.A.4 (Bipartite lemma). Every median graph is bipartite, in the sense
that it admits a 2-coloring of the set of vertices for which every edge is bicolor.
In other words, it has no loop of odd length. Still equivalently, the distance is
additive modulo 2: xy + yz ≡ xz mod 2 for all x, y, z.
Proof. If we have a counterexample of length 2n + 1 with n minimal, then it is a
geodesic loop (since otherwise we could find a smaller loop of odd length). Hence
there exists 3 points x, y, z with xy = 1, yz = xz = n. If m = m(x, y, z), then
m ∈ {x, y} and we obtain xz = yz ± 1, a contradiction.

In particular, any median graph has no loop of length 3. In contrast, median
graph usually have many loops of length 4, by the following result.
Proposition 7.A.5. In any connected median graph, the fundamental group is
generated by squares. More precisely, if we fix a vertex x0 and V 1 is the 1-skeleton,
then π1 (V 1 , x0 ) is generated by the γλγ −1 where γ ranges over paths emanating
from x0 and λ ranges over squares based at the endpoint of γ.
Proof. Consider a combinatorial loop c given by consecutive vertices x0 , x1 , . . . , xn =
x0 . This means that xi is adjacent to xi+1 for all i (in particular, xi 6= xi+1 ).
Define r = r(c) = maxi d(x0 , xi ). If r = 0, there is nothing to do; assume r > 0.
First, if there exists i such that xi = xi+2 , we pass to another homotopic loop
of combinatorial length n − 2 by removing xi+1 and xi+2 . Do this again until this
operation is impossible (no backtrack except maybe at x0 ). Let c′ = (x′0 , . . . , x′n′ )
for the resulting loop.
Define Imax = {i : d(x0 , xi ) = r}. Observe that whenever i, j ∈ Imax are
distinct, we have |i − j| ≥ 2, as a consequence of the bipartite Lemma (Lemma
7.A.4).

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51

For each i, define yi as follows: if i ∈
/ Imax , we set yi = x′i ; if i ∈ Imax ,
then d(x′0 , x′i−1 ) = d(x′0 , x′i+1 ) = r − 1 (since these cannot be equal to r + 1 by
maximality and to r by Lemma 7.A.4). Then define yi = m(x′0 , x′i−1 , x′i+1 ). Then,
since x′i−1 6= x′i+1 , we see that d(x′0 , yi ) = r − 2.
Let c′′ = (y0, . . . , yn′ ) be the resulting loop (note that y0 = x′0 = x0 ). Then
r(c′′ ) < r(c), and c′′ and c′ are homotopic up to a finite product of “squares”.
By iterating the process (at most r(c) times), we see that c is homotopic to the
trivial loop.

Obviously, every tree is median. Conversely, we obtain:
Corollary 7.A.6. If a connected median graph has no square (that is, no injective
loop of size 4), then it is a tree.

Remark 7.A.7. An isometrically embedded subgraph of a connected median
graph need not be median. For instance, consider the 3-cube (as a graph with 8
vertices). Removing two opposite vertices yields a graph isomorphic to a hexagon,
which is not median (for instance, it contradicts Corollary 7.A.6).
7.B. Median orientations.
Definition 7.B.1. In a graph, by a directed edge, we mean a pair (x, y) of adjacent vertices. We say that two directed edges (x, y) and (x′ , y ′) are elementary
parallel if xx′ = yy ′ = 1 and xy ′ = x′ y = 2. We define the parallelism relation between directed edges as the equivalence relation generated by elementary
parallelism.
An orientation on a graph is a map ε from the set of directed edges to {±1}
such that ε(y, x) = −ε(x, y) for every directed edge (x, y); the number ε(x, y) is
called the orientation of (x, y); this is usually represented by an edge pointing
from x to y if ε(x, y) = 1. An orientation is called median if all parallel directed
edges have the same orientation, or equivalently if all elementary parallel direct
edges have the same orientation.
Definition 7.B.2. If x, y are vertices in a connected graph, define Bx,y = {z :
zx ≤ zy}.

Lemma 7.B.3. Let V be a connected bipartite graph and (x, y) is a directed edge,
then By,x is equal to the complement of Bx,y .
Proof. This amounts to proving that no z satisfies zx = zy, which more generally
holds whenever xy is odd.

Lemma 7.B.4. Let V be a connected bipartite graph. Then any strict biconvex
subset B has the form Bx,y for some directed edge (x, y), actually for any directed
edge (x, y) such that x ∈ B and y ∈
/ B.
Proof. (Note that (x, y) fulfilling the last condition exists by connectedness of
V .) Let us show B = Bx,y . It is enough to show that B ⊂ Bx,y , since the other
inclusion means B c ⊂ By,x and has the same proof.

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Let z belong to B, and assume by contradiction z ∈ By,x . Then y ∈ [z, x].
Since both z, x belong to B, we deduce that y ∈ B, a contradiction.


Lemma 7.B.5. Let V be a connected median graph and (x, y), (x′ , y ′) be parallel
directed edges. Then Bx,y = Bx′ ,y′ . In particular,
• the directed edge (x, y) is not parallel to (y, x); equivalently, every connected median graph admits a median orientation;
• if x0 , . . . , xn , n ≥ 2, is a geodesic segment, then (x0 , x1 ) is parallel to none
of (xn−1 , xn ), (xn , xn−1 ).
Proof. We can suppose that (x, y) and (x′ , y ′) are elementary parallel. By contradiction, suppose that z ∈ Bx,y ∩ By′ ,x′ . Set k = zx, so that zy = k + 1. Then,
using the bipartite lemma, zx′ ∈ {k − 1, k + 1}, zy ′ ∈ {k, k + 2}; since zx′ > zy ′ ,
we deduce zx′ = k + 1 and zy ′ = k. Then we see that both x and y ′ are medians
for (z, x′ , y). Hence they are equal, a contradiction. (Note that we only used the
uniqueness of the median.)
The last statement follows since By,x 6= Bx,y .

Also recall that in a graph, if D is a set of vertices, ∂D is the set of vertices in
D adjacent to some vertex outside D.

Lemma 7.B.6. In a connected graph, every subset D with totally convex boundary is totally convex.
Proof. Let x0 , . . . , xn be a geodesic segment with x0 , xn ∈ D. If by contradiction
xj ∈
/ D for some j, let i < j be maximal and k > j be minimal such that
xi , xk ∈ D. Then i < j < k and xi , xk ∈ ∂D. Since the latter is totally convex,
we deduce that xi ∈ ∂D ⊂ D, a contradiction.


Lemma 7.B.7. If V is a connected median graph and (x, y) is a directed edge,
then ∂Bx,y is totally starred at x, in the sense that for any x′ ∈ ∂Bx,y , the total
interval [z, x] is contained in ∂Bx,y . Moreover, there for any y ′ ∈ By,x adjacent
to x′ , the directed edge (x′ , y ′) is parallel to (x, y).
Proof. It is enough to show that for every n ≥ 1 and geodesic segment (x0 , x1 , . . . , xn )
in V with x0 = x, and xn ∈ ∂Bx,y , we have xn−1 ∈ ∂Bx,y and there exists yn ∈ By,x
such that (xn , yn ) is elementary parallel to (x, y). This is proved by induction on
n ≥ 1, the case n = 1 being trivial.
We have yxn ≥ xxn + 1 = n + 1. Then xxn−1 = n − 1 and yxn−1 ≥ yxn − 1 = n;
since |xxn−1 − yxn−1 | ≤ 1, it follows that yxn−1 = n. Let yn be an element in
By,x adjacent to xn . Since xyn 6= xxn−1 , we have yn 6= xn−1 ; since they are both
adjacent to xn , we deduce that xn−1 yn = 2. Let yn−1 be the median m(xn−1 , yn , y).
Then yyn−1 = n−1 and yn yn−1 = xn−1 yn−1 = 1. Then xyn−1 ≥ xyn −yn yn−1 = n,
and xyn−1 ≤ xxn−1 + xn−1 yn−1 = n. Thus yn−1 ∈ By,x and is adjacent to xn−1 ,
which implies that xn−1 ∈ ∂Bx,y .
Moreover, (xn , yn ) is elementary parallel to (xn−1 , yn−1), which by induction is
parallel to (x, y); hence (xn , yn ) is parallel to (x, y).


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53

Theorem 7.B.8. Let V be a connected median graph. Then for every directed
edge (x, y), the subset ∂Bx,y is totally convex in V , the subset Bx,y is biconvex in
V , and all strict biconvex subsets have this form. Moreover, for every directed
edge (x′ , y ′), we have Bx,y = Bx′ ,y′ if and only if (x, y) and (x′ , y ′) are parallel.
Proof. Let us check that ∂Bx,y is totally convex. Suppose we have a geodesic
segment joining x′ to x′′ , which are in ∂Bx,y . Let y ′ ∈ By,x be adjacent to x′ .
Then by the second assertion of Lemma 7.B.7, (x′ , y ′) is parallel to (x, y), and then
by Lemma 7.B.5, Bx,y = Bx′ ,y′ . Then ∂Bx′ ,y′ is starred at x′ , by the first assertion
of Lemma 7.B.7, which implies that it contains the given segment between x′ and
x′′ , proving that ∂Bx,y is totally convex.
That every strict biconvex subset has the form Bx,y was observed in Lemma
7.B.4 under the bare assumption that V is bipartite. Conversely, we have to
check that Bx,y is biconvex. Since its boundary is totally convex as we have just
proved, we obtain that it is totally convex by the easy Lemma 7.B.6. The same
argument holds for its complement By,x , and therefore Bx,y is biconvex.
For the last statement, Lemma 7.B.5 yields one implication. Conversely, assume that Bx,y = Bx′ ,y′ . Then (x′ , y ′) is a directed edge with x′ ∈ Bx,y and
y ′ ∈ By,x ; by the second assertion of Lemma 7.B.7, we deduce that (x′ , y ′) is
parallel to (x, y).

