On directional entropy functions

Given aZ ²-process, the measure theoretic directional entropy function,h( % MathType!End!2!1!), is defined on % MathType!End!2!1!. We relate the directional entropy of aZ ²-process to itsR ² suspension. We find a sufficient condition for the continuity of directional entropy function. In particular, this shows that the directional entropy is continuous for aZ ²-action generated by a cellular automaton; this finally answers a question of Milnor [Mil]. We show that the unit vectors whose directional entropy is zero form aG _δ subset ofS ¹. We study examples to investigate some properties of directional entropy functions. This research is supported in part by BSRI and KOSEF 95-0701-03-3.     

A counterexample of the entropy of a skew product

We have a well known formula for the entropy of a skew product in the case where the fiber action is generated from a Z-action. Although not much is known about the skew product with a more general group, we are able to compute the entropy of a skew product whose fiber action comes from a special type of Z²-actions [Pa1]: The entropy of the skew product is known to be the entropy of the base plus the directional entropy in the direction of the integral of the skewing function. We present an example of a skew product to show that the above computation of the entropy is not true for a general Z²-action on the fiber.     

Characterization of Geodesic Flows on T 2 with and without Positive Topological Entropy

In the present work we consider the behavior of the geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle of the 2-torus T ² for an arbitrary Riemannian metric. A natural non-negative quantity which measures the complexity of the geodesic flow is the topological entropy. In particular, positive topological entropy implies chaotic behavior on an invariant set in the phase space of positive Hausdorff-dimension (horseshoe). We show that in the case of zero topological entropy the flow has properties similar to integrable systems. In particular, there exists a non-trivial continuous constant of motion which measures the direction of geodesics lifted onto the universal covering \mathbbR²{\mathbb{R}^{2}} . Furthermore, those geodesics travel in strips bounded by Euclidean lines. Moreover, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions for vanishing topological entropy involving intersection properties of single geodesics on T ².     

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.     

Minimal entropy and collapsing with curvature bounded from below

We show that if a closed manifold M admits an ℱ-structure (not necessarily polarized, possibly of rank zero) then its minimal entropy vanishes. In particular, this is the case if M admits a non-trivial S ¹-action. As a corollary we obtain that the simplicial volume of a manifold admitting an ℱ-structure is zero.?We also show that if M admits an ℱ-structure then it collapses with curvature bounded from below. This in turn implies that M collapses with bounded scalar curvature or, equivalently, its Yamabe invariant is non-negative.?We show that ℱ-structures of rank zero appear rather frequently: every compact complex elliptic surface admits one as well as any simply connected closed 5-manifold.?We use these results to study the minimal entropy problem. We show the following two theorems: suppose that M is a closed manifold obtained by taking connected sums of copies of S ⁴, ℂP ², ²,S ²×S ²and the K3 surface. Then M has zero minimal entropy. Moreover, M admits a smooth Riemannian metric with zero topological entropy if and only if M is diffeomorphic to S ⁴,ℂP ²,S ²×S ²,ℂP ²#  ² or ℂP ²# ℂP ². Finally, suppose that M is a closed simply connected 5-manifold. Then M has zero minimal entropy. Moreover, M admits a smooth Riemannian metric with zero topological entropy if and only if M is diffeomorphic to S ⁵,S ³×S ², then on trivial S ³-bundle over S ² or the Wu-manifold SU(3)/SO(3). Oblatum 13-III-2002 & 12-VIII-2002?Published online: 8 November 2002 G.P. Paternain was partially supported by CIMAT, Guanajuato, México.?J. Petean is supported by grant 37558-E of CONACYT.     

Mean dimension, small entropy factors and an embedding theorem

In this paper we show how the notion of mean dimension is connected in a natural way to the following two questions: what points in a dynamical system (X, T) can be distinguished by factors with arbitrarily small topological entropy, and when can a system (X, T) be embedded in (([0, 1] ^d ) ^Z , shift). Our results apply to extensions of minimalZ-actions, and for this case we also show that there is a very satisfying dimension theory for mean dimension.     

A discrete analogue of a theorem of Katznelson

In this paper we sharpen an earlier result of the author’s concerning entropy of automorphism on discrete groups. We show that the entropy of an automorphism ofZ ^m can be approximated arbitrarily well on a subset on which some power of α acts as a discrete shift.     

