In this thesis we will for a quantum Markov semi-group (Φt)t≥0 on a finite von Neumann algebra N with a trace τ , investigate the property of the semi-group being gradient-Sp for some p ∈ [1, ∞]. This property was introduced in [12] (see also [9]) and has been studied in [9, 10, 12] for quantum Markov semi-groups on compact quantum groups and on q-Gaussian algebras. Beyond these classes the property gradient-Sp has not been studied; in particular for groups and their operator algebras no (non-trivial) examples were known before this thesis. The main aim of this thesis is therefore to construct interesting examples of quantum Markov semi-groups that possess the gradient-Sp property. The reason why we are interested in constructing such semi-groups, is because they can be used to obtain properties like the Akemann-Ostrand property (AO+) and strong solidity for the underlying von Neumann algebra. Over the last decade, these properties have become a topic of interest and have been studied for several von Neumann algebras, see [3, 8, 9, 10, 12, 23, 32, 33, 37, 41]. In this thesis we shall focus on group von Neumann algebras (L(Γ), τ ) for certain discrete groups Γ that possess the Haagerup property. Namely, for such groups there exists a proper, conditionally negative definite function ψ on Γ. We can then define an unbounded operator ∆ψ on the GNS-Hilbert space L2(L(Γ), τ ) as ∆ψ(λv) = ψ(v)λv and consider the corresponding quantum Markov semi-group (e−t∆ )t≥0. For this semi-group we can investigate for what p it has the gradient-Sp property. In particular we will be considering group von Neumann algebras of Coxeter groups. Namely, a Coxeter group W possesses the Haagerup property by [4], and a proper conditionally negative function ψ on W is given by the minimal word length ψ(w) = |w| w.r.t some set of generators. We will ‘almost completely’ characterize for what types of Coxeter systems the semi-group corresponding to the word length is gradient-Sp. Moreover, in the cases that we get the gradient-S2 property, we obtain the Akemann-Ostand property (AO+) and strong solidity for L(W). Hereafter, we will also consider other quantum Markov semi-groups on L(W). We consider word lengths that arise by putting different weights on the generators, and consider the semi-groups associated to these proper, conditionally negative functions. From this we obtain (AO+) and strong solidity for L(W) for some other cases. Thereafter, we will generalize some of our results obtained for L(W) to the Hecke algebras Nq(W), which are q-deformations of L(W). For the case of group von Neumann algebras L(Γ) for general groups, we shall examine for semi-groups induced by a proper, conditionally negative function ψ, how the gradient-Sp property of the semi-group (Φt)t≥0 := (e−t∆ )t≥0 relates to the gradient-Sq property of the semi-group that is generated by the αth-root ∆α of the generator. Last, we will also show a method that allows us, for right-angled word hyperbolic Coxeter groups, to obtain (AO+) and strong solidity for L(W) without building a gradient-Sp quantum Markov semi-group, but by using a slightly different method.

In [8] Kwapien proved that every mean zero function f ∈ L∞[0, 1] we can write as f = g ◦ T − g for some g ∈ L∞[0, 1] and some measure preserving transformation T of [0, 1]. However, as was discovered in [4] there is a gap in the proof for the case that f is not continuous. The aim of this bachelor thesis is filling in that gap in the proof. We first extend Kwapien’s proof for continuous functions to certain other measure spaces. Thereafter, we use the method of proof suggested by Kwapien, to proof the theorem for mean zero function f ∈ L∞[0, 1] for which λ(f−1({x})) = 0 for all x ∈ R. Using this result we then proof that every mean zero function f ∈ L∞[0, 1] can be written as a sum f =(g1 ◦ T1 − g1) + (g2 ◦ T2 − g2) where g1, g2 ∈ L∞[0, 1] and where T1, T2 are measure preserving transformations of [0, 1]. We finish this thesis with an application of Kwapien’s theorem in the study to singular traces