Characters of groups, stability and sofic dynamical systems

We study the character theory of infinite solvable groups, focusing on the metabelian and polycyclic cases. This theory has applications towards the Hilbert-Schmidt stability of such groups - whether almost-homomorphisms into the unitary groups U(n) are nearby honest homomorphisms? We explore an interesting link between stability and topological dynamics via a notion of “sofic dynamical systems”. I will introduce all relevant notions.

The talk is based on a joint work with Itamar Vigdorovich.