Example 7.B.9. The graphs 2X and ZX of Examples 7.A.1 and 7.A.2 are canonically oriented, namely by putting an oriented edge from f to f ′ if f ′ − f is a
Dirac function; this orientation is median.
As a corollary of the last statement in Theorem 7.B.8, we have
Corollary 7.B.10. Let a group G act by graph automorphisms on a connected
median graph. Equivalences:
(1) G preserves some median orientation;
(2) G preserves every median orientation;
(3) the action of G has no wall inversion, in the sense that for every nonempty
biconvex subset B and g we have gB 6= B c .

Remark 7.B.11. In the classical case of trees, a wall inversion means the existence of an edge inversion, that is, a directed edge (x, y) mapped to (y, x). In the
more setting of connected median graphs, an edge inversion is an example of a
wall inversion, but it is not the only example. For instance, if Z2 is endowed with
its standard Cayley graph structure, the action of the cyclic group generated by
the graph automorphism (m, n) 7→ (1 − m, n + 1) has a wall inversion, although
it has no edge inversion.
Corollary 7.B.12. Let V be a connected median graph and B a biconvex subset.
Then every element v ∈ ∂B is adjacent to a unique φB (v) in ∂(B c ). The map
φB is a graph isomorphism ∂B → ∂(B c ) with inverse φBc .

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Proof. Let x ∈ ∂B be adjacent to both y, y ′ ∈ B c . By Lemma 7.B.4, we have
Bx,y = Bx,y′ . Hence y ′ ∈ By,x , which means that 1 = y ′ x ≥ y ′y. Since yy ′ is
even, this forces yy ′ = 0. This proves the uniqueness statement, the existence
being trivial; also it clear that φB admits φBc as inverse. Finally let us show
that it is a graph homomorphism: let (x1 , x2 ) be a directed edge in ∂B, and
yi = φB (xi ). If y1 y2 6= 1, it follows that y1 y2 = 3, and hence x1 ∈ [y1 , y2]. This
contradicts Theorem 7.B.8, namely that ∂B c is totally convex. Hence φB is a
graph homomorphism; since so is its inverse φBc , we deduce that φB is a graph
isomorphism.

Remark 7.B.13. In a connected median graph, the set of ∂B, when B ranges
¯ =
over strict biconvex subsets, are often called hyperplanes. Also define ∂B
c
∂B ∪ ∂(B ); it is called carrier of B; it is also a totally convex subgraph.
Simple examples (for instance, with V a tree) show that B r ∂B can fail
to be totally convex. It can actually be empty (with B proper biconvex), or
disconnected. Also, the hyperplane ∂B does not always determine B.
¯ does not always determine the unordered pair {B, B c }
Similarly, the carrier ∂B
(although this holds in a tree): for instance, in a cube or hypercube, the only
thick hyperplane is the graph itself.
¯ ∂B) is injective.
On the other hand, the mapping B 7→ (∂B,
7.C. Canonical walling of a median graph. Let V be a connected graph.
For any vertex x ∈ V , recall that B(x) denotes the set of biconvex subsets of V
containing x.
Proposition 7.C.1. Let V be a connected bipartite graph, and x = x0 , . . . , xn = y
a geodesic segment between vertices x and y. Then the Bxi ,xi+1 , for 0 ≤ i ≤ n − 1
are pairwise distinct and
B(x) r B(y) ⊂ {Bxi ,xi+1 : 0 ≤ i ≤ n − 1};
in particular, #(B(x) r B(y)) ≤ d(x, y).
Proof. It is clear that for i < j, we have Bxi ,xi+1 6= Bxj ,xj+1 because only the
second contains xj (using that the segment is geodesic), and the inclusion goes
as follows: if B ∈ B(x) r B(y), then there exists i such that xi ∈ B and xi+1 ∈
/ B,
and then B = Bxi ,yi by Lemma 7.B.4.

Theorem 7.C.2. Under the assumptions of Proposition 7.C.1, assume in addition that V is median. Then the inclusion and inequality of Proposition 7.C.1
are equalities:
B(x) r B(y) = {Bxi ,xi+1 : 0 ≤ i ≤ n − 1};

#(B(x) r B(y)) = d(x, y).

Proof. All Bxi ,xi+1 are biconvex by Theorem 7.B.8 and we obtain the reverse
inclusion from Proposition 7.C.1. The last assertion follows.


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55

Corollary 7.C.3. Let V be a connected bipartite graph. Then the set of biconvex
subsets is a self-indexed walling of (the vertex set of ) V . If moreover V is median,
then the wall distance is equal to twice the graph distance.
If moreover V is median, and some median orientation on V is given, and if
we call a strict biconvex subset By,x positive if (x, y) is an oriented edge, then the
resulting self-indexed walling on V induces the graph distance.

Corollary 7.C.4. If V is a nonempty connected median graph, then the map
x 7→ B(x) is a canonical isometric embedding of (V, 2d) into the some component
of 2BV ; this embedding is equivariant with respect to group actions. Moreover,
it is a median homomorphism: m(B(x), B(x′ ), B(x′′ )) = B(m(x, x′ , x′′ )) for all
x, x′ , x′′ ∈ V .
Proof. By Proposition 7.C.1, all B(x) for x ∈ V belong to the same component.
The symmetric difference B(x) △ B(y) is equal to (B(x) r B(y)) ⊔ (B(y) r B(x))
and thus by Theorem 7.C.2 it has exactly 2d(x, y) elements.
The last assertion is straightforward since an isometry between median metric
spaces is automatically a median homomorphism. Still, let us provide a direct
argument: observe that for all x, y ∈ D and w in the total interval [x, y], we have
B(x) ∩ B(y) ⊂ B(w) ⊂ B(x) ∪ B(y).
It follows that
(B(x) ∩ B(x′ )) ∪ (B(x) ∩ B(x′′ )) ∪ (B(x′ ) ∩ B(x′′ )) ⊂ B(m(x, x′ , x′′ ))
⊂ (B(x) ∪ B(x′ )) ∩ (B(x) ∩ B(x′′ )) ∩ (B(x′ ) ∩ B(x′′ )).

Since the left-hand and the right-hand term both coincide with m(B(x), B(x′ ), B(x′′ )),
this yields the result.

Corollary 7.C.5. Let V be a connected median graph and x0 a vertex. Then the
map x 7→ B(x0 ) r B(x) is an isometric embedding of (V, d) into 2(B(x0 )) mapping
x0 to 0.
Proof. Observe that (B(x0 ) r B(x)) △ (B(x0 ) r B(y)) is equal to B(x0 ) ∩ (B(x) △
B(y)). The set B(x) △ B(y) contains exactly d(x, y) pairs of opposite biconvex
subsets, and for each such pair exactly one belongs to B(x0 ), whence the cardinal
of B(x0 ) ∩ (B(x) △ B(y)) equals d(x, y).

Corollary 7.C.6. If V is a connected median graph and W an isometrically
embedded median subgraph, then the map B 7→ B∩W from BV to BW is surjective,
and every strict biconvex of W has a unique preimage; in other words, every strict
biconvex subset of W is contained in a unique (strict) biconvex subset of D. 
In case of a group action on a median graph by graph automorphisms we obtain
the following, which can be viewed as a converse to Proposition 7.A.3.

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Corollary 7.C.7. Let G be a topological group with a continuous action on a
connected median graph. Then for every vertex v ∈ V , the function g 7→ 2d(v, gv)
is cardinal definite on G.
Proof. Indeed, the action of G on BV is continuous (because its point stabilizers
contains the edge stabilizers of the G-action on V ), it commensurates B(v), which
also has an open stabilizer (the stabilizer of v), and
#(B(v) △ gB(v)) =#(B(v) △ B(gv))

=#((B(v) r B(gv)) ⊔ (B(gv) r B(v))) = 2d(v, gv).



In terms of lengths, the multiplication by 2 “loss” in the combination of Proposition 7.A.3 and Corollary 7.C.7 can be avoided if we consider orientations, see
Corollary 7.C.9.
If a connected median graph V is endowed with a median orientation ε, define
a biconvex subset to be positive if it has the form By,x with (x, y) positively
oriented (so that the arrow goes from the negative biconvex Bx,y to the positive
By,x ). Let BV+ be the set of positive biconvex subsets, B+ (x) = B(x) ∩ BV+ . For
any strict biconvex subset, define B + as the unique positive biconvex subset in
{B, B c } (if necessary, write B + (ε) to specify ε). Then Theorem 7.C.2 implies:
Corollary 7.C.8. Let V be a connected median graph endowed with a median
orientation, and x = x0 , . . . , xn = y a geodesic segment between vertices x and y.
Then the Bx+i ,xi+1 , for 0 ≤ i ≤ n − 1 are pairwise distinct and
B+ (x) △ B+ (y) = {Bx+i ,xi+1 : 0 ≤ i ≤ n − 1}.
In particular, #(B+ (x) △ B+ (y)) = d(x, y).



