Expansive algebraic actions of discrete residually finite amenable groups and their entropy
Christopher Deninger, Klaus Schmidt
备注：
Using a recent result of Y. Choi the discussion of expansiveness was strengthened and shortened. The paper will appear in: Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems
We prove an entropy formula for certain expansive actions of a countable discrete residually finite group $Γ$ by automorphisms of compact abelian groups in terms of Fuglede-Kadison determinants. This extends an earlier result proved by the first author under somewhat more restrictive conditions.
The main tools for this generalization are a representation of the $Γ$-action by means of a `fundamental homoclinic point', and the description of entropy in terms of the renormalized logarithmic growth-rate of the set of $Γ_n$-fixed points, where $(Γ_n, n\ge1)$ is a decreasing sequence of finite index normal subgroups of $Γ$ with trivial intersection.
We prove a formula for the sofic entropy of expansive principal algebraic actions of residually finite groups, extending recent work of Deninger and Schmidt.
We prove that for certain actions of a discrete countable residually finite amenable group acting on a compact metric space with specification property, periodic measures are dense in the set of invariant measures.
In this paper we prove the tail variational principle for actions of countable amenable groups. This allows us to extend some characterizations of asymptotic $h$-expansiveness from $\mathbb{Z}$-actions to actions of countable amenable groups.
We prove a number of identities relating the sofic entropy of a certain class of non-expansive algebraic dynamical systems, the sofic entropy of the Wired Spanning Forest and the tree entropy of Cayley graphs of residually finite groups. We also show that homoclinic points and periodic points in harmonic models are dense under general conditions.
We give algebraic characterizations for expansiveness of algebraic actions of countable groups. The notion of p-expansiveness is introduced for algebraic actions, and we show that for countable amenable groups, a finitely presented algebraic action is 1-expansive exactly when it has finite entropy. We also study the local entropy theory for actions of countable amenable groups on compact groups by automorphisms, and show that the IE group determines the Pinsker factor for such actions. For an expansive algebraic action of a polycyclic-by-finite group on X, it is shown that the entropy of the a…
Let $X$ be a compact metrizable space equipped with a continuous action of a countable amenable group $G$. Suppose that the dynamical system $(X,G)$ is expansive and is the quotient by a uniformly bounded-to-one factor map of a strongly irreducible subshift. Let $τ\colon X \to X$ be a continuous map commuting with the action of $G$. We prove that if there is no pair of distinct $G$-homoclinic points in $X$ having the same image under $τ$, then $τ$ is surjective.
Consider a countable amenable group acting by homeomorphisms on a compact metrizable space. Chung and Li asked if expansiveness and positive entropy of the action imply existence of an off-diagonal asymptotic pair. For algebraic actions of polycyclic-by-finite groups, Chung and Li proved it does. We provide examples showing that Chung and Li's result is near-optimal in the sense that the conclusion fails for some non-algebraic action generated by a single homeomorphism, and for some algebraic actions of non-finitely generated abelian groups. On the other hand, we prove that every expansive act…
In this paper we show that for every congruent monotileable amenable group $G$ and for every metrizable Choquet simplex $K$, there exists a minimal $G$-subshift, which is free on a full measure set, whose set of invariant probability measures is affine homeomorphic to $K$. If the group is virtually abelian, the subshift is free. Congruent monotileable amenable groups are a generalization of amenable residually finite groups. In particular, we show that this class contains all the infinite countable virtually nilpotent groups. This article is a generalization to congruent monotileable amenable …
We prove for residually finite groups the following long standing conjecture: the number of twisted conjugacy classes of an automorphism of a finitely generated group is equal (if it is finite) to the number of finite dimensional irreducible unitary representations being invariant for the dual of this automorphism. Also, we prove that any finitely generated residually finite non-amenable group has the R-infinity property (any automorphism has infinitely many twisted conjugacy classes). This gives a lot of new examples and covers many known classes of such groups.
In 1990, Lind, Schmidt and Ward gave a formula for the entropy of certain $\mathbb{Z}^n$-dynamical systems attached to Laurent polynomials $P$, in terms of the (logarithmic) Mahler measure of $P$. We extend the expansive case of their result to the noncommutative setting where $\mathbb{Z}^n$ gets replaced by suitable discrete amenable groups. Generalizing the Mahler measure, Fuglede-Kadison determinants from the theory of group von Neumann algebras appear in the entropy formula.
