We address the dynamics of the cellular automaton (CA) that multiplies by $p/q$ in base $pq$ (for coprime $p>q>1$) by studying its trace subshift. We present a conjugacy of the trace to a previously studied base-$p/q$ numeration system. We also show that the trace subshift is not synchronizing and in particular not sofic. As a byproduct we compute its complexity function and we conclude by presenting an example of a sofic shift with the same complexity function.
We study implications of expansiveness and pointwise periodicity for certain groups and semigroups of transformations. Among other things we prove that every pointwise periodic finitely generated group of cellular automata is necessarily finite. We also prove that a subshift over any finitely generated group that consists of finite orbits is finite, and related results for tilings of Euclidean space.
Given a $k$-graph $Λ$ we construct a Markov space $M_Λ$, and a collection of $k$ pairwise commuting cellular automata on $M_Λ$, providing for a factorization of Markov's shift. Iterating these maps we obtain an action of ${\mathbb N}^k$ on $M_Λ$ which is then used to form a semidirect product groupoid $M_Λ\rtimes {\mathbb N}^k$. This groupoid turns out to be identical to the path groupoid constructed by Kumjian and Pask, and hence its C*-algebra is isomorphic to the higher rank graph C*-algebra of $Λ$.
We study two-dimensional subshifts whose horizontal trace (a.k.a. projective subdynamics) contains only points of finite support. Our main result is a classification result for such subshifts satisfying a minimality property. As corollaries, we obtain new proofs for various known results on traces of SFTs, nilpotency and decidability of cellular automata, topological full groups and the subshift of prime numbers. We also construct various (sofic) examples illustrating the concepts.
We define the class of rapidly left expansive cellular automata, which contains fractional multiplication automata, Wolfram's Rule 30, and many others. The definition has been shaped by a proposition of Jen on aperiodicity of columns in space-time diagrams of certain cellular automata, which generalizes to this new class. We also present results that originate from the theory of distribution modulo 1.
We present a new sufficient criterion to prove that a non-sofic half-synchronized subshift is direct prime. The criterion is based on conjugacy invariant properties of Fischer graphs of half-synchronized shifts. We use this criterion to show as a new result that all n-Dyck shifts are direct prime, and we also give new proofs of direct primeness of non-sofic beta-shifts and non-sofic S-gap shifts. We also construct a class of non-sofic synchronized direct prime subshifts which additionally admit reversible cellular automata with all directions sensitive.
We investigate subshifts with a general algebraic structure and cellular automata on them, with an emphasis on (order-theoretic) lattices. Our main results concern the characterization of Boolean algebraic subshifts, conditions for algebraic subshifts to be recoded into cellwise algebras and the limit dynamics of homomorphic cellular automata on lattice subshifts.
The generic limit set of a dynamical system is the smallest set that attracts most of the space in a topological sense: it is the smallest closed set with a comeager basin of attraction. Introduced by Milnor, it has been studied in the context of one-dimensional cellular automata by Djenaoui and Guillon, Delacourt, and Törmä. In this article we present complexity bounds on realizations of generic limit sets of cellular automata with prescribed properties. We show that generic limit sets have a $Π^0_2$ language if they are inclusion-minimal, a $Σ^0_1$ language if the cellular automaton has equi…
We prove a conjecture of P. Guillon and G. Richard by showing that cellular automata that eventually fix all cells to a fixed symbol 0 are nilpotent on S^Z^d for all d. We also briefly discuss nilpotency on other subshifts, and show that weak nilpotency implies nilpotency in all subshifts and all dimensions, since we do not know a published reference for this.
We consider the range of possible dynamics of cellular automata (CA) on two-sided beta-shifts $S_β$. We show that any reversible CA $F:S_β\to S_β$ has an almost equicontinuous direction whenever $S_β$ is not sofic. This has the corollary that non-sofic beta-shifts are topologically direct prime. We also make some preliminary observations on direct topological factorizations of beta-shifts that are subshifts of finite type.
A $λ$-graph system is a labeled Bratteli diagram with some additional structure, which presents a subshift and yields a $C^*$-algebra. In this paper, we construct a $λ$-graph system from a pushdown automaton, such that the accepted language by the automaton coincides with the language of admissible words of the presented subshift by the $λ$-graph system. The $λ$-graph systems for pushdown automata accepting the languages of Markov-Dyck shifts and sofic-Dyck shifts are presented.
