Microstates free entropy and cost of equivalence relations

Abstract

We define an analog of Voiculescu's free entropy for $n$-tuples of unitaries $u\sb 1,\ldots u\sb n$ in a tracial von Neumann algebra $M$ which normalize a unital subalgebra $L\sp \infty[0,1]=B\subset M$. Using this quantity, we define the free dimension $\delta\sb 0(u\sb 1,\ldots,u\sb n\between B)$. This number depends on $u\sb 1,\ldots u\sb n$ only up to orbit equivalence over $B$. In particular, if $R$ is a measurable equivalence relation on $[0,1]$ generated by $n$ automorphisms $\alpha\sb 1,\ldots \alpha\sb n$, let $u\sb 1,\ldots u\sb n$ be the unitaries implementing $\alpha\sb 1,\ldots \alpha\sb n$ in the Feldman-Moore crossed product algebra $M=W\sp \ast([0,1],R)\supset B=L\sp \infty[0,1]$. Then the number $\delta(R)=\delta\sb 0(u\sb 1,\ldots u\sb n\between B)$ is an invariant of the equivalence relation $R$. If $R$ is treeable, $\delta(R)$ coincides with the cost $C(R)$ of $R$ in the sense of D. Gaboriau. In particular, it is $n$ for an equivalence relation induced by a free action of the free group $\mathbb {F}\sb n$. For a general equivalence relation $R$ possessing a finite graphing of finite cost, $\delta(R)\leq C(R)$. Using the notion of free dimension, we define a dynamical entropy invariant for an automorphism of a measurable equivalence relation (or, more generally, of an $r$-discrete measure groupoid) and give examples.