Bernoulli actions of sofic groups have completely positive entropy

We prove that every Bernoulli action of a sofic group has completely positive entropy with respect to every sofic approximation net. We also prove that every Bernoulli action of a finitely generated free group has the property that each of its nontrivial factors with a finite generating partition has positive f-invariant.     

On the mean square of the remainder for the euclidean lattice point counting problem

We study an invariant of dynamical systems called naive entropy, which is defined for both measurable and topological actions of any countable group. We focus on nonamenable groups, in which case the invariant is two-valued, with every system having naive entropy either zero or infinity. Bowen has conjectured that when the acting group is sofic, zero naive entropy implies sofic entropy at most zero for both types of systems. We prove the topological version of this conjecture by showing that for every action of a sofic group by homeomorphisms of a compact metric space, zero naive entropy implies sofic entropy at most zero. This result and the simple definition of naive entropy allow us to show that the generic action of a free group on the Cantor set has sofic entropy at most zero. We observe that a distal Γ-system has zero naive entropy in both senses, if Γ has an element of infinite order. We also show that the naive entropy of a topological system is greater than or equal to the naive measure entropy of the same system with respect to any invariant measure.     

Local variational principle concerning entropy of a sofic group action

Recently Lewis Bowen introduced a notion of entropy for measure-preserving actions of countable sofic groups admitting a generating measurable partition with finite entropy; and then David Kerr and Hanfeng Li developed an operator-algebraic approach to actions of countable sofic groups not only on a standard probability space but also on a compact metric space, and established the global variational principle concerning measure-theoretic and topological entropy in this sofic context. By localizing these two kinds of entropy, in this paper we prove a local version of the global variational principle for any finite open cover of the space, and show that these local measure-theoretic and topological entropies coincide with their classical counterparts when the acting group is an infinite amenable group.     

Harmonic models and spanning forests of residually finite 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.     

Spatial complexity in multi-layer cellular neural networks

This study investigates the complexity of the global set of output patterns for one-dimensional multi-layer cellular neural networks with input. Applying labeling to the output space produces a sofic shift space. Two invariants, namely spatial entropy and dynamical zeta function, can be exactly computed by studying the induced sofic shift space. This study gives sofic shift a realization through a realistic model. Furthermore, a new phenomenon, the broken of symmetry of entropy, is discovered in multi-layer cellular neural networks with input.     

Sofic systems

A symbolic flow is called a sofic system if it is a homomorphic image (factor) of a subshift of finite type. We show that every sofic system can be realized as a finite-to-one factor of a subshift of finite type with the same entropy. From this it follows that sofic systems share many properties with subshifts of finite type. We concentrate especially on the properties of TPPD (transitive with periodic points dense) sofic systems.     

Subsystem entropy for ? sofic shifts

We prove that any ?^d shift of finite type with positive topological entropy has a family of subsystems of finite type whose entropies are dense in the interval from zero to the entropy of the original shift. We show a similar result for ?^d sofic shifts, and also show every ?^d sofic shift can be covered by a ?^d shift of finite type arbitrarily close in entropy.     

Entropy and the variational principle for actions of sofic groups

Recently Lewis Bowen introduced a notion of entropy for measure-preserving actions of a countable sofic group on a standard probability space admitting a generating partition with finite entropy. By applying an operator algebra perspective we develop a more general approach to sofic entropy which produces both measure and topological dynamical invariants, and we establish the variational principle in this context. In the case of residually finite groups we use the variational principle to compute the topological entropy of principal algebraic actions whose defining group ring element is invertible in the full group C ^∗-algebra.     

Sofic mean dimension

We introduce mean dimensions for continuous actions of countable sofic groups on compact metrizable spaces. These generalize the Gromov–Lindenstrauss–Weiss mean dimensions for actions of countable amenable groups, and are useful for distinguishing continuous actions of countable sofic groups with infinite entropy.     

On sofic actions and equivalence relations

The notion of sofic equivalence relation was introduced by Gabor Elek and Gabor Lippner. Their technics employ some graph theory. Here we define this notion in a more operator algebraic context, starting from Connes? Embedding Problem, and prove the equivalence of these two definitions. We introduce a notion of sofic action for an arbitrary group and prove that an amalgamated product of sofic actions over amenable groups is again sofic. We also prove that an amalgamated product of sofic groups over an amenable subgroup is again sofic.     

Bowen–Franks Groups for Subshifts and Ext-Groups for C*-Algebras

We generalize the Bowen–Franks groups for topological Markov shifts to general subshifts as the Ext-groups for the associated C ^*-algebras. The generalized Bowen–Franks groups for subshifts are shown to be invariant under flow equivalence and, hence, invariant under topological conjugacy. They are regarded as the indices of Fredholm operators related to extensions of the associated C ^*-algebras so that they are described in terms of symbolic dynamical systems. In particular, the group for a sofic subshift is determined by the adjacency matrix of its left Krieger cover graph. The Bowen–Franks groups for some non sofic subshifts are calculated, proving that certain subshifts with the same topological entropy are not flow equivalent.     

