Geometric property (T) for box spaces and sofic approximations

Abstract

We prove that every sofic approximation of a property (T) group is approximately isomorphic to one having geometric property (T), and more generally, a box space of graphs which has boundary geometric property (T) is approximately isomorphic to one having geometric property (T). We also prove that a sequence of bounded degree graphs is approximately isomorphic to a disjoint union of expanders if and only if the Laplacian has spectral gap in the ultraproduct. Finally, we prove a local geometric criterion for geometric property (T) in the spirit of \.{Z}uk's criterion for property (T) for groups.