The complexity of minimum difference cover

The complexity of searching minimum difference covers, both in Z⁺ and in Z_n, is studied. We prove that these two optimization problems are NP-hard. To obtain this result, we characterize those sets—called extrema—having themselves plus zero as minimum difference cover. Such a combinatorial characterization enables us to show that testing whether sets are not extrema, both in Z⁺ and in Z_n, is NP-complete. However, for these two decision problems we exhibit pseudo-polynomial time algorithms.     

Stability properties of a flow process in graphs

We study a flow process in infinite graphs where vertices with large resources tend to attract resources from neighbors. The initial resources are random. An interesting question is whether in each finite region all motion stops after a finite time. Under certain assumptions, we prove that this is true. For some other cases, we prove a weaker stability result. We pay attention mostly to the case of Z², but several results can be easily generalized to Z^d.     

Rings consisting entirely of certain elements

We completely determine when a ring consists entirely of weak idempotents, units and nilpotents. We prove that such ring is exactly isomorphic to one of the following: a Boolean ring; Z₃ ⊕ Z₃; Z₃ ⊕ B where B is a Boolean ring; local ring with nil Jacobson radical; M₂(Z₂) or M₂(Z₃); or the ring of a Morita context with zero pairings where the underlying rings are Z₂ or Z₃.     

Local time and first return time for periodic semi-flows

We study Z^d-periodic semi-flows, which are versions in continuous time of Z^d-extensions of dynamical systems. These systems are defined by an underlying dynamical system, a step time (the time to wait before the system makes a move), and a step function (the displacement in Z^d at each step). We are interested in two statistics related to these semi-flows: the local time, i.e., the time spent in some subset, and the first return time to the origin. We get some partial results under spectral conditions on the transfer operator of the underlying dynamical system. If the underlying dynamics is Gibbs–Markov, and under additional constraints on the step time and step function, we get distributional asymptotics for the local time, and an equivalent of the tail of the first return time.     

Estimating the error distribution in nonparametric multiple regression with applications to model testing

In this paper we consider the estimation of the error distribution in a heteroscedastic nonparametric regression model with multivariate covariates. As estimator we consider the empirical distribution function of residuals, which are obtained from multivariate local polynomial fits of the regression and variance functions, respectively. Weak convergence of the empirical residual process to a Gaussian process is proved. We also consider various applications for testing model assumptions in nonparametric multiple regression. The model tests obtained are able to detect local alternatives that converge to zero at an n^−1/2-rate, independent of the covariate dimension. We consider in detail a test for additivity of the regression function.     

Monodromy groups of Hurwitz-type problems

We solve the Hurwitz monodromy problem for degree 4 covers. That is, the Hurwitz space H4,g of all simply branched covers of P¹ of degree 4 and genus g is an unramified cover of the space P2g+6 of (2g+6)-tuples of distinct points in P¹. We determine the monodromy of π₁(P2g+6) on the points of the fiber. This turns out to be the same problem as the action of π₁(P2g+6) on a certain local system of Z/2-vector spaces. We generalize our result by treating the analogous local system with Z/N coefficients, 3?N, in place of Z/2. This in turn allows us to answer a question of Ellenberg concerning families of Galois covers of P¹ with deck group ²(Z/N):S₃.     

Infinite clusters and critical values in two-dimensional circle percolation

We consider a dependent percolation model onZ ² that does not have the ‘finite energy’ property. It is shown that the number of infinite clusters equals zero, one or infinity. Furthermore, we investigate a dynamical system which is associated with the calculation of the critical value in this model. It is shown that for almost all choices of the parameters in the model, this critical value can be calculated in a finite number of iterations.     

A noninductive GL(n,Z) algorithm that constructs integral linear relations for n Z-linearly dependent real numbers

A relation for a finite number of reals is the sequence of integer coefficients, not all zero, of an integral linear combination that represents zero. An iteration of algorithm Alg(n, Z) for n real numbers is stated in four steps. It is proven that Alg(n, Z) requires less than 2^{n + 2}n log(2n²M) iterations to construct an integral relation if one of norm M exists. Each iteration of Alg(n, Z) requires fewer than 5n⁴ arithmetic operations. Alg(n, Z) comprises an algorithmic characterization of Z-linear independence.     

A New Class of Inner Functions Uniformly Approximable by Interpolating Blaschke Products

We study the class of inner functions Q{\Theta} whose zero set Z(Q){Z(\Theta)} stays hyperbolically close to [`(Z_\mathbbD(Q))]{\overline{Z_\mathbb{D}(\Theta)}} on the corona of H ^∞ and show that these functions are uniformly approximable by interpolating Blaschke products.