Intermediate Factor theorems are central to many rigidity results, starting from
Celebrated Margulis's Normal Subgroup Theorem to the well-known Nevo-Stuck-Zimmer
Theorem. In this talk, we will discuss a non-commutative generalization of it.
In particular, we will prove a non-commutative version of the Intermediate Factor
Theorem for crossed products associated with product lattices. Given a lattice
$\Gamma < G_1 \times \dots \times G_d$ with dense projections and a trace-preserving
ergodic action $\Gamma \curvearrowright (\mathcal{N}, \tau)$, we show that every
intermediate von Neumann algebra between $\mathcal{N}\rtimes\Gamma$ and
$(L^\infty(B,\nu_B)\overline{\otimes}\mathcal{N})\rtimes\Gamma$ is again a crossed
product. This is a recent joint work with Yongle Jiang and Shuoxing Zhou.
No prior knowledge about these objects will be assumed. I will take the first half to
explain these objects in detail and trace the history a bit.