Property (T) for groups graded by root systems

Abstract

We introduce and study the class of groups graded by root systems. We prove that if Φ is an irreducible classical root system of rank at least 2 and G is a group graded by Φ, then under certain natural conditions on the grading, the union of the root subgroups is a Kazhdan subset of G. As the main application of this theorem we prove that for any reduced irreducible classical root system Φ of rank at least 2 and a finitely generated commutative ring R with 1, the Steinberg group St_Φ(R) and the elementary Chevalley group E_Φ(R) have property (T). We also show that there exists a group with property (T) which maps onto all finite simple groups of Lie type and rank at least 2, thereby providing a "unified" proof of expansion in these groups.