Expansive algebraic actions of countable abelian groups

Representations of toral automorphisms

This survey gives an account of an algebraic construction of symbolic covers and representations of ergodic automorphisms of compact abelian groups, initiated by A.M. Vershik around 1992 for hyperbolic automorphisms of finite-dimensional tori. The key ingredient in this approach, which was subsequently extended to arbitrary expansive automorphisms of compact abelian groups, is the use of homoclinic points of the automorphism. Although existence and abundance of homoclinic points is intimately connected to expansiveness of the automorphism, it is nevertheless possible to extend certain aspects …

Plünnecke inequalities for countable abelian groups

We establish in this paper a new form of Plünnecke-type inequalities for ergodic probability measure-preserving actions of any countable abelian group. Using a correspondence principle for product sets, this allows us to deduce lower bounds on the upper and lower Banach densities of any product set in terms of the upper Banach density of an iterated product set of one of its addends. These bounds are new already in the case of the integers. We also introduce the notion of an ergodic basis, which is parallel, but significantly weaker than the analogous notion of an additive basis, and deduce Pl…

具有 specification 的 sofic 群膨胀作用、强拓扑马尔可夫性质与满射性

Expansive actions with specification of sofic groups, strong topological Markov property, and surjunctivity

本文证明了对于 sofic 群作用的膨胀动力系统，在非负 sofic 拓扑熵且满足弱 specification 与强拓扑马尔可夫性质的条件下，系统必为满射的。

Ergodic Abelian actions with homogeneous spectrum

It is shown that for each $N>0$ and for a wide class of Abelian non-compact locally compact second countable groups $G$ including all infinite countable discrete ones and $\Bbb R^{d_1}\times\Bbb Z^{d_2}$ with $d_1,d_2\ge 0$, there exists a weakly mixing probability preserving $G$-action with a homogeneous spectrum of multiplicity $N$.

Expansive subdynamics for algebraic $Z^d$-actions

A general framework for investigating topological actions of $Z^d$ on compact metric spaces was proposed by Boyle and Lind in terms of expansive behavior along lower-dimensional subspaces of $R^d$. Here we completely describe this expansive behavior for the class of algebraic $Z^d$-actions given by commuting automorphisms of compact abelian groups. The description uses the logarithmic image of an algebraic variety together with a directional version of Noetherian modules over the ring of Laurent polynomials in several commuting variables. We introduce two notions of rank for topological $Z^d$-…

Ergodicity of algebraic actions of nilpotent groups

An algebraic $Γ$-action is an action of a countable group $Γ$ on a compact abelian group $X$ by continuous automorphisms of $X$. We prove that any expansive algebraic action of a finitely generated nilpotent group $Γ$ on a connected group $X$ is ergodic. We also show that this result does not hold for actions of polycyclic groups.

Mixing endomorphisms on toroidal groups and their countable products

We show that all non-trivial continuous endomorphisms of the circle group are topologically mixing. We also show that there exists a large infinite class of continuous endomorphisms of any n-dimensional torus group which are topologically mixing. Lastly, we prove that any continuous endomorphism on an abelian polish semigroup (with an identity) can be extended in a natural way to a topologically mixing endomorphism on the countable infinite product of said semigroup. This shows that every countable infinite product of an abelian polish semigroup has a topologically mixing endomorphism and, in …

Sumset Phenomenon in Countable Amenable Groups

Jin proved that whenever $A$ and $B$ are sets of positive upper density in $\Z$, $A+B$ is piecewise syndetic. Jin's theorem was subsequently generalized by Jin and Keisler to a certain family of abelian groups, which in particular contains $\Z^d$. Answering a question of Jin and Keisler, we show that this result can be extended to countable amenable groups. Moreover we establish that such sumsets (or -- depending on the notation -- "productsets") are piecewise Bohr, a result which for $G=\Z$ was proved by Bergelson, Furstenberg and Weiss. In the case of an abelian group $G$, we show that a set…

