We derive basic properties of groups which can be approximated with matrices. These include closure of classes of such groups under group theoretic constructions including direct and inverse limits and free products. We show that metric ultraproducts of projective linear groups over fields of different characteristics are not isomorphic. We further prove that the lattice of normal subgroups in ultraproducts of compact simple groups is distributive. It is linearly ordered in the case of finite simple groups or Lie groups of bounded rank.

Following the mechanisms, where the coarse geometric properties of a space with bounded geometry can induce properties on the related coarse (boundary) groupoid and vice versa, we prove that a sequence of bounded degree graphs being hyperfinite is equivalent to the equivalence relation induced by the coarse boundary groupoid associated to this sequence being hyperfinite. Even more, we introduce a coarse and weaker notion of Property A in a sequence of graphs, called Property A on average, that also turns out to be equivalent to the hyperfiniteness of a sequence of bounded degree graphs. Furthermore, we show that if the coarse boundary groupoid is topologically a-T-menable, then the related sequence of bounded degree graphs is asymptotically coarsely embeddable into a Hilbert space. In the measurable case, we also have the asymptotic coarse embeddability of the sequence of graphs after discarding small subgraphs along the sequence and looking at this new sequence of graphs with the induced length metric of original graph. Afterwards those result are applicable to sofic groups. When we take the sequence of graphs to be a sofic approximation of an amenable discrete finitely generated sofic group, we know that this sequence is hyperfinte, has property A on average and property almost-A. If the group is a-T-menable then the sequence of graphs is weakly asymptotically coarsely embeddable into a Hilbert space.

We derive basic properties of groups which can be approximated with matrices. These include closure of classes of such groups under group theoretic constructions including direct and inverse limits and free products. We show that metric ultraproducts of projective linear groups over fields of different characteristics are not isomorphic. We further prove that the lattice of normal subgroups in ultraproducts of compact simple groups is distributive. It is linearly ordered in the case of finite simple groups or Lie groups of bounded rank.

Dans cette thèse, on s'intéresse à la théorie mesurée des groupes, à l'entropie sofique et aux algèbres d'opérateurs ; plus précisément, on étudie les actions des groupes sur des espaces de probabilités, des propriétés fondamentales de leur entropie sofique (pour des groupes discrets), leurs groupes pleins (pour des groupes Polonais), et les algèbres de von Neumann et leurs sous-algèbres moyennables (pour des groupes à caractère hyperbolique et des réseaux de groupes de Lie). Cette thèse est constituée de trois parties.Dans une première partie j'étudie l'entropie sofique des actions profinies. L'entropie sofique est un invariant des actions mesurées des groupes sofiques défini par L. Bowen qui généralise la notion d'entropie introduite par Kolmogorov. La définition d'entropie sofique nécessite de fixer une approximation sofique du groupe. Nous montrons que l'entropie sofique des actions profinies est effectivement dépendante de l'approximation sofique choisie dans le cas des groupes libres et certains réseaux de groupes de Lie.La deuxième partie est un travail en collaboration avec François Le Maître. Elle est constituée d'un article prépublié dans lequel nous généralisons la notion de groupe plein aux actions préservant une mesure de probabilité des groupes polonais, et en particulier, des groupes localement compacts. On définit une topologie polonaise sur ces groupes pleins et on étudie leurs propriétés topologiques fondamentales, notamment leur rang topologique et la densité des éléments apériodiques.La troisième partie est un travail en collaboration avec Rémi Boutonnet. Elle est constituée de deux articles prépubliés dans lesquels nous considérons la question de la maximalité de la sous-algèbre de von Neumann d'un sous-groupe moyennable maximal, dans celle du groupe ambiant. Nous résolvons la question dans le cas des groupes à caractère hyperbolique en utilisant les techniques de Sorin Popa. Puis, nous introduisons un critère dynamique à la Furstenberg, permettant de résoudre la question pour des sous-groupes moyennables de réseaux des groupes de Lie en rang supérieur. / This dissertation is about measured group theory, sofic entropy and operator algebras. More precisely, we will study actions of groups on probability spaces, some fundamental properties of their sofic entropy (for countable groups), their full groups (for Polish groups) and the amenable subalgebras of von Neumann algebras associated with hyperbolic groups and lattices of Lie groups. This dissertation is composed of three parts.The first part is devoted to the study of sofic entropy of profinite actions. Sofic entropy is an invariant for actions of sofic groups defined by L. Bowen that generalize Kolmogorov's entropy. The definition of sofic entropy makes use of a fixed sofic approximation of the group. We will show that the sofic entropy of profinite actions does depend on the chosen sofic approximation for free groups and some lattices of Lie groups. The second part is based on a joint work with François Le Maître. The content of this part is based on a prepublication in which we generalize the notion of full group to probability measure preserving actions of Polish groups, and in particular, of locally compact groups. We define a Polish topology on these full groups and we study their basic topological properties, such as the topological rank and the density of aperiodic elements. The third part is based on a joint work with Rémi Boutonnet. The content of this part is based on two prepublications in which we try to understand when the von Neumann algebra of a maximal amenable subgroup of a countable group is itself maximal amenable. We solve the question for hyperbolic and relatively hyperbolic groups using techniques due to Popa. With different techniques, we will then present a dynamical criterion which allow us to answer the question for some amenable subgroups of lattices of Lie groups of higher rank.