On the dynamics and recursive properties of multidimensional symbolic systems

We study the (sub)dynamics of multidimensional shifts of finite type and sofic shifts, and the action of cellular automata on their limit sets. Such a subaction is always an effective dynamical system: i.e. it is isomorphic to a subshift over the Cantor set the complement of which can be written as the union of a recursive sequence of basic sets. Our main result is that, to varying degrees, this recursive-theoretic condition is also sufficient. We show that the class of expansive subactions of multidimensional sofic shifts is the same as the class of expansive effective systems, and that a general effective system can be realized, modulo a small extension, as the subaction of a shift of finite type or as the action of a cellular automaton on its limit set (after removing a dynamically trivial set). As applications, we characterize, in terms of their computational properties, the numbers which can occur as the entropy of cellular automata, and construct SFTs and CAs with various interesting properties.     

On sofic systems II

The results ofOn sofic systems I on topological Markov chains extending sofic systems are completed. To homomorphisms of sofic systems are canonically associated homomorphisms of Markov extensions. Also considered is a class of finitary codes for sofic systems.     

Constraints on the degree of a sofic homomorphism and the induced multiplication of measures on unstable sets

Letf be an endomorphism of an irreducible sofic systemS, whereS has entropy log λ. Thedegree off is the numberd such thatf isd to 1 almost everywhere. Thend divides a power of the greatest common divisor of the nonleading coefficients of the minimal polynomial of λ. Also,f multiplies the natural measure on unstable sets of generic points by a positive unit of the ring generated by 1/λ and the algebraic integers ofQ[λ]. Related results hold for bounded to one homomorphisms of sofic systems.     

A complete classification of the two-point extensions of a multidimensional bernoulli shift

A theorem is proven which gives five characterizations of a multidimensional Bernoulli shift. The two-point extensions of a multidimensional Bernoulli shift are classified completely. If such an extension is weakly mixing then it must be Bernoulli; otherwise, it is isomorphic to one of 2 ⁿ specific trivial extensions. This result is extended to multidimensional Bernoulli flows and Bernoulli shifts of infinite entropy. This work supported in part by N.S.F. Grant DMS-85-04701 and by the University of Maryland Department of Mathematics.     

On sofic systems I

Topological Markov chains are invariantly associated with sofic systems. A dimension function is introduced for sofic systems, and a criterion is given for a sofic system to be properly sofic.     

On sofic groupoids and their full groups

We prove that the class of sofic groupoids is stable under several measure-theoretic constructions. In particular, we show that virtually sofic groupoids are sofic. We answer a question of Conley, Kechris, and Tucker-Drob by proving that an aperiodic pmp groupoid is sofic if and only if its full group is metrically sofic.     

Fuglede–Kadison Determinants and Sofic Entropy

We relate Fuglede–Kadison determinants to entropy of finitely-presented algebraic actions in essentially complete generality. We show that if \({f\in M_{m,n}(\mathbb{Z}(\Gamma))}\) is injective as a left multiplication operator on \({\ell^{2}(\Gamma)^{\oplus n},}\) then the topological entropy of the action of \({\Gamma}\) on the dual of \({\mathbb{Z}(\Gamma)^{\oplus n}/\mathbb{Z}(\Gamma)^{\oplus m}f}\) is at most the logarithm of the positive Fuglede–Kadison determinant of f, with equality if m = n. We also prove that when m = n the measure-theoretic entropy of the action of \({\Gamma}\) on the dual of \({\mathbb{Z}(\Gamma)^{\oplus n}/\mathbb{Z}(\Gamma)^{\oplus n}f}\) is the logarithm of the Fuglede–Kadison determinant of f. This work completely settles the connection between entropy of principal algebraic actions and Fuglede–Kadison determinants in the generality in which dynamical entropy is defined. Our main Theorem partially generalizes results of Li-Thom from amenable groups to sofic groups. Moreover, we show that the obvious full generalization of the Li-Thom theorem for amenable groups is false for general sofic groups. Lastly, we undertake a study of when the Yuzvinskiǐ addition formula fails for a non-amenable sofic group \({\Gamma}\), showing it always fails if \({\Gamma}\) contains a nonabelian free group, and relating it to the possible values of L ²-torsion in general.     

A class of finitary codes

It is shown that for any two Bernoulli schemes with a finite number of states and unequal entropies, there exists a finitary homomorphism from the scheme with larger entropy to the one with smaller entropy.     

On sofic monoids

We investigate a notion of soficity for monoids. A group is sofic as a group if and only if it is sofic as a monoid. All finite monoids, all commutative monoids, all free monoids, all cancellative one-sided amenable monoids, all multiplicative monoids of matrices over a field, and all monoids obtained by adjoining an identity element to a semigroup are sofic. On the other hand, although the question of the existence of a non-sofic group remains open, we prove that the bicyclic monoid is not sofic. This shows that there exist finitely presented amenable inverse monoids that are non-sofic.