On Sarnak's Density Conjecture and its Applications

Abstract: Sarnak's Density Conjecture is an explicit bound on the multiplicities of non-tempered representations in a sequence of cocompact congruence arithmetic lattices in a semisimple Lie group, which is motivated by the work of Sarnak and Xue. The goal of this work is to discuss similar hypotheses, their interrelation and applications. We mainly focus on two properties - the spectral Spherical Density Hypothesis and the geometric Weak Injective Radius Property. Our results are strongest in the p-adic case, where we show that the two properties are equivalent, and both imply Sarnak's General Density Hypothesis. One possible application is that either the Spherical Density Hypothesis or the Weak Injective Radius Property imply Sarnak's Optimal Lifting Property. Conjecturally, all those properties should hold in great generality. We hope that this work will motivate their proofs in new cases.