The structure of tame minimal dynamical systems for general groups (Q1692198)

A metric dynamical system \((X,\Gamma)\) -- an action of a group \(\Gamma\) by homeomorphisms of a compact metric space \(X\) -- is said to be tame if its associated enveloping semigroup \(E(X,\Gamma)\) (the closure of the image of \(\Gamma\) in \(X^X\)) is a separable Fréchet compact space (by a result of the author and \textit{M. Megrelishvili} [Colloq. Math. 104, No. 2, 223--283 (2006; Zbl 1094.54020)] the alternative is that \(E(X,\Gamma)\) contains a homeomorphic copy of \(\beta\mathbb{N}\)). Generalizing earlier work of the author [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 27, No. 6, 1819--1837 (2007; Zbl 1127.37011)] in the case of abelian \(\Gamma\), a structure theorem for tame metric dynamical systems is found with no hypothesis on the acting group \(\Gamma\). In the non-amenable case the theory is more complicated, and may involve an unavoidable non-trivial strongly proximal factor. While being of necessity technical, the presentation is more or less self-contained, with a useful overview of the structure theory of minimal dynamical systems adapted to the setting.