Counting generic measures for a subshift of linear growth (Q1725574)

The symbolic dynamics of interval exchange transformations has been extensively studied in the literature (see, e.g., [\textit{A. Y. Belov} and \textit{A. L. Chernyat'ev}, Russ. Math. Surv. 63, No. 1, 158--160 (2008; Zbl 1175.68307); translation from Usp. Mat. Nauk. 63, No. 1, 159--160 (2008); \textit{S. Ferenczi} and \textit{L. Q. Zamboni}, Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 40, No. 4, 705--714 (2008; Zbl 1147.37008)]). In [J. Anal. Math. 44, 77--96 (1985; Zbl 0602.28008)] \textit{M. Boshernitzan} determined an upper bound on the number of ergodic measures for a minimal subshift of linear block growth and posed the problem of lowering it without further assumptions on the shift. The present authors show that Boshernitzan's bound is sharp. They further prove that the same bound holds for the larger set of nonatomic generic measures and that this bound remains valid even if one drops the assumption of minimality. Applying these results to interval exchange transformations, they determine an upper bound on the number of nonatomic generic measures, thus answering a question recently posed by \textit{J. Chaika} and \textit{H. Masur} [J. Mod. Dyn. 9, 289--304 (2015; Zbl 1356.37059)].