Affine $\Lambda$-buildings, ultrapowers of Lie groups and Riemannian symmetric spaces: an algebraic proof of the Margulis conjecture

Abstract

In this paper, we give a general group-theoretic construction of affine $\RR$-buildings, and more generally, of affine $\Lambda$-buildings, associated to semisimple Lie groups over nonarchimedean real closed fields. The construction of Kleiner-Leeb using the asymptotic cone of a Riemannian symmetric space appears as a special case. The explicit knowledge of the building arising here as the asymptotic cone simplifies the proof of the Margulis conjecture due to Kleiner-Leeb.