Then if G preserves this orientation, its action on BV preserves BV+ and commensurates B+ (x).
Corollary 7.C.9. Let G be a topological group and ℓ : G → N a function. Then
ℓ is cardinal definite if and only if there exists a connected median graph, endowed
with a median orientation, and a continuous action of G on this graph preserving
the structure of oriented graph.
Proof. For ⇒, it is enough to observe that the proof of Proposition 7.A.3 actually
provides an action preserving the canonical median orientation on 2X (described
in Example 7.B.9).
Conversely, given a continuous action on a connected oriented median graph
V with some vertex x such that ℓ(g) = d(x, gx) for all g ∈ G, we obtain a
commensurating action on (BV , B(x)), which is continuous (in the sense that the
stabilizers of points and of B(x) are continuous); by restriction, we obtain that
the “sub-action” on (BV+ , B+ (x)) is continuous as well. The associated cardinal
function is then equal to ℓ, by Corollary 7.C.8.


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57

7.D. Roller orientations and Roller boundary. Recall that orientations are
introduced in Definition 7.B.1.
Definition 7.D.1. Let V be a connected bipartite graph. If z is a vertex, define
the z-orientation εz to be such that whenever (x, y) is a directed edge, εz (x, y) = 1
if and only if xz ≥ yz (that is, z ∈ By,x : this means that (x, y) points towards
z). Define an orientation to be principal if there exists such a z.
Obviously x 7→ εx is injective, because if w 6= z are vertices and x is the first
vertex in a geodesic segment joining w to z, then εw (w, x) = −1 and εz (w, x) = 1.

Definition 7.D.2. On a connected median graph V , define an orientation to be
Roller if it is median and for any finite family of biconvex subsets B1 , . . . , Bn , we
have ∩Bi+ 6= ∅. The set R(V ) of Roller orientations is a compact subset of the
set of orientations and, identifying V to its image in R(V ) through the injective
map z 7→ εz , it is called the Roller boundary of V .

Beware that the opposite of a Roller orientation is not necessarily Roller.
On a connected median graph, any principal orientation is Roller, since then
the nonempty intersection property holds for arbitrary families. This defines an
injective map V → R(V ).

Lemma 7.D.3. Let (x, y1 ) and (x, y2 ) be oriented edges in a connected median
graph endowed with a Roller orientation, with y1 6= y2 . Then {x, y1 , y2 } is contained in a square: there exists a vertex z such that zy1 = zy2 = 1 and zx = 2.
Proof. By assumption, Byi ,x is positive for i = 1, 2. Define s to be any point
in By1 ,x ∩ By2 ,x , and z = m(s, y1 , y2 ). Then zy1 = zy2 = 1, and z 6= x; hence
zx = 2.

Lemma 7.D.4. Let V be a connected median graph endowed with a Roller orientation ε and v a vertex with no outwards edge (that is, for every x adjacent to
v, we have ε(x, v) = 1). Then ε = εv .
Proof. We claim that for every n ≥ 1 and every finite path v = x0 , . . . , xn starting
at v, we have ε(xi , xi−1 ) = 1 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ n. This holds by assumption for n = 1;
assume n ≥ 2. Then this holds by induction (on n) for all i < n. In particular
ε(xn−1 , xn−2 ) = 1. Assume by contradiction that ε(xn−1 , xn ) = 1. Then by
Lemma 7.D.3, there exists an vertex x′n−1 such that x′n−1 xn−2 = x′n−1 xn = 1 and
x′n−1 xn−1 = 2. Since ε is median, we have ε(xn−2 , x′n−1 ) = 1. Moreover, for all
i ≤ n−2, we have x′n−1 xi ≥ xn xi −1 = n−i−1 and x′n−1 xi ≤ xn−2 xi +1 = n−i−1,
whence x′n−1 xi = n − i − 1. Thus (v = x0 , . . . , xn−2 , x′n−1 ) is a smaller path with
ε(x′n−1 , xn−2 ) = −1, contradicting the induction assumption. Hence ε(xn , xn−1 ),
finishing the induction step and proving the lemma.

Lemma 7.D.5. Let V be a connected median graph. The canonical inclusion
map V → R(V ), mapping v to εv , has a dense image. If V is locally finite, then
it also has an open discrete image.

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Proof. Let ε be a Roller orientation, and let e1 , . . . , ek be directed edges. Let us
show the result
T by finding a principal orientation coinciding with ε on all ei . By
assumption Be+i (ε) contains some vertex v. By definition, v ∈ Be+i (εv ). This
means that εv (ei ) = ε(ei ) for all i.
To prove the last result, let us check that more generally if v has only finitely
many adjacent vertices x1 , . . . , xk , then εv is isolated in R(V ). Indeed, let W
be the set of orientations ε such that ε(xi , v) = 1 for all i. Then WT is a clopen
neighborhood of εv . Let us show that W = {εv }. If ε ∈ W , we have i Bxi ,v (ε) =
{v}.

Remark 7.D.6. Roller orientations are often called ultrafilters by analogy (choice
for any unordered pair of complementary biconvex subset of a representative, with
some compatibility condition), but we have to be careful with this analogy because the set of biconvex subsets is not stable under taking intersections. Besides,
let us emphasize that, unlike non-principal ultrafilters, it is usually easy to exhibit
non-principal Roller orientations.
Example 7.D.7. If we consider the usual graph structure on Z, it is median
and admits exactly two opposite non-principal median orientations, one of which
being defined by ε(n, n + 1) = 1 and ε(n, n − 1) = −1 for all n ∈ Z.

Example 7.D.8. On the hypercube 2(X) = 2X
∅ , if M ⊂ X, we can define the
directed edge (F ⊔ {x}, F ) to be oriented if and only if x ∈
/ M; let εM be the
corresponding orientation. Then εM is a Roller orientation, and is principal if
and only if M is finite (then it is equal to εM ; moreover every median orientation
has this form (see Proposition 7.F.10 for a converse); thus we see that the Roller
boundary of 2(X) is naturally identified with 2X with its natural product topology.
Proposition 7.D.9. On a connected median graph endowed with a Roller orientation, every oriented path is geodesic.
Proof. It is enough to prove it for a finite path x0 , . . . , xn with (xi , xi+1 ) positive
for all i; in turn, by density (Lemma 7.D.5), it is enough to prove it for a principal
orientation εv . Hence we see that d(xi , v) = d(x0 , v) − i for all 0 ≤ i ≤ n by an
immediate induction on i, which implies that the path is geodesic.

Proposition 7.D.10. In a connected median graph endowed with a non-principal
Roller orientation ε, there exists a positively oriented infinite geodesic ray.
Proof. Fix a vertex x0 and define by induction a positively oriented geodesic ray
(x0 , . . . , xn ). Since ε 6= εxn , there exists by Proposition 7.D.4 a neighbor xn+1
of xn such that ε(xn , xn+1 ) = 1. Hence (x0 , . . . , xn+1 ) is an oriented path; by
Proposition 7.D.9, it is geodesic.

Corollary 7.D.11. A connected median graph admits a non-principal Roller
orientation if and only if it contains an infinite geodesic ray. In particular, on a
bounded connected median graph, every Roller orientation is principal.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

59

Proof. The forward implication is given by Proposition 7.D.10. Conversely, if
(xn )n≥0 is an infinite geodesic ray, then there exists, by compactness, a limit
point ε of the sequence of orientations εxn . Then ε is Roller. For ε, the geodesic
ray (xn )n≥0 is positively oriented, and hence ε is not principal.

Example 7.D.12. On a tree, any orientation is median, while an orientation is
Roller if and only if every vertex has at most one outwards edge (in other words,
if (x, y) and (x, y ′ ) are oriented edges then y = y ′). Thus we easily see that
the Roller boundary of T can be identified, pointwise, with the union of V with
its usual boundary defined as geodesic rays up to eventual coincidence modulo
translation.
Even in a tree, V need not be open in R(V ): for instance, if in a tree there
(i)
(i)
exists a vertex x0 and infinitely many geodesic rays (xn )n≥0 with x0 = x0 and
(i)
(j)
x1 6= x1 for all i 6= j (e.g., the tree is regular of infinite valency), then V is not
open in R(V ).
Example 7.D.13. Consider the standard Cayley graph of Z2 . Then its Roller
orientations are
• The principal orientations εm,n , (m, n) ∈ Z2 ;
• the orientations εm,∞ : all vertical edges are oriented upwards, horizontal
edges are oriented to the right or to the left according to whether they
are contained in {(x, y) : x ≤ m} or {(x, y) : x ≥ m}; and the similarly
defined orientations εm,−∞ , ε±∞,n;
• the 4 orientations ε±∞,±∞. For instance, in ε∞,∞ , all edges are oriented
to the right or upwards.
7.E. Convex hulls.
Definition 7.E.1. Let V be a connected median graph (identified with its 0skeleton). The total convex hull of a subset S ⊂ D is the intersection TConvV (S),
of all totally convex subsets of D containing S
Proposition 7.E.2. Let V is a connected median graph. Then the following
properties hold:
(1) every intersection of totally convex subsets of V is totally convex and is a
median subgraph; in particular this holds for the total convex hull of any
subset;
(2) for every S ⊂ V , its total convex hull is equal the intersection of all
biconvex subsets containing S;
(3) if S ⊂ D is finite then TConvV (S) is finite.
Proof. The assertion (1) is trivial.
The assertion (2) amounts to proving that if E ⊂ V is totally convex and
x ∈ V r E, then there exists a biconvex subset of V containing E but not x. Let
y be a point in E with d(x, y) minimal. Let y = y0 , y1 , . . . , x be a geodesic segment

