Oriented local entropies for expansive actions by commuting automorphisms

Given an expansive action α of ?² by automorphisms of a compact connected metrizable abelian groupX, we show how the entropy of the action may be decomposed into local contributions, 1 $$h(\alpha ) = \sum\limits_{p \leqslant \infty } {h_p^{(a,b)} } (\alpha )$$ in which the summandh _p ^(a,b) (α) represents thep-adic entropy due to arithmetic or geometric hyperbolicity in the direction (a, b). We recognize thep-adic contribution as an integral over thep-adic unit circle, in analogy with the global counterpart. As (a, b) changes, the decomposition (1) changes only when the line through (a, b) passes through one of a finite collection of critical directions, which are explicitly identified.     

Countable network weight and multiplication of Borel sets

A space Borel multiplies with a space if each Borel set of is a member of the -algebra in generated by Borel rectangles. We show that a regular space Borel multiplies with every regular space if and only if has a countable network. We give an example of a Hausdorff space with a countable network which fails to Borel multiply with any non-separable metric space. In passing, we obtain a characterization of those spaces which Borel multiply with the space of countable ordinals, and an internal necessary and sufficient condition for to Borel multiply with every metric space.