Abstract

An introduction to the Gaussian deformation. - Part 2

Juan Felipe Ariza Mejía
University of Iowa

This two part talk is meant as an introduction to deformation/rigidity by means of an example. We will introduce the Gaussian deformation for a group von Neumann algebra and show how it can be used to prove the free group factors are prime. The first part of the talk will be focused on some necessary tools, particularly the tracial crossed product and the Gaussian von Neumann algebra. The second part will focus on the Gaussian deformation and its application in proving some group factors are prime.