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YVES CORNULIER

joining y to x. Let us check that for all z ∈ E we have d(y1 , z) = d(y1 , y)+d(y, z).
Indeed, consider the median m = m(y1 , y, z) ∈ {y, y1}; we have m ∈ E by total
convexity and hence m = y, whence the desired equality. It follows that By,y1 is
a biconvex subset containing E but not x.
For (3), suppose Y finite and define W = TConv(Y ). If B is a strict biconvex
subset of W , then by Corollary 7.C.6, B is contained in a unique strict biconvex
subset of V and thus it follows from the definition of W that there exist y, y ′ ∈ Y
such that Y contains y but not y ′. Since the number of possible B is finite for
each given (y, y ′) by Proposition 7.C.1, we deduce that the number of biconvex
subsets of W is finite. By Theorem 7.C.2, the biconvex subsets of W separate
the points in W and we deduce that W is finite.
Let us give an alternative proof of (3). Thanks to (2), it is enough to check
that every finite subset Y of V is contained in a finite totally convex subset.
When V = 2(X) (Example 7.A.1) for some set X, this holds, observing that the
set of subsets of a given finite subset is totally convex. We obtain the result for
V arbitrary by embedding it as an isometrically embedded median subgraph of
such a hypercube V ′ = 2(X) by Corollary 7.C.5: pick a finite totally convex subset
E ⊂ V ′ containing Y ; then W ∩ V is totally convex in V and contains Y .

Remark 7.E.3. In contrast to Proposition 7.E.2(3), it is not true that if S ⊂ V
is bounded then its essential hull is bounded. Indeed, if V = 2(X) for some infinite
set X and S is the set of singletons, then S is bounded (of diameter 2), and its
essential hull is equal to V , which is unbounded.
Definition 7.E.4. Let V be a connected median graph, and let G be a group
acting on V by graph automorphisms. We say that the G-action on V is
• of finite type if there are finitely many G-orbits of biconvex subsets;
• essentially of finite type if there exists a nonempty G-invariant totally
convex invariant subset E with finitely many G-orbits of biconvex subsets.
Proposition 7.E.5. Let V be a connected median graph, x0 a vertex of V and
let G be a group acting on V by graph automorphisms. Equivalences:
(1) B(x0 ) ∩ Z ∈ {∅, Z} for all but finitely many G-orbits Z ⊂ BV ;
(2) for every vertex x, TConv(Gx) has finitely many G-orbits of biconvex
subsets;
(3) the G-action on V is essentially of finite type.
In particular, being essentially of finite type is inherited by totally convex Ginvariant subgraphs.
Proof. It is clear that (2) implies (3). For the sequel, first observe that since for
every x we have B(x) △ B(x0 ) finite, the condition of (1) holds for some x0 if and
only if it holds for all x instead of x0 .
Suppose (3); by the previous remark we can suppose x0 ∈ E. The set of biconvex subsets of V whose intersection with E is strict biconvex in E is canonically in

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

61

bijection with the set of strict biconvex subsets of E by Corollary 7.C.6 and thus
consists of finitely many G-orbits; if Z is another G-orbit, for every P ∈ Z either
P contains E or P ∩ E = ∅, and since E is G-invariant and Z is G-transitive,
this does not depend on the choice of P in Z; thus B(x0 ) ∩ Z ∈ {∅, Z} and (1)
is proved.
Finally let us check that (1) implies (2). Let B1 , . . . , Bk be representatives of
G-orbits Z in HD such that B(x) ∩ Z ∈
/ {∅, Z}. Define E = TConv(Gx). If B ′
is a proper biconvex subset of E, then B ′ = B ∩ E for some biconvex subset B
of D, by Corollary 7.C.6. Since B induces a nontrivial partition of Gx, we have
B = gBi for some i. Hence B ′ = g(Bi ∩ E) for some i; thus E has finitely many
G-orbits of biconvex subsets.

We now state a useful corollary of Proposition 4.B.2.
Corollary 7.E.6. Let G be a topological group generated by a compact subset (or
more generally with uncountable cofinality, see §4.B). Let G act continuously by
automorphisms on a nonempty connected median graph V . Then the G-action
on V is essentially of finite type.
Proof. Consider the action of G on the set HV of biconvex subsets of V . This
action commensurates the subset B(x0 ) of biconvex subsets containing a given
vertex x0 , which has an open stabilizer since it contains the stabilizer of x0 . Hence
by Proposition 4.B.2, B(x0 )∩Z ∈ {∅, Z} for all but finitely many orbits Z ⊂ HV .
By Proposition 7.E.5, we deduce that the essential hull V ′ = TConv(Gx0 ) of the
orbit Gx0 (Proposition 7.E.2) is totally convex, G-invariant and has finitely many
G-orbit of biconvex subsets.

Example 7.E.7. Conversely, every topological group G with cofinality ω (e.g.,
any infinitely generated countable group) admits an action on a median graph
that is not essentially of finite type. Indeed, write G as the increasing
union
F
of a sequence (Hn ) of proper open subgroups. The disjoint union n G/Hn is
naturally the vertex-set of a tree, by linking any element in G/Hn to its projection in G/Hn+1 ; here biconvex subsets are in bijection with
F directed edges; the
only non-empty invariant subtrees are the disjoint unions n≥k G/Hn and have
infinitely many edge orbits.
7.F. Cubes in median graphs.

Definition 7.F.1. Let V be a bipartite graph and x a vertex. We say that two
directed edges (x, y), (x, z) emanating from x are orthogonal if y 6= z and there
exists a vertex x′ 6= x adjacent to both y and z. (Note that this implies that
{x, y, z, x′ } is a full subgraph, isometric to a square.)
If (yi ) is a family of vertices adjacent to x, we call it orthogonal if (x, yi ) is
orthogonal to (x, yj ) for all i 6= j.

Denote by Ck the standard k-cube, namely {0, 1}k ; denote by (ui ) the canonical
basis of Rk , so that ui can be viewed as a vertex of Ck . For any subset I ⊂

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YVES CORNULIER

P

{1, . . . , k}, we also write uI = i∈I ui , so that the uI are the vertices of Ck . We
think of Ck as a graph, with oriented edges of the form (u, u + ui) whenever u and
u + ui both vertices; such an edge is called i-labeled. Besides, if (x, y) is an edge
in D, we say that it is labeled by the biconvex subset B = P(x,y) . Thus (x, y) is
labeled by a biconvex subset B if and only if x ∈ B and y ∈
/ B.

Lemma 7.F.2. Let x, x′ be at distance 2 in a median graph. Then there exist at
most 2 elements at distance 1 from both x and x′ .

Proof. Assuming we have 3 distinct such elements y, y ′, y ′′ , they are pairwise at
distance 2; hence x, x′ belong to all three intervals [y, y ′], [y ′ , y ′′], [y ′′ , y], contradicting the uniqueness of the median.

Lemma 7.F.3. Let V be a median graph and f be a graph homomorphism Ck →
V , such that f (u{i,j}) 6= f (0) and f (ui ) 6= f (uj ) for all i 6= j. Then f is injective
and is an isometric embedding onto a full subgraph.
Proof. We argue by induction on k. The case k ≤ 2 is immediate. Assume that
the result holds until k − 1.
Let us first check the injectivity. First assume that k = 3. Suppose that
f (uI ) = f (uJ ); if I ∪ J 6= {1, 2, 3} we are done by induction. Hence up to symmetry (and using the bipartite lemma), we have two cases to consider: (I, J) =
({1}, {1, 2, 3}) or (I, J) = ({1, 2}, {2, 3}). In both cases, we deduce that d(f (u1), f (u{2,3} )) =
1. It follows that f (u{2,3} ) is a median for f (u1), f (u2 ) and f (u3 ), but f (0) is
also such a median. This implies f (0) = f (u{2,3} ), contradicting the assumption.
Now assume k ≥ 3 arbitrary. Define, for J ⊂ {1, . . . , k−1}, f ′ (uJ ) = f (uJ∪{k});
then f ′ is a graph homomorphism Ck−1 → V satisfying, by the case k = 3, the
assumptions of the lemma. Hence by induction we deduce that f ′ is injective. We
deduce that whenever I, J contains k and are distinct, we have f (uI ) 6= f (uJ ).
By a change of indices, the same conclusion holds whenever I ∩ J 6= ∅.
Now assume that f (uI ) = f (uJ ) and I, J are distinct. By the above, I ∩ J = ∅.
Up to switch I and J, we can suppose that some i ∈ I does not belong to J.
Using the induction on a smaller cube, we obtain that 1 = d(f (uIr{i}), f (uJ )) =
#(I △J)−1. Hence #(I △J) = 2; since they are disjoint, we have I △J = I ∪J, so
I ∪J has cardinal at most 2. But then the case k = 2 implies I = J, contradiction.
Now it remains to check that f is an isometric embedding. Consider any
I, J ⊂ {1, . . . , k} and let us show that d(f (uI ), f (uJ )) = #(I △ J). By induction,
f is an isometric embedding in restriction to any (k − 1)-cube; in particular
we obtain the conclusion whenever I ∪ J 6= {1, . . . , k} or I ∩ J 6= ∅. Now
assume I ⊔ J = {1, . . . , k}; up to a change of origin, we can suppose that J = ∅
and I = {1, . . . , k}. Then if by contradiction d(f (0), f (uI )) 6= k, then it is
equal to k − 2. Thus f (0) ∈ [f (ui ), f (uI )] for all i ∈ I. On the other hand,
f (0) ∈ [f (ui ), f (uj )] for all i 6= j. Hence f (0) is a median for f (uI ), f (ui ),
and f (uj ) for all i 6= j; but this is also the case of f (u{i,j}). We deduce that
f (0) = f (u{i,j}), a contradiction.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

63

We deduce that f is an isometric embedding; in particular its image is a full
subgraph. (Note that we only used the uniqueness of the median.)

