Equivalent groupoids have Morita equivalent Steinberg algebras

Abstract

Let $G$ and $H$ be Hausdorff ample groupoids and let $R$ be a commutative unital ring. We show that if $G$ and $H$ are equivalent in the sense of Muhly-Renault-Williams, then the associated Steinberg algebras of locally constant $R$-valued functions with compact support are Morita equivalent. We deduce that collapsing a ``collapsible subgraph" of a directed graph in the sense of Crisp and Gow does not change the Morita-equivalence class of the associated Leavitt path $R$-algebra, and therefore a number of graphical constructions which yield Morita equivalent $C^*$-algebras also yield Morita equivalent Leavitt path algebras.