Appears in collection : Orbit equivalence and topological and measurable dynamics / Equivalence orbitale, dynamique topologique et mesurée

Factors are the von Neumann algebraic analogs of ergodic measured equivalence relations. In this correspondance, full factors are the analogs of strongly ergodic equivalence relations. This analogy is very fruitful but there are also some surprising differences! We will illustrate this with some recent results on full factors and strongly ergodic equivalence relations.