Relative property (T) has recently been used to show the existence of a variety of new rigidity phenomena, for example in von Neumann algebras and the study of orbit-equivalence relations. However, until recently there were few examples of group pairs with relative property (T) available through the literature. This motivated the following result: A finitely generated group $\Gamma$ admits a special linear representation with non-amenable $R$-Zariski closure if and only if it acts on an Abelian group $A$ (of...

Relatively independent joinings of W*-dynamical systems are constructed. This is intimately related to subsystems of W*-dynamical systems, and therefore we also study general properties of subsystems, in particular fixed point subsystems and compact subsystems. This allows us to obtain characterizations of weak mixing and relative ergodicity, as well as of certain compact subsystems, in terms of joinings.

Let G be a locally compact amenable group, and A(G) and B(G) the Fourier and Fourier-Stieltjes algebras of G. For a closed subset E of G, let J(E) and k(E) be the smallest and largest closed ideals of A(G) with hull E, respectively. We study sets E for which the ideals J(E) or/and k(E) are σ(A(G),C*(G))-closed in A(G). Moreover, we present, in terms of the uniform topology of C₀(G) and the weak* topology of B(G), a series of characterizations of sets obeying synthesis. Finally, closely related to...

We consider control problems governed by semilinear parabolic equations with pointwise state constraints and controls in an Lp-space (p < ∞). We construct a correct relaxed problem, prove some relaxation results, and derive necessary optimality conditions.

We consider control problems governed by semilinear parabolic equations with pointwise state constraints and controls in an $L^p$-space ($p\&lt;\infty$). We construct a correct relaxed problem, prove some relaxation results, and derive necessary optimality conditions.

In this paper, we consider a Borel measurable function on the space of $m\times n$ matrices $f:M^{m\times n}\to \overline{ℝ}$ taking the value $+\infty$, such that its rank-one-convex envelope $Rf$ is finite and satisfies for some fixed $p>1$: $$-c_0\le Rf\left(F\right)\le {c(1+\parallel F\parallel }^p)\text{for}\text{all}F\in M^{m\times n},$$ where $c,c_0>0$. Let $Ø$ be a given regular bounded open domain of ${ℝ}^n$. We define on $W^{1,p}(Ø;{ℝ}^m)$ the functional $$I\left(u\right)={\int }_{Ø}f\left(\nabla u\left(x\right)\right)dx.$$ Then, under some technical restrictions on $f$, we show that the relaxed functional $\overline{I}$ for the weak topology of $W^{1,p}(Ø;{ℝ}^m)$ has the integral representation: $$\overline{I}\left(u\right)={\int }_{Ø}Q\left[Rf\right]\left(\nabla u\left(x\right)\right)dx,$$ where for a given function $g$, $Qg$ denotes its quasiconvex...