Homoclinically expansive actions and a Garden of Eden theorem for harmonic models

Let $Γ$ be a countable Abelian group and $f \in \Z[Γ]$, where $\Z[Γ]$ denotes the integral group ring of $Γ$. Consider the Pontryagin dual $X_f$ of the cyclic $\Z[Γ]$-module $\Z[Γ]/\Z[Γ] f$ and suppose that $f$ is weakly expansive (e.g., $f$ is invertible in $\ell^1(Γ)$, or, when $Γ$ is not virtually $\Z$ or $\Z^2$, $f$ is well-balanced) and that $X_f$ is connected. We prove that if $τ\colon X_f \to X_f$ is a $Γ$-equivariant continuous map, then $τ$ is surjective if and only if the restriction of $τ$ to each $Γ$-homoclinicity class is injective. We also show that this equivalence remains valid…

Abelian group actions and hypersmooth equivalence relations

We show that a Borel action of a standard Borel group which is isomorphic to a sum of a countable abelian group with a countable sum of real lines and circles induces an orbit equivalence relation which is hypersmooth, i.e., Borel reducible to eventual agreement on sequences of reals, and it follows from this result along with the structure theory for locally compact abelian groups that Borel actions of Polish LCA groups induce orbit equivalence relations which are essentially hyperfinite, extending a result of Gao and Jackson and answering a question of Ding and Gao.

阿贝尔群上的代数扩张性

Algebraic expansivity on abelian groups

本文研究了阿贝尔群上端态射的代数扩张性，探讨了其基本性质、与Weiss代数熵的关系，并证明正向扩张满射仅限于有限系统，同时通过庞特里亚金对偶性展示了其与拓扑动力学的联系。

Weak mean equicontinuity for a countable discrete amenable group action

The weak mean equicontinuous properties for a countable discrete amenable group $G$ acting continuously on a compact metrizable space $X$ are studied. It is shown that the weak mean equicontinuity of $(X \times X,G)$ is equivalent to the mean equicontinuity of $(X,G)$. Moreover, when $(X,G)$ has full measure center or $G$ is abelian, it is shown that $(X,G)$ is weak mean equicontinuous if and only if all points in $X$ are uniquely ergodic points and the map $x \to μ_x^G$ is continuous, where $μ_x^G$ is the unique ergodic measure on $\{\ol{Orb(x)}, G\}$.

A note on uniform convergence of Wiener-Wintner ergodic averages

We show uniform convergence of Wiener-Wintner ergodic averages for ergodic actions of (not necessarily countable) locally compact, second countable, abelian (LCA) groups. As a by-product, we obtain a finitary version of the van der Corput inequality for such groups.

Weak density of orbit equivalence classes and free products of infinite abelian groups

We show that if a countable group $G$ is the free product of infinite abelian groups, then for every free, probability-measure-preserving (p.m.p.) action of $G$, its orbit equivalence class is weakly dense in the space of p.m.p. actions of $G$. This extends Lewis Bowen's result for free groups.

On the centralizers of minimal aperiodic actions on the Cantor set

In this article we study the centralizer of a minimal aperiodic action of a countable group on the Cantor set (an aperiodic minimal Cantor system). We show that any countable residually finite group is the subgroup of the centralizer of some minimal $\mathbb Z$ action on the Cantor set, and that any countable group is the subgroup of the normalizer of a minimal aperiodic action of an abelian countable free group on the Cantor set. On the other hand we show that for any countable group $G$, the centralizer of any minimal aperiodic $G$-action on the Cantor set is a subgroup of the centralizer of…

Strongly mixing systems are almost strongly mixing of all orders

We prove that any strongly mixing action of a countable abelian group on a probability space has higher order mixing properties. This is achieved via introducing and utilizing $\mathcal R$-limits, a notion of convergence which is based on the classical Ramsey Theorem. $\mathcal R$-limits are intrinsically connected with a new combinatorial notion of largeness which is similar to but has stronger properties than the classical notions of uniform density one and IP$^*$. While the main goal of this paper is to establish a $\textit{universal}$ property of strongly mixing actions of countable abelia…