This thesis is devoted to the study of operators on discrete structures. The operators are supposed to be self-adjoint and obey a certain translation invariance property. The discrete structures are given as Cayley graphs via finitely generated groups. Here, sofic groups and amenable groups are in the center of our considerations. Note that every finitely generated amenable group is sofic. We investigate the spectrum of a discrete self-adjoint operator by studying a sequence of finite dimensional analogues of these operators. In the setting of amenable groups we obtain these approximating operators by restricting the operator in question to finite subsets Qn , n ∈ N. These finite dimensional operators are self-adjoint and therefore admit a well-defined normalized eigenvalue counting function. The limit of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions when |Qn | → ∞ (if it exists) is called the integrated density of states (IDS). It is a distribution function of a probability measure encoding the distribution of the spectrum of the operator in question on the real axis. In this thesis, we prove the existence of the IDS in various geometric settings and for different types of operators. The models we consider include deterministic as well as random situations. Depending on the specific setting, we prove existence of the IDS as a weak limit of distribution functions or even as a uniform limit. Moreover, in certain situations we are able to express the IDS via a semi-explicit formula using the trace of the spectral projection of the original operator. This is sometimes referred to as the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. In the most general geometric setting we study, the operators are defined on Cayley graphs of sofic groups. Here we prove weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and verify the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula for random and non-random operators . These results apply to operators which not necessarily bounded or of finite hopping range. The methods are based on resolvent techniques. This theory is established without having an ergodic theorem for sofic groups at hand. Note that ergodic theory is the usual tool used in the proof of convergence results of this type. Specifying to operators on amenable groups we are able to prove stronger results. In the discrete case, we show that the IDS exists uniformly for a certain class of finite hopping range operators. This is obtained by using a Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. We show that this applies to eigenvalue counting functions, which implies their convergence with respect to the Banach space norm, in this case the supremum norm. Thus, the heart of this theory is the verification of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. Proceeding in two steps we first prove this result for so-called ST-amenable groups. Then, using results from the theory of ε-quasi tilings, we prove a version of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem which is valid for all amenable groups. Focusing on random operators on amenable groups, we prove uniform existence of the IDS without the assumption that the operator needs to be of finite hopping range or bounded. Moreover, we verify the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. Here we present different techniques. First we show uniform convergence of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions adapting the technique of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem from the deterministic setting. In a second approach we use weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and additionally obtain control over the convergence at the jumps of the IDS. These ingredients are applied to verify uniform existence of the IDS. In both situations we employ results from the theory of large deviations, in order to deal with long-range interactions.

This thesis is devoted to the study of operators on discrete structures. The operators are supposed to be self-adjoint and obey a certain translation invariance property. The discrete structures are given as Cayley graphs via finitely generated groups. Here, sofic groups and amenable groups are in the center of our considerations. Note that every finitely generated amenable group is sofic. We investigate the spectrum of a discrete self-adjoint operator by studying a sequence of finite dimensional analogues of these operators. In the setting of amenable groups we obtain these approximating operators by restricting the operator in question to finite subsets Qn , n ∈ N. These finite dimensional operators are self-adjoint and therefore admit a well-defined normalized eigenvalue counting function. The limit of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions when |Qn | → ∞ (if it exists) is called the integrated density of states (IDS). It is a distribution function of a probability measure encoding the distribution of the spectrum of the operator in question on the real axis. In this thesis, we prove the existence of the IDS in various geometric settings and for different types of operators. The models we consider include deterministic as well as random situations. Depending on the specific setting, we prove existence of the IDS as a weak limit of distribution functions or even as a uniform limit. Moreover, in certain situations we are able to express the IDS via a semi-explicit formula using the trace of the spectral projection of the original operator. This is sometimes referred to as the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. In the most general geometric setting we study, the operators are defined on Cayley graphs of sofic groups. Here we prove weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and verify the validity of the Pastur-Shubin trace formula for random and non-random operators . These results apply to operators which not necessarily bounded or of finite hopping range. The methods are based on resolvent techniques. This theory is established without having an ergodic theorem for sofic groups at hand. Note that ergodic theory is the usual tool used in the proof of convergence results of this type. Specifying to operators on amenable groups we are able to prove stronger results. In the discrete case, we show that the IDS exists uniformly for a certain class of finite hopping range operators. This is obtained by using a Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. We show that this applies to eigenvalue counting functions, which implies their convergence with respect to the Banach space norm, in this case the supremum norm. Thus, the heart of this theory is the verification of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem. Proceeding in two steps we first prove this result for so-called ST-amenable groups. Then, using results from the theory of ε-quasi tilings, we prove a version of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem which is valid for all amenable groups. Focusing on random operators on amenable groups, we prove uniform existence of the IDS without the assumption that the operator needs to be of finite hopping range or bounded. Moreover, we verify the Pastur-Shubin trace formula. Here we present different techniques. First we show uniform convergence of the normalized eigenvalue counting functions adapting the technique of the Banach space-valued ergodic theorem from the deterministic setting. In a second approach we use weak convergence of the eigenvalue counting functions and additionally obtain control over the convergence at the jumps of the IDS. These ingredients are applied to verify uniform existence of the IDS. In both situations we employ results from the theory of large deviations, in order to deal with long-range interactions.