Krieger's finite generator theorem for actions of countable groups. I. (Q1717655)

This paper is a contribution to the ergodic theory of group actions by measure-preserving transformations beyond the usual setting in which the group is assumed to be amenable. For an ergodic measure-preserving action of a countable group \(G\), the Rokhlin entropy of the action is defined to be the infimum of the usual Shannon (or information-theoretic) entropy of countable generating partitions. If \(G\) is amenable, this Rokhlin entropy coincides with the usual Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy of the action; in the case \(G=\mathbb{Z}\) this was shown by \textit{V. A. Rokhlin} [Russ. Math. Surv. 22, No. 5, 1--52 (1967; Zbl 0174.45501); translation from Usp. Mat. Nauk 22, No. 5(137), 3--56 (1967)]. The close connection between the entropy of generating partitions and entropy is further revealed by Krieger's generator theorem [\textit{W. Krieger}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 149, 453--464 (1970; Zbl 0204.07904)], which shows that if a free ergodic \(\mathbb{Z}\)-action has entropy less than \(\log k\) for some \(k\in\mathbb{N}\), then it has a generating partition consisting of \(k\) sets. Here the Krieger generating theorem is generalized to the case of group actions as follows. The main theorem is that if an ergodic measure-preserving action of a countable group \(G\) has Rokhlin entropy smaller than \(\log k\), then it has a generating partition consisting of \(k\) sets. For amenable \(G\) this recovers the Krieger generator theorem using Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy (indeed this seems to be the first complete proof of the result with the optimal bound \(\log k\)). For non-amenable \(G\) this is novel territory, of particular interest given the recent dramatic developments in the entropy theory of non-amenable group actions triggered by the work of \textit{L. Bowen} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 23, No. 1, 217--245 (2010; Zbl 1201.37005)]. For Part II, see [the author, J. Mod. Dyn. 15, 1--39 (2019; Zbl 1427.37005)].