New spectral multiplicities for ergodic actions

Let G be a locally compact second countable Abelian group. Given a measure preserving action T of G on a standard probability space, let M(T) denote the set of essential values of the spectral multiplicity function of the Koopman unitary representation of G associated with T. In the case when G is either a discrete countable Abelian group or R^n, n>0, it is shown that the sets of the form {p,q,pq}, {p,q,r,pq,pr,qr,pqr} etc. or any multiplicative (and additive) subsemigroup of N are realizable as M(T) for a weakly mixing G-action T.

和集中的 Bohr 集 II：可数阿贝尔群

Bohr sets in sumsets II: countable abelian groups

本文研究可数阿贝尔群中三重和集的 Bohr 集存在性，证明三类正密度与有限划分情形下的定量结果，并推广和加强多项已知定理。

Averaging sequences and abelian rank in amenable groups

We investigate the connection between the abelian rank of a countable amenable group and the existence of good averaging sequences (e.g. for the pointwise ergodic theorem). We show that if $G$ is a group of abelian rank $r(G)$ then any Tempel'man sequence must have constant at least $2^{r(G)}$ and if $G$ is abelian this constant is achieved. On the other hand, infinite rank excludes the existence of Tempel'man sequences and forces all tempered sequences to grow super-exponentially.

2-幂零波兰群中的等分布与三重受限和集

Equidistribution in 2-Nilpotent Polish Groups and triple restricted sumsets

本文研究2-幂零局部紧波兰群的等分布定理，证明了在任意可数离散阿贝尔群中，正密度子集存在三重受限和集。

Multiple recurrence and large intersections for abelian group actions

The purpose of this paper is to study the phenomenon of large intersections in the framework of multiple recurrence for measure-preserving actions of countable abelian groups. Among other things, we show: (1) If $G$ is a countable abelian group and $φ, ψ: G \to G$ are homomorphisms such that $φ(G)$, $ψ(G)$, and $(ψ- φ)(G)$ have finite index in $G$, then for every ergodic measure-preserving system $(X, \mathcal{B}, μ, (T_g)_{g \in G})$, every set $A \in \mathcal{B}$, and every $\varepsilon > 0$, the set $\{g \in G : μ(A \cap T_{φ(g)}^{-1}A \cap T_{ψ(g)}^{-1}A) > μ(A)^3 - \varepsilon\}$ is synde…

A van der Corput lemma and weak mixing over groups

We study weak mixing of all orders for weakly mixing measure preserving dynamical systems, where the dynamics is given by the action of an abelian second countable topological group which has an invariant measure under the group operation. One of the main technical tools we use is a van der Corput lemma for Hilbert space valued functions on a second countable topological group.

Incomparable actions of free groups

Suppose that $X$ is a Polish space, $E$ is a countable Borel equivalence relation on $X$, and $μ$ is an $E$-invariant Borel probability measure on $X$. We consider the circumstances under which for every countable non-abelian free group $Γ$, there is a Borel sequence $(\cdot_r)_{r \in \mathbb{R}}$ of free actions of $Γ$ on $X$, generating subequivalence relations $E_r$ of $E$ with respect to which $μ$ is ergodic, with the further property that $(E_r)_{r \in \mathbb{R}}$ is an increasing sequence of relations which are pairwise incomparable under $μ$-reducibility. In particular, we show that if…

Multiple ergodic averages in abelian groups and Khintchine type recurrence

Let $G$ be a countable abelian group. We study ergodic averages associated with configurations of the form $\{ag,bg,(a+b)g\}$ for some $a,b\in\mathbb{Z}$. Under some assumptions on $G$, we prove that the universal characteristic factor for these averages is a factor of a $2$-step nilpotent homogeneous space. As an application we derive a Khintchine type recurrence result. In particular, we prove that for every countable abelian group $G$, if $a,b\in\mathbb{Z}$ are such that $aG,bG,(b-a)G$ and $(a+b)G$ are of finite index in $G$, then for every $E\subset G$ and $\varepsilon>0$ the set $$\{g\in …