Lemma 7.F.4. Let V be a median graph. Let f : Ck → V be an injective graph
homomorphism, such that f (u{i,j}) 6= f (0) and f (ui ) 6= f (uj ) for all i 6= j. Then
f is uniquely determined by its restriction to {0, u1, . . . , uk }.
Proof. Let us show that f (uJ ) is determined by induction on #(J). For #(J) =
1 this holds by definition; for #(J) = 2, this holds as a consequence of the
assumptions along with Lemma 7.F.2. Define xi = f (uIr{i}).
For #(J) ≥ 3, fix three distinct elements i, j, k in J; observe that f (uJ ) is
adjacent to xℓ for all ℓ ∈ {i, j, k}. Since xi , xj , xk are pairwise distinct (by the injectivity assumption, which is actually unnecessary by Lemma 7.F.3), we deduce
that f (uJ ) is a median of xi , xj , xk , and hence is uniquely determined. (Again,
note that we only used the uniqueness of the median.)


Theorem 7.F.5. Let V be a median graph, with a finite family of directed edges
(x, yi )1≤i≤k based at a single vertex. Equivalences:
(1) the family (x, yi )T
1≤i≤k is orthogonal;
(2) the intersection 1≤i≤k Byi ,x is not empty;
(3) there exists a graph homomorphism of the standard k-cube Ck into V
mapping 0 to x and ui to yi , and mapping, for all i 6= j, ui + uj to a
vertex distinct from x;
(4) there exists an isometric embedding of the standard k-cube Ck onto a full
subgraph of V mapping 0 to x and ui to yi .
Moreover, if these hold, the graph homomorphism in (3) (or the embedding in
(4)) is unique; its image is equal to the total convex hull of {x, y1 , . . . , yk }.

Proof. (4)⇔(3): ⇒ is trivial; the converse is ensured by Lemma 7.F.3.
(4)⇒(2): indeed, if f is such an isometric embedding, then f (u{1,...,k} ) belongs
to this intersection.
(2)⇒(1): for i 6= j, let z be any element in Byi ,x ∩ Byj ,x . Then the median
m(z, yi , yj ) is distinct from x and adjacent to both yi and yj .
To conclude, let us prove (1)⇒(4) by induction on k. The case k = 1 is trivial
and the case k = 2 just follows from the definition (and the bipartite lemma).
Assume that k ≥ 3 and that the implication is proved for k − 1.
′
Denote C[i] and C[i]
the subgraph of Ck consisting of the elements uI with i ∈
/I
(resp. i ∈ I); they are both isomorphic to Ck−1 .
Then for every i 6= k, there exists an isometric embedding fi of C[i] into V
such that fi (0) = x and fi (uj ) = yj for all j 6= i. For any i 6= j, by Lemma
7.F.4 applied to the (k − 2)-cube C[i] ∩ C[j], the functions fi and fj coincide on
C[i] ∩ C[j] . Hence, writing I = {1, . . . , k} there exists a function f on Ck r {uI }
whose restriction to C[i] equals fi for every i.
′
:
Fix i. We can apply the induction hypothesis to the restriction of f to C[i]
′
′
thus there exists an isometric graph homomorphism fi : C[i] → V such that

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fi′ (ui ) = f (ui )(= yi ) and fi′ (ui + uj ) = f (ui + uj ) for all j 6= i. Then for all j 6= i,
′
′
f and fi′ coincide on C[i]
∩Cj . Thus fi′ (s) = f (s) for every s ∈ C[i]
r{uI }. It follows
that f (uIr{j}) and f (uIr{ℓ}) have distance 2 whenever j, ℓ are distinct: indeed,
we can choose i distinct from i, j and argue that they are equal to fi′ (uIr{j}) and
fi′ (uIr{ℓ}) and use that fi′ is isometric.
Now let us separately deal with k = 3 and k ≥ 4. If k = 3, the three points
f (uIr{i}), for i = 1, 2, 3 are pairwise at distance 2, if we define f (uI ) as their
median, then f is a graph homomorphism C3 → V .
Suppose now k ≥ 4. For any i and j, ℓ all three distinct, observe that both
points fi′ (uI ), f (uIr{j,ℓ}) are adjacent to the two distinct points f (uIr{j}) and
f (uIr{ℓ}). Since fi′ (uI ) and f (uIr{j,ℓ}) = fi′ (uIr{j,ℓ}) are distinct (by injectivity
of fi′ ), we deduce from Lemma 7.F.2 that fi′ (uI ) is the unique point adjacent to
both f (uIr{j}) and f (uIr{ℓ} ) and distinct from f (uIr{j,ℓ}). In particular, it only
depends on {j, ℓ}; write it as g(j, ℓ). Then for i, m distinct, we can choose j, ℓ
′
such that all four are distinct, and then fi′ (uI ) = g(j, ℓ) = fm
(uI ). Hence fi′ (uI )
does not depend on i; in particular, its distance to f (uIr{i} ) is also equal to 1
and then f is a graph homomorphism Ck → V .
In both cases, we conclude that f is isometric by Lemma 7.F.3.

Proposition 7.F.6. Let V be a connected median graph. The image of every
isometric graph homomorphism f : Ck → V is totally convex.

Proof. We can suppose that V is equal to the total convex hull of f (Ck ), and
we have to show that f is surjective. Let x be a vertex in V . Let I be the
set of i such that x ∈ Bf (ui ),f (0) . Up to change the origin in f , we can suppose
that I = ∅. Let B be a biconvex subset containing x and not f (0). Then
since V is the total convex hull of f (Ck ), by Proposition 7.E.2(2), there exists
an edge of f (Ck ) whose vertices belong to both sides of B. Hence by Lemma
7.B.4, B = By,z for some such directed edge; moreover by Lemma 7.B.5, this
directed edge can be chosen
T to have the form either (f (0), f (ui )) or (f (ui ), f (0)).
Since by assumption x ∈ j Bf (0),f (ui ) , we deduce that B = Bf (0),f (ui ) ; then this
contradicts f (0) ∈
/ B.


Definition 7.F.7. In a median graph, a k-cube is the image of an injective graph
homomorphism f : Ck → V . A cube is a k-cube for some k.

Thus in a connected median graph, every cube is actually isomorphic to Ck
and is a totally convex subgraph.

Remark 7.F.8. Let V be a median graph. It can be viewed as a cubical complex,
where cubes are the cubes defined above. If v is a vertex, the link of this cubical
complex structure at v is by definition the simplicial graph, a priori with possibly
multiple simplices, for which the vertices are the neighbors of v in V , and the
k-simplices are indexed by the (k + 1)-cubes through v: if C is such a cube
and if y0 , . . . , yk are the neighbors of v in C, then it corresponds to a k-simplex
sC = {y0 , . . . , yk }.

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65

For instance, Lemma 7.F.2 means that there are no multiple edges, and the
more general Lemma 7.F.4 implies that there are no multiple simplices (i.e.,
C 7→ sC is injective). Theorem 7.F.5 (namely, (1)⇒(4)) implies that this complex is flag, in the sense that whenever it contains the 1-skeleton of a simplex,
it contains the whole simplex. This condition is called the combinatorial local
CAT(0) condition.
On the other hand, Proposition 7.A.5 shows that this cubical complex (or
equivalently its 1-skeleton) is simply connected. Combined with the previous
condition, this is called the combinatorial CAT(0) condition and implies that if
the k-cubes are endowed with the Euclidean metric from [0, 1]k and the complex
with the resulting length distance, this is a geodesic CAT(0) metric space. We
refer to [BH] for a thorough discussion of polyhedral complexes.
Remark 7.F.9. Conversely, let V be a connected graph endowed with a family
of finite full subgraphs, each of which being isomorphic to some cube, defining a
cubical complex. Assume that the link at each vertex satisfies the combinatorial
local CAT(0) condition (this means that the link has no double simplex and is
flag), and that the resulting complex is simply connected. Then V is a median
graph. See [Che].
Proposition 7.F.10. Let V be a nonempty connected median graph. Equivalences:
(1) V is isomorphic to some hypercube;
(2) for every vertex x, any two distinct edges (x, y) and (x, y ′ ) are orthogonal;
(3) there is no nontrivial inclusion between strict biconvex subsets (or equivalently, any two nonempty biconvex subsets have a nontrivial intersection);
(4) for every finite family
(Bi ) of pairwise non-opposite nonempty biconvex
T
subsets, we have Bi 6= ∅;
(5) every median orientation on V is Roller.

