Abstract
A countable discrete group G is called Choquet-Deny if for every non-degenerate probability measure μ on G, it holds that all bounded μ-harmonic functions are constant. We show that a finitely generated group G is Choquet-Deny if and only if it is virtually nilpotent. For general countable discrete groups, we show that G is Choquet-Deny if and only if none of its quotients has the infinite conjugacy class property. Moreover, when G is not Choquet-Deny, then this is witnessed by a symmetric, finite entropy, non-degenerate measure.
| Original language | American English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 307-320 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Annals of Mathematics |
| Volume | 190 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1 Jul 2019 |
Keywords
- Furstenberg-Poisson boundary
- Harmonic functions
- Random walks
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Mathematics (miscellaneous)