Integrable measure equivalence rigidity of right-angled Artin groups via quasi-isometry

Abstract

Let $G$ be a right-angled Artin group with $|\mathrm{Out}(G)|<+\infty$. We prove that if a countable group $H$ with bounded torsion is measure equivalent to $G$, with an $L^1$-integrable measure equivalence cocycle towards $G$, then $H$ is finitely generated and quasi-isometric to $G$. In particular, through work of Kleiner and the second-named author, $H$ acts properly and cocompactly on a $\mathrm{CAT}(0)$ cube complex which is quasi-isometric to $G$ and equivariantly projects to the right-angled building of $G$. As a consequence of work of the second-named author, we derive a superrigidity theorem in integrable measure equivalence for an infinite class of right-angled Artin groups, including those whose defining graph is an $n$-gon with $n\ge 5$. In contrast, we also prove that if a right-angled Artin group $G$ with $|\mathrm{Out}(G)|<+\infty$ splits non-trivially as a product, then there does not exist any locally compact group which contains all groups $H$ that are $L^1$-measure equivalent to $G$ as lattices, even up to replacing $H$ by a finite-index subgroup and taking the quotient by a finite normal subgroup.

Final version, accepted in Geometry & Topology