If V is finite, these conditions are also equivalent to:
(6) Aut(V ) acts transitively on BV r {∅, V } .

Proof. Suppose (3) or (4). If (x, y) and (x, y ′ ) are distinct directed edges, then we
deduce that By,x ∩By′ ,x is nonempty, proving that (x, y) and (x, y ′) are orthogonal
(e.g., by Theorem 7.F.5), so (2) holds.
That (4) implies (5) is clear, and the converse holds because given (Bi ) as in
(4), there exists some median orientation for which Bi = Bi+ for all i.
That (1) implies each of (2), (3) and (4) is clear.
That (5) implies (3) is easy by contraposition: if B, B ′ are strict biconvex
subsets and disjoint, we can prescribe them to be positive for some median orientation, which by definition is not Roller.
Assume (2) and let us show (1). Write B∗ (x0 ) = B(x0 ) r {V }. Fix a vertex x0 .
∗
Define Φ : V → 2(B (x0 )) by Φ(x) = B(x0 ) r B(x). By Corollary 7.C.5, this is an

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isometric embedding. Let us show that it is surjective; denote by V ′ its image,
which satisfies (2).
First, let S be the set of B ∈ B∗ (x0 ) S
such that {B} ∈
/ V ′ , and assume by
contradiction that S 6= ∅. Observe that x∈V Φ(x) = B∗ (x0 ), because if B ∈
B∗ (x0 ), then we can choose x ∈
/ B, and hence B ∈
/ B(x), which means that
∗
B ∈ Φ(x). Therefore, let M ⊂ B (x0 ) be an element of V ′ of minimal cardinal
such that M contains some s ∈ S. Then M is not a singleton, since otherwise
we would have {s} ∈ V ′ , contradicting the definition of S. Hence, using the first
three points in a geodesic segment joining M to ∅, we can write M = N ⊔ {y}
and find x ∈ N such that and N r {x} and N belong to V ′ . The minimality of
M then implies that s ∈
/ N, so that y = s. Then the directed edges (N, N ⊔ {s})
and (N, N r {x}) being orthogonal in V ′ , the fourth vertex in the square they
generate is M r {s} and belongs to V ′ ; this contradicts the minimality of M.
Therefore S = ∅.
Now let us show that V ′ = V . By contradiction, let M be a finite subset of
B(x0 ), of minimal cardinality, such that M does not belong to V ′ . Then M 6= ∅.
Since S = ∅, we know that M is not a singleton. So we can write M = N ⊔ {x, y}
with x, y ∈
/ N, x 6= y. Then the directed edges (N, N ⊔ {x}) and (N, N ⊔ {y})
are orthogonal in V ′ , which by (2) implies that M belongs to V ′ , a contradiction.
It is clear that (1) implies (6) (here in the case of the 0-cube we agree to call
the action on the empty set transitive). Conversely, (6) implies that all strict
biconvex subsets have the same cardinal; in particular if V is finite, this implies
there are no nontrivial inclusion between strict biconvex subsets, showing (3). 
7.G. Gerasimov’s theorem. The following theorem was proved by Gerasimov
[Ger] for finitely generated groups. The following generalization, which relaxes
the finite generation assumption, uses in a more or less hidden way several of his
arguments, although the final layout of the proof is substantially simplified.
Theorem 7.G.1. Let a group G act isometrically on a connected median graph
V with a bounded orbit. Then it has a finite orbit of vertices.
We need the following general lemma, extracted from Gerasimov’s paper:
Lemma 7.G.2. Let a group G act transitively on an a infinite set X. Then for
every finite subset F of G there exist g, g ′ ∈ G such that F , gF and g ′ F are
pairwise disjoint.
Proof. Let us first find S
g ∈ G with F ∩ gF = ∅. The set P of g such that
F ∩ gF 6= ∅ is precisely x,y∈F {g : gx = y}. Fix x0 ∈ X, let H be its stabilizer
and fix a finite set K ⊂ G such that F = Kx0 . Then
[
[
[
P =
{g : ghx0 = kx0 } =
{g : k −1 gh ∈ H} =
(kg −1 )gHg −1.
h,k∈K

h,k∈K

h,k∈K

This is a finite union of left cosets of subgroups of infinite index; by B.H. Neumann
[Ne54], it follows that P 6= G. So taking g ∈
/ P we have F ∩ gF = ∅.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

67

Now let us prove the lemma. By the previous case, find g such that F ∩gF = ∅.
Then apply the previous case again to F ∪gF : there exists g ′ such that F ∪gF and
g ′ F ∪ g ′ gF are disjoint. In particular, F , gF and g ′ F are pairwise disjoint.


Proof of Theorem 7.G.1. The group G naturally acts on BV , commensurating
B(x) for each vertex x (by Proposition 7.C.1).
Define E(x) as the set of G-orbits Z ⊂ BV such that Z ∩ B(x) ∈
/ {∅, Z}. Since
ℓB(x) is bounded, B(x) is transfixed by Theorem 4.E.1. This implies that E(x) is
finite. Define E∞ (x) ⊂ E(x) as the set of Z ∈ E(x) such that Z is infinite, and
let n(x) be the cardinal of E∞ (x); we have n(x) ≤ #(E(x)) < ∞.
For x ∈ V , if n(x) = 0, then the S
orbit of B(x) is finite, since it ranges over
subsets Y of BV such that Y △B(x) ⊂ Z∈E(x) Z. Thus, by injectivity of x 7→ B(x)
(Corollary 7.C.4) the orbit of x in V is finite, as required.
So to prove the theorem, it is enough to show that whenever x ∈ V and
n(x) ≥ 1, there exists x′ ∈ V such that n(x′ ) < n(x). Indeed, let Z ∈ E(x)
be an infinite orbit. By Theorem 4.E.1, since Z ∩ B(x) is transfixed, it is either
finite or has finite complement in Z. In other words, there exists a finite subset
N of Z such that Z ∩ B(x) is either equal to N or Z r N. By Lemma 7.G.2,
there exist g, g ′ ∈ G such that N, gN and g ′ N are pairwise disjoint. Therefore
m(N, gN, g ′N) is either equal to ∅ or Z. It follows, defining x′ = m(x, gx, g ′ x),
that m(B(x), gB(x), g ′ B(x)) = B(x′ ). We see that E(x′ ) ⊂ E(x) r {Z}. We
deduce that n(x′ ) < n(x).

Corollary 7.G.3. Let G be a topological group with Property FW and let X be a
continuous discrete G-set. Then H 1 (G, ZX) = 0, where ZX is the set of finitely
supported functions X → Z.
Proof. Any continuous 1-cocycle of G in ZX defines a continuous affine action of
G on the discrete abelian group ZX, which lifts the projection ZX ⋊G → G. Note
that the action of ZX ⋊ G on ZX is generated by the linear action of G and the
action by translations. In particular, it preserves the natural partial ordering of
ZX. By Property FW and Gerasimov’s theorem (Theorem 7.G.1), it preserves
a finite orbit {f1 , . . . , fn }. Then min(f1 , . . . , fn ) is G-invariant and has finite
support, hence is a fixed point. This means that the cocycle is a 1-coboundary.
Hence H 1 (G, ZX) = 0.

Let us now give a corollary making use of the non-positively curved cubulation
result.
Corollary 7.G.4. Let a group G act isometrically on a connected median graph
V with a bounded orbit. Then there is an invariant cube. If moreover the action
on V preserving a median orientation, then there is a fixed vertex.
Proof. By Theorem 7.G.1, there is a finite orbit; by Theorem 7.E.2(3), its total
convex hull is finite; hence we can suppose that V is finite. Therefore, as observed
in Remark 7.F.8, its canonical cubulation is CAT(0); moreover it is a complete

68

YVES CORNULIER

metric space (it is indeed compact). Hence G has a fixed point [BH, Corollary
II.2.8] in the canonical cubulation. This fixed point belongs to the interior of
some cube, and therefore this cube C is invariant.
In case G preserves some median orientation, there exists a unique vertex v in
C such that all directed edges (v, w) with w ∈ C are oriented. Therefore v is
invariant by G.

Remark 7.G.5. It is likely that the corollary can be proved avoiding the nonpositively curved cubulation result: the missing step is to find a combinatorial proof that for any non-empty connected finite median graph V , there is an
Aut(V )-invariant cube in V , or still equivalently, show that if V is a non-empty
connected finite median graph V and is not isomorphic to a cube (see Proposition
7.F.10 for various characterizations), then there is a proper nonempty Aut(V )invariant median subgraph.
7.H. Involutive commensurating actions and the Sageev graph.
7.H.1. Involutions.
Definition 7.H.1. An involutive preposet (E, ≤, σ) is a partially preordered set
endowed with a order-reversing fixed-point-free involution σ.
If (E, ≤, σ) involutive preposet, define an ultraselection8 on E as a subset S ⊂ E
satisfying
• S is a selection, i.e., namely x < y and x ∈ S implies y ∈ S (x < y means
x ≤ y and x ≥
/ y).
• σ(S) = S c (i.e., we have a partition E = S ⊔ σ(S)).