We study properties of the Weyl pseudometric associated with an action of a countable amenable group on a compact metric space. We prove that the topological entropy and the number of minimal subsets of the closure of an orbit are both lower semicontinuous with respect to the Weyl pseudometric. Furthermore, the simplex of invariant measures supported on the orbit closure varies continuously. We apply the Weyl pseudometric to Toeplitz sequences for amenable residually finite groups. We introduce the notion of a regular Toeplitz sequence for an arbitrary amenable residually finite group and demo…
We establish a Garden of Eden theorem for expansive algebraic actions of amenable groups with the weak specification property, i.e. for any continuous equivariant map T from the underlying space to itself, T is pre-injective if and only if it is surjective. In particular, this applies to all expansive principal algebraic actions of amenable groups and expansive algebraic actions of Z^d with CPE.
We show that every isometric action on a Cantor set is conjugate to an inverse limit of actions on finite sets; and that every isometric action by a finitely generated amenable group is residually finite.
We present several applications of the weak specification property and certain topological Markov properties, recently introduced by S. Barbieri, F. García-Ramos and H. Li, and implied by the pseudo-orbit tracing property, for general expansive group actions on compact spaces. First we show that any expansive action of a countable amenable group on a compact metrizable space satisfying the weak specification and strong topological Markov properties satisfies the Moore property, i.e. every surjective automorphism of such dynamical system is pre-injective. This together with an earlier result of…
In this paper, we shall introduce $h$-expansiveness and asymptotical $h$-expansiveness for actions of sofic groups. By the definitions, each $h$-expansive action of sofic groups is asymptotically $h$-expansive. We show that each expansive action of sofic groups is $h$-expansive, and, for any given asymptotically $h$-expansive action of sofic groups, the entropy function (with respect to measures) is upper semi-continuous and hence the system admits a measure with maximal entropy. Observe that asymptotically $h$-expansive property was firstly introduced and studied by Misiurewicz for $\mathbb{Z…
We consider expansive group actions on a compact metric space containing a special fixed point denoted by $0$, and endomorphisms of such systems whose forward trajectories are attracted toward $0$. Such endomorphisms are called asymptotically nilpotent, and we study the conditions in which they are nilpotent, that is, map the entire space to $0$ in a finite number of iterations. We show that for a large class of discrete groups, this property of nil-rigidity holds for all expansive actions that satisfy a natural specification-like property and have dense homoclinic points. Our main result in p…
We prove that a generic p.m.p. action of a countable amenable group $G$ has scaling entropy that can not be dominated by a given rate of growth. As a corollary, we obtain that there does not exist a topological action of $G$ for which the set of ergodic invariant measures coincides with the set of all ergodic p.m.p. $G$-systems of entropy zero. We also prove that a generic action of a residually finite amenable group has scaling entropy that can not be bounded from below by a given sequence. We also show an example of an amenable group that has such lower bound for every free p.m.p. action.
In this paper, we study the descriptive set theoretic complexity of the equivalence relation of conjugacy of Toeplitz subshifts of a residually finite group $G$. On the one hand, we show that if $G = \mathbb{Z}$, then topological conjugacy on Toeplitz subshifts with separated holes is amenable. In contrast, if $G$ is non-amenable, then conjugacy of Toeplitz $G$-subshifts is a non-amenable equivalence relation. The results were motivated by a general question, asked by Gao, Jackson and Seward, about the complexity of conjugacy for minimal, free subshifts of countable groups.
