The spectrum of simplicial volume

Abstract

New constructions in group homology allow us to manufacture high-dimensional manifolds with controlled simplicial volume. We prove that for every dimension bigger than 3 the set of simplicial volumes of orientable closed connected manifolds is dense in ${\mathbb{R}}_{\ge 0}$. In dimension 4 we prove that every non-negative rational number is the simplicial volume of some orientable closed connected 4-manifold. Our group theoretic results relate stable commutator length to the $l^1$-semi-norm of certain singular homology classes in degree 2. The output of these results is translated into manifold constructions using cross-products and Thom realisation.

Final version. To appear in "Inventiones mathematicae"