An equivalent data is that of a function j : E → {0, 1} such that j(x) +
j(σ(x)) = 1 for all x ∈ E, and j is non-decreasing, namely x < y and j(x) = 1
implies j(y) = 1 . Given j, we get S by S = j −1 ({1}) ⊂ E, and given S, we
obtain j = 1S . Note that the set of ultraselections is obviously compact under
the pointwise convergence topology.
Say that two ultraselections S, T are incident if #(S △ T ) = 2. In this case,
there exists z ∈ E such that S △ T = {z, σ(z)}; moreover z is a minimal element
of S (in the sense that there is no x ∈ S such that x < z, or equivalently y ∈ S
and y ≤ z imply y ≥ z). Conversely, if S is an ultraselection and z is a minimal
element of S, then S∪{σ(z)}r{z} is an ultraselection, incident to S by definition.
This incidence relation defines a graph structure (non-oriented, with no self-loop
and with no multiple edges), denoted by Sel(E, ≤, σ). The next two lemmas are
straightforward generalizations of Nica’s Lemma 4.3 and Proposition 4.5 in [Nic];
on the other hand, the idea of associating a cubing to an abstract poset appeared
in Niblo-Reeves in [NRe] (with a few restrictions).
8Ultraselections

are sometimes called ultrafilters, but this terminology is incoherent and
confusing, partly because there is no natural way to characterize ultrafilters as ultraselections.
Indeed ultrafilters require an additional (and essential!) condition on intersections, which is not
reflected here, for instance when E is a power set endowed with inclusion and complementation.

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

69

Lemma 7.H.2. Two ultraselections S, T on the involutive preposet E are in the
same connected component of the graph Sel(E, ≤, σ) if and only if S △ T is finite.
Moreover, the inclusion of connected components of Sel(E, ≤, σ) into Sel(E, =, σ)
is isometric.
Proof. In the first assertion, the condition is clearly necessary. Let us prove it is
sufficient by induction on 2n = #(S △ T ) (which is even because S r T = σ(T r
S)). The case n = 0 is clear. Otherwise, find an minimal element z in S rT . If by
contradiction there exists x ∈ S with x < z, then by minimality of z, necessarily
x ∈ T , but since T is an ultraselection this forces z ∈ T , contradiction. Thus
S ′ = S ∪ {σ(z)} r {z} is an ultraselection incident to j, and #(S ′ △ T ) = 2n − 2,
so S ′ is in the same component as T by induction.
The above proof actually proves the isometric statement as well.

We have the following lemma (see §7.A for the definition of median graph).
Proposition 7.H.3. The ultraselection graph of any involutive preposet is median.
Proof. We begin with the case of the discrete preposet Sel(E, =, σ). Thus an
ultraselection here is just a subset S ⊂ E such that E = S ⊔ σ(S). Let A ⊂ E
be a fundamental domain for σ (in the sense that X = A ⊔ σ(A)). Then the
function 2A → 2E mapping B to B ⊔ σ(A r B) is a bijection from 2A to the set
of ultraselections of (E, =, σ); if 2A is endowed with its median graph structure
from Example 7.A.1, this is a graph isomorphism, so Sel(E, =, σ) is median.
Now let the preposet be arbitrary. By Lemma 7.H.2, the embedding of the
graph Sel(E, ≤, σ) into the graph Sel(E, =, σ) is isometric (if we allow infinite
distances). This shows that total intervals [x, y] in the first graph are contained
in total intervals [x, y]′ in the second one. In particular, it immediately follows
that for all S1 , S2 , S3 ∈ Sel(E, ≤, σ), the intersection [S1 , S2 ] ∩ [S2 , S3 ] ∩ [S3 , S1 ]
contains at most one point; we only have to check that the median point T =
(S1 ∩ S2 ) ∪ (S2 ∩ S3 ) ∪ (S3 ∩ S1 ) belongs to Sel(E, ≤, σ), i.e., is an ultraselection.
Clearly the set of selections is stable under taking finite unions and intersections
(unlike the set of ultraselections!), and therefore T is a selection. Moreover,
keeping in mind that σ(Si ) = Sic , we see that σ(T ) = T c and thus T is an
ultraselection and the proof is complete.

Let now G be a topological group. Let X be a continuous discrete G-set and
A ⊂ X a commensurated subset with an open stabilizer; let σ be a G-equivariant
involution of X such that X = A ⊔ σ(A). Define, as in Proposition 3.A.2, the
corresponding walling Wx = {h ∈ G | x ∈ hA}. Endow X with the partial
order given by x ≤ y if Wx ≤ Wy . The above graph structure on X is clearly
G-invariant. On the other hand, A itself is an ultraselection, as well as any
translate gA. This is clear by observing that gA = {x ∈ X | g ∈ Wx }; we thus
call translates of A principal ultraselections.

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YVES CORNULIER

A first observation is that all principal ultraselections belong to the same connected component of the graph, by Lemma 7.H.2.
Definition 7.H.4. The Sageev graph associated to (G, X, A, σ) is the component
of Sel(X, ≤, σ) containing principal ultraselections.
The Sageev graph is connected by definition and is median by Proposition
7.H.3; the action of G is continuous. It contains an isometric copy of the set of
translates of A, with the symmetric difference metric.
Remark 7.H.5. Actually, Sageev [Sa95] directly cubulated the set of ultraselections and the link with median graphs was brought out later by Chepoi [Che].
The point of view given here is closer to that of Nica [Nic].
Define CommσA (X) as the set of subsets M of X commensurate to A and such
that M c = σ(M); it is a connected component of Sel(X, =, σ). The Sageev graph
can be viewed as an isometrically embedded subgraph of CommσA (X), by Lemma
7.H.2. In general, finding a cubulation associated to a commensurating action
amounts to finding “small” invariant connected median subgraphs of CommσA (X).
Here small can, among others, mean that the graph is locally finite, or that the
underlying cubing is finite-dimensional.
A construction, assuming in addition that G as well as the stabilizers in G of
points in X are finitely generated, is done by Niblo, Sageev, Scott and Swarup
[NSSS]. It consists in replacing the partial preorder on X by a larger one, requiring that x  y if Wx r Wy is “small” in a suitable sense. This can be done
consistently under the assumption that the walling (Wx ) is in “good” position;
they actually show that this can always be supposed at the cost of replacing A by
a commensurate subset (and using crucially that the acting group and stabilizers
are finitely generated).
7.I. Link with other properties. Let us check the equivalences of the introduction for Property FW and PW. The following proposition summarizes several
of the previous results.
Proposition 7.I.1. Let G be a topological group. Consider the following properties, for functions f : G → R:
(I) f is cardinal definite;
(II) there exists a topological space Y with a continuous G-action (i.e., the map
G × Y → Y is continuous), a continuous discrete G-set X, a G-walling
W = (Wx )x∈X of Y by clopen subsets, and y0 ∈ Y such that f (g) =
dW (y0 , gy0) for all g.
(III) there exists a continuous action of G on a connected median graph and a
vertex x0 such that f (g) = d(x0 , gx0 ) for all g;
(IV) there exists a continuous action of G on a CAT(0) cube complex and a
vertex x0 such that f (g) = d(x0 , gx0 ) for all g;

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

71

(V) there exists an isometric action of G on an “integral Hilbert space” ℓ2 (X, Z)
(X any discrete set), or equivalently on ℓ2 (X, R) preserving integral points
and v0 ∈ ℓ2 (X, Z) such that f (g) = kv0 − gv0 k22 for all g ∈ G.
Then (I)⇔(II), (III)⇔(IV); (I)⇒(V)⇒(III), and (III) for f implies (I) for 2f .
Thus, roughly speaking, all properties are equivalent up to multiplication by 2.
Proof. The implication (I)⇒(II) follows from Proposition 3.A.6 by taking Y = G.
Let us show the converse: assume (II) and consider a G-walling W on Y and
y0 ∈ Y as in (II). Fix y0 ∈ Y and pull the walling back to a walling W ′ on G by
the orbital map g 7→ gy0 . Then for all g ∈ G we have dW ′ (1, g) = dW (y0 , gy0).
By Proposition 3.A.6, this is a cardinal definite function.
The equivalence (III)⇔(IV) follows from Chepoi’s result (Remarks 7.F.8 and
7.F.9) that median graphs are precisely the 1-skeleta of CAT(0) cube complexes.
The implication (I)⇒(V) is provided by the Niblo-Roller construction, as formulated in Proposition 4.D.2.
Let us now consider (V). First note that since the closed affine subspace generated by ℓ2 (X, Z) is ℓ2 (X, R), by the GNS-construction (see [BHV, Appendix
C]) isometries of ℓ2 (X, Z) have a unique extension to ℓ2 (X, R), which is affine by
the Mazur-Ulam theorem. In particular, both versions of (V) are equivalent.
We have (V)⇒(III), by observing that the obvious graph structure on ℓ2 (X, Z),
obtained by joining any two points at distance 1, is connected median (it also
implies (IV) directly).
Finally, if f satisfies (III), then 2f satisfies (I) by Corollary 7.C.7.