We prove that a monoid is sofic, in the sense recently introduced by Ceccherini-Silberstein and Coornaert, whenever the J-class of the identity is a sofic group, and the quotients of this group by orbit stabilisers in the rest of the monoid are amenable. In particular, this shows that the following are all sofic: cancellative monoids with amenable group of units; monoids with sofic group of units and finitely many non-units; and monoids with amenable Schutzenberger groups and finitely many L-classes in each D-class. This provides a very wide range of sofic monoids, subsuming most known example…
In this paper we study chaotic behavior of actions of a countable discrete group acting on a compact metric space by self-homeomorphisms. For actions of a countable discrete group G, we introduce local weak mixing and Li-Yorke chaos; and prove that local weak mixing implies Li-Yorke chaos if G is infinite, and positive topological entropy implies local weak mixing if G is an infinite countable discrete amenable group. Moreover, when considering a shift of finite type for actions of an infinite countable amenable group G, if the action has positive topological entropy then its homoclinic equiva…
The entropy in dynamical systems was introduced by A. Kolmogorov. Initially dedicated to iterations of one finite measure preserving transformation, the notion was gradually generalized so as to encompass amenable group actions and topological actions. L. Bowen (2008) succeeded in breaking the non-amenable frontier by introducing the sofic entropy. This invariant provides the same services as the classical entropy for the measured actions of the sofic groups (a class which contains the residually finite groups). In 2010, D. Kerr et H. Li established a topological version together with a variat…
This note answers a question of Kechris: if $H<G$ is a normal subgroup of a countable group $G$, $H$ has property MD and $G/H$ is amenable and residually finite then $G$ also has property MD. Under the same hypothesis we prove that for any action $a$ of $G$, if $b$ is a free action of $G/H$, and $b_G$ is the induced action of $G$ then $\CInd_H^G(a|H) \times b_G$ weakly contains $a$. Moreover, if $H<G$ is any subgroup of a countable group $G$, and the action of $G$ on $G/H$ is amenable, then $\CInd_H^G(a|H)$ weakly contains $a$ whenever $a$ is a Gaussian action.
We relate Fuglede-Kadison determinants to entropy of algebraic actions of sofic groups in essentially complete generality. This generalizes recent results of Hanfeng Li and Andreas Thom from the amenable case to the sofic case, as well as results of David Kerr, Hanfeng Li, and Lewis Bowen in the residually finite case. Moreover, the proof given is the first calculation of entropy of algebraic actions to avoid a nontrivial determinant approximation. We apply our results to a problem of Christopher Deninger, generalizing results of Hanfeng Li and David Kerr. Finally, we show that in many cases, …
Symbolic Extension Entropy Theorem (SEET) describes the possibility of a lossless digitalization of a dynamical system by extending it to a subshift. It gives an estimate on the entropy of symbolic extensions (and the necessary number of symbols). Unlike in the measure-theoretic case, where Kolmogorov--Sinai entropy is the estimate, in the topological setup the task reaches beyond the classical theory of entropy. Tools from an extended theory of entropy structures are needed. The main goal of this paper is to prove the SEET for actions of countable amenable groups: Let a countable amenable gro…
Sofic groups were defined implicitly by Gromov in [Gr99] and explicitly by Weiss in [We00]. All residually finite groups (and hence every linear group) is sofic. The purpose of this paper is to introduce, for every countable sofic group $G$, a family of measure-conjugacy invariants for measure-preserving $G$-actions on probability spaces. These invariants generalize Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy for actions of amenable groups. They are computed exactly for Bernoulli shifts over $G$, leading to a complete classification of Bernoulli systems up to measure-conjugacy for many groups including all count…
We consider Turing machines as actions over configurations in $Σ^{\mathbb{Z}^d}$ which only change them locally around a marked position that can move and carry a particular state. In this setting we study the monoid of Turing machines and the group of reversible Turing machines. We also study two natural subgroups, namely the group of finite-state automata, which generalizes the topological full groups studied in the theory of orbit-equivalence, and the group of oblivious Turing machines whose movement is independent of tape contents, which generalizes lamplighter groups and has connections t…
Let $Γ$ be a finitely generated group and $X$ be a minimal compact $Γ$-space. We assume that the $Γ$-action is micro-supported, i.e. for every non-empty open subset $U \subseteq X$, there is an element of $Γ$ acting non-trivially on $U$ and trivially on the complement $X \setminus U$. We show that, under suitable assumptions, the existence of certain commensurated subgroups in $Γ$ yields strong restrictions on the dynamics of the $Γ$-action: the space $X$ has compressible open subsets, and it is an almost $Γ$-boundary. Those properties yield in turn restrictions on the structure of $Γ$: $Γ$ is…
In his seminal 1967 paper "Disjointness in ergodic theory, minimal sets, and a problem in Diophantine approximation" Furstenberg introduced the notion of disjointness of dynamical systems, both topological and measure preserving. In this paper he showed that for actions of the integers the Bernoulli system $Ω= \{0, 1\}^\mathbb{Z}$, is disjoint from every minimal system, and that the subring $R_0$, over the field $\mathbb{Z}_2 =\{0, 1\}$, generated by the minimal functions in $Ω$, is a proper subset of $Ω$. He conjectured that a similar result holds in general and in our 1983 work "Interpolatio…
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…
