Topological entropy and recurrence of countable chains (Q1089631)

We consider a symbolic dynamical system (X,\(\sigma)\) on a countable state space. We introduce a kind of topological entropy for such systems, denoted \(h^ *\), which coincides with usual topological entropy when X is compact. We use a pictorial approach, to classify a graph \(\Gamma\) (or a chain) as transient, null recurrent, or positive recurrent. We show that given \(0\leq \alpha \leq \beta \leq \infty\), there is a chain whose \(h^ *\) entropy is \(\beta\) and where Gurevich entropy is \(\alpha\). We compute the topological entropies of some classes of chains, including larger chains built up from smaller ones by a new operation which we call the Cartesian sum.