Lemma 7.I.2. Let G be a topological group and X a continuous discrete G-set.
Let A be an arbitrary nonzero discrete abelian group. Suppose that H 1 (G, A(X) ) =
0. Then every G-commensurated subset of X with an open stabilizer is transfixed.
Proof. Let M a commensurated subset with an open stabilizer; fix a ∈ A r {0}.
For N ⊂ X, and x ∈ X, define 1aN (x) as equal to a if x ∈ N and 0 otherwise.
Then g 7→ 1aM − 1agM is a continuous 1-cocycle of G in A(X) and hence by the
vanishing of H 1 (G, A(X) ) is a 1-coboundary, i.e. has the form f − gf for some
f ∈ A(X) . Hence the function h = 1aM − f is G-invariant. So N = {x ∈ X :
h(x) = a} is G-invariant. Write h = 1aN + f ′ , where f ′ has finite support. Then
1aM − 1aN = f + f ′ , which has finite support, so M and N are commensurate and
thus M is transfixed.

Proposition 7.I.3. Let G be a topological group. Equivalences:
(i) G has Property FW;
(ii) every cardinal definite function on G is bounded;
(iii) every continuous cellular action on any CAT(0) cube complex with the ℓ2 metric has bounded orbits (we allow infinite-dimensional cube complexes);
(iv) every continuous cellular action on any nonempty CAT(0) cube complex has
a fixed point;

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YVES CORNULIER

(v) every continuous action on a connected median graph has bounded orbits;
(vi) every action on a nonempty connected median graph has a finite orbit;
(vii) (if G is compactly generated and endowed with a compact generating subset)
for every open subgroup H ⊂ G, the Schreier graph G/H has at most 1 end;
(viii) for every topological space Y with a continuous G-action (i.e., the map
G × Y → Y is continuous), every continuous discrete G-set X and every
G-walling W = (Wx )x∈X of Y by clopen subsets, the G-orbits in (Y, dW ) are
bounded.
(ix) every isometric action on an “integral Hilbert space” ℓ2 (X, Z) (X any discrete set), or equivalently on ℓ2 (X, R) preserving integral points, has bounded
orbits.
(x) for every continuous discrete G-set X we have H 1 (G, ZX) = 0.
Proof. Proposition 7.I.1 immediately entails the equivalences (ii) ⇔ (iii) ⇔ (v)
⇔ (viii) ⇔ (ix).
One direction in the equivalence (i)⇔(ii) is trivial and the other follows from
Theorem 4.E.1.
The equivalence (ii)⇔(vii) follows from Proposition 3.B.3.
One direction in the equivalence (v)⇔(vi) is trivial and the other follows from
Theorem 7.G.1.
(iv) ⇒ (iii) is trivial and the converse follows from Corollary 7.G.4.
Let us finally prove (i)⇔(x). The implication ⇐ follows from Lemma 7.I.2, and
conversely the implication ⇒ is a corollary of Gerasimov’s theorem (Corollary
7.G.3)

Remark 7.I.4. In Proposition 7.I.3(x), the ring Z cannot be replaced by an
arbitrary nonzero unital ring. While the proof carries over to show that if R is
an arbitrary unital nonzero ring, X is a discrete continuous G-set with a commensurated subset M with an open stabilizer, H 1 (G, RX) = 0 implies that M
is transfixed, the converse does not always hold. More precisely, consider n ≥ 2,
the group G = Z/nZ and the G-set X = {x} reduced to a singleton. Since G
is finite, it has property FW. On the other hand, it is straightforward that for
R = Z/nZ we have H 1 (G, RX) nonzero (since it consists of the group of group
endomorphisms of Z/nZ).
The 1-cohomology of G in ZX has been studied in [Ho78].
Note that Proposition 7.I.1 also immediately implies the equivalence between
Property PW and its the various reformulations given in the introduction.
Remark 7.I.5. For a topological group G, Property FW is also equivalent to the
property of having bounded orbits on space with walls (in its most popularized
sense, not allowing multiplicities of walls). Obviously it implies this property; to
see the converse, assume that G does not have Property FW. Then it has an unbounded
P cardinal definite function f . According to an orbit decomposition, write
f = i∈I ni fi , where (ni ) is a family of positive integers and (fi ) is an injective

COMMENSURATED SUBSETS, WALLINGS AND CUBINGS

73

family of nonzero cardinal definite functions, such that no fi is a proper multiple,
i.e. has the form kf ′′ with k ≥ 2 integer and f ′′ cardinal definite (otherwise we
decompose again).
P
Define f ′ = i∈I fi . Then f ′ ≤ f and f ′ is cardinal definite. We claim that f ′
is unbounded as well. If I is finite, then f ≤ nf ′ where n = maxi ni , so this is
clear. If I is infinite, we evoke the contraposition of Corollary 4.E.2 to infer that
f ′ is unbounded.
Now write fi = ℓMi , where Mi is a commensurated subset in a set Xi with
(i)
open stabilizer, if (Wx )x∈Xi is the associated walling on G given by Proposition
(i)
3.A.2. Since fi is a not proper multiple, the walling x 7→ Wx is injective. Also
(i)
(j)
since the fi are distinct, we have Wx 6= Wy for any i 6= j, x ∈ Xi and y ∈ Xj .
(i)
So the structure of space with walls on G for which the walls are the Wx for
i ∈ I and x ∈ Xi (and their complement if necessary) gives rise to an unbounded
distance on G.
8. About this paper
Most of the paper consists of a “digest” of known results but also contain some
new ones; the purpose of this final paragraph is to clarify this. Maybe the main
goal of this paper is to start at the beginning (that is, Section 4!) with the very
elementary notion of commensurating action, rather than the more elaborate
notion of CAT(0) cube complex or even median graphs. The introduction of the
point of view of commensurating actions in the measurable context in relation to
Property T is due to Robertson and Steger [RS]. Let us now point out the new
results of the paper.
• Maybe the most apparent contribution is the use of topological groups
rather than discrete ones. However, this change is mainly secondary and
was certainly not the main motivation for writing this paper; it nevertheless provides a more coherent setting, for instance for the study of
Property FW for irreducible lattices [Cor3]. It involves some technical
issues such as continuity, which are notably addressed in §4.C. Also, part
of this generalization is to remove finite generation assumptions, even in
the case of discrete groups.
• The notion of G-walling is very similar to many definitions appearing in
various places. It was cooked up so that the (almost tautological) Proposition 3.A.2 holds. Although the correspondence between actions on (various forms of) spaces with walls and commensurating actions (sometimes
dressed up as almost invariant subsets) is known in both directions, such
a simple statement as Proposition 3.A.2 was not previously extracted.
• The finiteness result of §4.B and some of its corollaries (including Proposition 5.A.3(1)) seem to be new, even when specified to finitely generated
discrete groups; they can be seen as a combinatorial interpretation of
the folklore Corollary 7.E.6. By Chepoi’s correspondence, a version of

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YVES CORNULIER

Corollary 7.E.6 holds for CAT(0)-cubings. Corollary 7.E.6 was obtained
for proper actions of finitely generated groups on locally compact finitedimensional cube complexes [CaS, Proposition 3.12], but Pierre-Emmanuel Caprace and Frédéric Haglund independently mentioned to me that
the argument can be adapted to provide the general statement of Corollary 7.E.6 (when G is finitely generated, without extra-assumptions).
• The notion of Property FW was briefly addressed in Sageev’s question
“which classes of finitely generated groups admit a coforked subgroup?”
[Sa97, Q1]; the underlying property would rather be FW’, which is less
convenient to deal with for infinitely generated groups. Anyway none
of these properties was subsequently studied for its own right and the
propositions following the definition (from Proposition 5.A.3 to Proposition 5.B.3) can be termed as new. For instance the stability by extensions
is trickier than we could expect.
• Most equivalences in Proposition 7.I.3 (i.e., those of the introduction,
restated for topological groups) are classical or essentially classical, but
the characterizations (ix) and (x) are new (note that Proposition 7.I.3(x)
is not as obvious as it may seem at first sight, see Remark 7.I.4).
• A part of Section 6 is a direct proof of Haglund’s result on non-distortion
of cyclic subgroups. The application of Example 6.A.7 is new. Proposition
6.A.8 is entirely new as well as its application Example 6.A.9. I am not
comfortable to decide whether to call Proposition 6.C.5 a new result or an
immediate application of Houghton’s Theorem 6.C.1; however, had this
this observation been made earlier, the question of finding a group with
the Haagerup Property with no proper action on a CAT(0) cube complex
(or space with walls) would not have been considered as open between the
late nineties and Haglund’s paper [Hag]. Section 6 also emphasizes new
properties (uniform non-distortion, VD(Γ)) which hopefully could prove
relevant in other contexts.

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[Ma1]
[Mar]
[Mat]
[Ne54]
[Ner]

[Neu]
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[NSSS]
[OW]
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[Sa95]
[Sa97]
[Sc77]
[Sc98]
[Sch]
[Ser]
[Seg]
[ShW]
[Ste]
[Tit]
[Wi04]
[Wit]

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Laboratoire de Mathématiques, Bâtiment 425, Université Paris-Sud 11, 91405
Orsay, FRANCE
E-mail address: yves.cornulier@math.u-psud.fr