A Kronecker-Weyl theorem for subsets of abelian groups

Let N be the set of non-negative integer numbers, T the circle group and c the cardinality of the continuum. Given an abelian group G of size at most 2^c and a countable family F of infinite subsets of G, we construct "Baire many" monomorphisms p: G --> T^c such that p(E) is dense in {y in T^c : ny=0} whenever n in N, E in F, nE={0} and {x in E: mx=g} is finite for all g in G and m such that n=mk for some k in N--{1}. We apply this result to obtain an algebraic description of countable potentially dense subsets of abelian groups, thereby making a significant progress towards a solution of a pr…

Mixing actions of countable groups are almost free

A measure preserving action of a countably infinite group Γis called totally ergodic if every infinite subgroup of Γacts ergodically. For example, all mixing and mildly mixing actions are totally ergodic. This note shows that if an action of Γis totally ergodic then there exists a finite normal subgroup N of Γsuch that the stabilizer of almost every point is equal to N. Surprisingly the proof relies on the group theoretic fact (proved by Hall and Kulatilaka as well as by Kargapolov) that every infinite locally finite group contains an infinite abelian subgroup, of which all known proofs rely o…

Polynomial ergodic averages for certain countable ring actions

A recent result of Frantzikinakis establishes sufficient conditions for joint ergodicity in the setting of $\mathbb{Z}$-actions. We generalize this result for actions of second-countable locally compact abelian groups. We obtain two applications of this result. First, we show that, given an ergodic action $(T_n)_{n \in F}$ of a countable field $F$ with characteristic zero on a probability space $(X,\mathcal{B},μ)$ and a family $\{p_1,\dots,p_k\}$ of independent polynomials, we have \[ \lim_{N \to \infty} \frac{1}{|Φ_N|}\sum_{n \in Φ_N} T_{p_1(n)}f_1\cdots T_{p_k(n)}f_k\ = \ \prod_{j=1}^k \int_…

Poisson-Pinsker factor and infinite measure preserving group actions

We solve the question of the existence of a Poisson-Pinsker factor for conservative ergodic infinite measure preserving action of a countable amenable group by proving the following dichotomy: either it has totally positive Poisson entropy (and is of zero type), or it possesses a Poisson-Pinsker factor. If G is abelian and the entropy positive, the spectrum is absolutely continuous (Lebesgue countable if G=\mathbb{Z}) on the whole L^{2}-space in the first case and in the orthocomplement of the L^{2}-space of the Poisson-Pinsker factor in the second.

群作用中的非确定性及拓扑极小自连接

Non-determinism in group actions and topological minimal self-joinings

本文推广非扩张方向至一般群作用，建立非确定性horoballs限制，应用于自由群、幂零群及拓扑动力学中的极小自连接问题。

Approximately transitive dynamical systems and simple spectrum

For some countable discrete torsion Abelian groups we give examples of their finite measure-preserving actions which have simple spectrum and no approximate transitivity property.

A Garden of Eden theorem for principal algebraic actions

Let $Γ$ be a countable abelian group and $f \in \Z[Γ]$, where $\Z[Γ]$ denotes the integral group ring of $Γ$. Consider the Pontryagin dual $X_f$ of the cyclic $\Z[Γ]$-module $\Z[Γ]/\Z[Γ] f$ and suppose that the natural action of $Γ$ on $X_f$ is expansive and that $X_f$ is connected. We prove that if $τ\colon X_f \to X_f$ is a $Γ$-equivariant continuous map, then $τ$ is surjective if and only if the restriction of $τ$ to each $Γ$-homoclinicity class is injective. This is an analogue of the classical Garden of Eden theorem of Moore and Myhill for cellular automata with finite alphabet over $Γ$.

