Presentations of Schützenberger groups of minimal subshifts. (Q375868)

Profinite semigroups may be described shortly as projective limits of finite semigroups. A class of finite semigroups is called a pseudovariety if it closed under taking homomorphic images, subsemigroups and finite direct products. For a pseudovariety \(\mathbf V\), a profinite semigroup \(S\) is `pro-\(\mathbf V\)' if it is a projective limit of members of \(\mathbf V\). Recall construction of free objects for a pseudovariety \(\mathbf V\). For a generating set \(A\), let \(\mathbf V_0\) be a set containing a representative from each isomorphism class of \(A\)-generated members of \(\mathbf V\). The set \(\mathbf V_0\) determines a projective system by taking the unique connecting homomorphisms with respect to the choice of generators. The projective limit of this system is denoted \(\overline\Omega_A\mathbf V\) and is called the `free pro-\(\mathbf V\) semigroup on \(A\)'. A profinite semigroup is said to be `relatively free' if it is of the form \(\overline\Omega_A\mathbf V\) for some set \(A\) and some pseudovariety \(\mathbf V\). If \(\mathbf V\) is the pseudovariety of all finite semigroups the free pro-\(\mathbf V\) semigroups are called `free profinite semigroups'. Let \(A\) be a finite alphabet. The additive group \(\mathbb Z\) of integers acts naturally on the set \(A^{\mathbb Z}\) of functions \(f\colon\mathbb Z\to A\) by translating the argument: \((n\cdot f)(m)=f(m+n)\). The elements of \(A^{\mathbb Z}\) may be viewed as bi-infinite words on the alphabet \(A\). Recall that a symbolic dynamical system (or subshift) over \(A\) is a non-empty subset \(X\subseteq A^{\mathbb Z}\) which is topologically closed and stable under the natural action of \(\mathbb Z\) in the sense that it is a union of orbits. In two previous works [Fundam. Prikl. Mat. 11, No. 3, 13-48 (2005); translation in J. Math. Sci., New York 144, No. 2, 3881-3903 (2007; Zbl 1110.20022); NATO Science Series II: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry 207, 1-45 (2005; Zbl 1109.20050)], the first author established a natural bijection between minimal subshifts and maximal regular \(\mathcal J\)-classes of free profinite semigroups. In the reviewed paper, the Schützenberger groups of such \(\mathcal J\)-classes are investigated, in particular in respect to a conjecture proposed by the first author concerning their profinite presentation. The conjecture is established for all non-periodic minimal subshifts associated with substitutions. It entails that it is decidable whether a finite group is a quotient of such a profinite group. As a further application, the Schützenberger group of the \(\mathcal J\)-class corresponding to the Prouhet-Thue-Morse subshift is shown to admit a somewhat simpler presentation, from which it follows that it has rank three, and that it is non-free relative to any pseudovariety of groups.