Let L:= Z^D be the D-dimensional lattice and let A^L be the Cantor space of L-indexed configurations in some finite alphabet A, with the natural L-action by shifts. A `cellular automaton' is a continuous, shift-commuting self-map F of A^L, and an `F-invariant subshift' is a closed, F-invariant and shift-invariant subset X of A^L. Suppose x is a configuration in A^L that is X-admissible everywhere except for some small region we call a `defect'. It has been empirically observed that such defects persist under iteration of F, and often propagate like `particles' which coalesce or annihilate on c…
We study the geometric properties of Cantor subshifts in the Besicovitch space, proving that sofic shifts occupy exactly the homotopy classes of simplicial complexes. In addition, we study canonical projections into subshifts, characterize the cellular automata that are contracting or isometric in the Besicovitch or Weyl spaces, study continuous functions that locally look like cellular automata, and present a new proof for the nonexistence of transitive cellular automata in the Besicovitch space.
For any infinite transitive sofic shift $X$ we construct a reversible cellular automaton (i.e. an automorphism of the shift $X$) which breaks any given finite point of the subshift into a finite collection of gliders traveling into opposing directions. This shows in addition that every infinite transitive sofic shift has a reversible CA which is sensitive with respect to all directions. As another application we prove a finitary Ryan's theorem: the automorphism group aut$(X)$ contains a two-element subset whose centralizer consists only of shift maps. We also show that in the class of $S$-gap …
The generic limit set of a topological dynamical system of the smallest closed subset of the phase space that has a comeager realm of attraction. It intuitively captures the asymptotic dynamics of almost all initial conditions. It was defined by Milnor and studied in the context of cellular automata, whose generic limit sets are subshifts, by Djenaoui and Guillon. In this article we study the structural and computational restrictions that apply to generic limit sets of cellular automata. As our main result, we show that the language of a generic limit set can be at most $Σ^0_3$-hard, and lower…
Let M=Z^D be a D-dimensional lattice, and let A be an abelian group. A^M is then a compact abelian group; a `linear cellular automaton' (LCA) is a topological group endomorphism Φ:A^M --> A^M that commutes with all shift maps. Suppose μis a probability measure on A^M whose support is a subshift of finite type or sofic shift. We provide sufficient conditions (on Φand μ) under which Φ`asymptotically randomizes' μ, meaning that wk*lim_{J\ni j --> oo} Φ^j μ= η, where ηis the Haar measure on A^M, and J has Cesaro density 1. In the case when Φ=1+σ, we provide a condition on μthat is both necessary a…
We show that a cellular automaton on a mixing subshift of finite type is a Von Neumann regular element in the semigroup of cellular automata if and only if it is split epic onto its image in the category of sofic shifts and block maps. It follows from [S.-Törmä, 2015] that Von Neumann regularity is decidable condition, and we decide it for all elementary CA.
We show that the automorphism group of a one-dimensional full shift (the group of reversible cellular automata) does not satisfy the Tits alternative. That is, we construct a finitely-generated subgroup which is not virtually solvable yet does not contain a free group on two generators. We give constructions both in the two-sided case (spatially acting group $\Z$) and the one-sided case (spatially acting monoid $\N$, alphabet size at least eight). Lack of Tits alternative follows for several groups of symbolic (dynamical) origin: automorphism groups of two-sided one-dimensional uncountable sof…
A `symbolic dynamical system' is a continuous transformation F:X-->X of a closed perfect subset X of A^V, where A is a finite set and V is countable. (Examples include subshifts, odometers, cellular automata, and automaton networks.) The function F induces a directed graph structure on V, whose geometry reveals information about the dynamical system (X,F). The `dimension' dim(V) is an exponent describing the growth rate of balls in the digraph as a function of their radius. We show: if X has positive entropy and dim(V)>1, and the system (A^V,X,F) satisfies minimal symmetry and mixing condition…
Sofic shifts are symbolic dynamical systems defined by the set of bi-infinite sequences on an edge-labeled directed graph, called a presentation. We study the computational complexity of an array of natural decision problems about presentations of sofic shifts, such as whether a given graph presents a shift of finite type, or an irreducible shift; whether one graph presents a subshift of another; and whether a given presentation is minimal, or has a synchronizing word. Leveraging connections to automata theory, we first observe that these problems are all decidable in polynomial time when the …
Let $G$ be a group. Let $X$ be a connected algebraic group over an algebraically closed field $K$. Denote by $A=X(K)$ the set of $K$-points of $X$. We study a class of endomorphisms of pro-algebraic groups, namely algebraic group cellular automata over $(G,X,K)$. They are cellular automata $τ\colon A^G \to A^G$ whose local defining map is induced by a homomorphism of algebraic groups $X^M \to X$ where $M\subset G$ is a finite memory set of $τ$. Our first result is that when $G$ is sofic, such an algebraic group cellular automaton $τ$ is invertible whenever it is injective and $\text{char}(K)=0…
