L^2-Betti Numbers of Discrete Measured Groupoids

Abstract

There are notions of L^2-Betti numbers for discrete groups (Cheeger-Gromov, Lueck), for type II_1-factors (recent work of Connes-Shlyakhtenko) and for countable standard equivalence relations (Gaboriau). Whereas the first two are algebraically defined using Lueck's dimension theory,Gaboriau's definition of the latter is inspired by the work of Cheeger and Gromov. In this article we give a definition of L^2-Betti numbers of discrete measured groupoids that is based on Lueck's dimension theory, thereby encompassing the cases of groups,equivalence relations and holonomy groupoids with an invariant measure for a complete transversal. We show that with our definition, like with Gaboriau's,the L^2-Betti numbers of a countable group G coincide with the L^2-Betti numbers of the orbit equivalence relation of a free action of G on a probability space. This yields a new proof of the fact the L^2-Betti numbers of groups with orbit equivalent actions coincide.