On extensions of typical group actions

For every countable abelian group $G$ we find the set of all its subgroups $H$ ($H\leq G$) such that a typical measure-preserving $H$-action on a standard atomless probability space $(X,\mathcal{F}, μ)$ can be extended to a free measure-preserving $G$-action on $(X,\mathcal{F}, μ)$. The description of all such pairs $H\leq G$ was made in purely group terms, in the language of the dual $\hat{G}$, and $G$-actions with discrete spectrum. As an application, we answer a question when a typical $H$-action can be extended to a $G$-action with some dynamic property, or to a $G$-action at all. In parti…

On the structure theory of cubespace fibrations

We study fibrations in the category of cubespaces/nilspaces. We show that a fibration of finite degree $f \colon X\rightarrow Y$ between compact ergodic gluing cubespaces (in particular nilspaces) factors as a (possibly countable) tower of compact abelian Lie group principal fiber bundles over $Y$. If the structure groups of $f$ are connected then the fibers are (uniformly) isomorphic (in a strong sense) to an inverse limit of nilmanifolds. In addition we give conditions under which the fibers of $f$ are isomorphic as subcubespaces. We introduce regionally proximal equivalence relations relati…

Bohr topology and difference sets for some abelian groups

For a fixed prime $p$, $\mathbb F_{p}$ denotes the field with $p$ elements, and $\mathbb F_{p}^ω$ denotes the countable direct sum $\bigoplus_{n=1}^{\infty} \mathbb F_{p}$. Viewing $\mathbb F_{p}^ω$ as a countable abelian group, we construct a set $A\subseteq \mathbb F_{p}^ω$ having positive upper Banach density while the difference set $A-A:=\{a-b:a,b\in A\}$ does not contain a Bohr neighborhood of any $c\in \mathbb F_{p}^ω$. For $p=2$ we obtain a stronger conclusion: $A-A$ does not contain a set of the form $g+(B-B)$, where $B$ is piecewise syndetic. This construction answers negatively a va…

任意 Conze-Lesigne 系统的结构

The structure of arbitrary Conze-Lesigne systems

本文为任意可数阿贝尔群定义了Conze-Lesigne系统，证明其结构是幂零类为2的局部紧群平移系统的逆极限，并将此定理应用于推导有限阿贝尔群的Gowers U^3范数逆向定理。

Periodic points of algebraic actions of discrete groups

Let $Γ$ be a countable group. A $Γ$-action on a compact abelian group $X$ by continuous automorphisms of $X$ is called Noetherian if the dual of $X$ is Noetherian as a ${\mathbb Z}(Γ)$-module. We prove that any Noetherian action of a finitely generated virtually nilpotent group has a dense set of periodic points.

交换幺半群的有界到一作用的超有限性

Hyperfiniteness of bounded-to-one actions of commutative monoids

该研究针对可数个两两交换的Borel函数生成等价关系的开放问题，在函数为有界到一的情形下给出肯定解答，推广了Gao-Jackson的相关定理。

Generic representations of abelian groups and extreme amenability

If $G$ is a Polish group and $Γ$ is a countable group, denote by $\Hom(Γ, G)$ the space of all homomorphisms $Γ\to G$. We study properties of the group $\cl{π(Γ)}$ for the generic $π\in \Hom(Γ, G)$, when $Γ$ is abelian and $G$ is one of the following three groups: the unitary group of an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space, the automorphism group of a standard probability space, and the isometry group of the Urysohn metric space. Under mild assumptions on $Γ$, we prove that in the first case, there is (up to isomorphism of topological groups) a unique generic $\cl{π(Γ)}$; in the other two, we s…

Sets of transfer times with small densities

We consider in this paper the set of transfer times between two measurable subsets of positive measures in an ergodic probability measure-preserving system of a countable abelian group. If the lower asymptotic density of the transfer times is small, then we prove this set must be either periodic or Sturmian. Our results can be viewed as ergodic-theoretical extensions of some classical sumset theorems in compact abelian groups due to Kneser. Our proofs are based on a correspondence principle for action sets which was developed previously by the first two authors.