FVIP systems and multiple recurrence (Q1781937)

This paper is part of a unification of two different streams in ergodic Ramsey theory. From the foundational proof by \textit{H. Furstenberg} [J. Anal. Math. 31, 204--256 (1977; Zbl 0347.28016)] of Szemerédi's theorem using ergodic methods, one development has been in the direction of recurrence for IP systems of transformations (rather than for group actions), exemplified by the proof of an ergodic Szemerédi theorem for commuting IP systems by \textit{H. Furstenberg} and \textit{Y. Katznelson} [ibid. 45, 117--168 (1985; Zbl 0605.28012)]. Another direction has been triggered by the realization that many `linear' results in ergodic Ramsey theory have polynomial analogs, exemplified by the work of \textit{V. Bergelson} and \textit{A. Leibman} [J. Am. Math. Soc. 9, No.~3, 725--753 (1996; Zbl 0870.11015); Ann. Math. (2) 150, No.~1, 33--75 (1999; Zbl 0969.05061)]. In this paper FVIP systems, a kind of polynomialization of IP systems, are studied. This opens the door to recurrence results for generalizations of the underlying acting group, and even in the case of finitely generated group actions gives new results concerning multiple recurrence along a large class of generalized polynomials. Reviewer's remark: The reference [BLM] is missing; it is to a paper of \textit{V. Bergelson, A. Leibman} and the author [J. Anal. Math. 95, 243--296 (2005; Zbl 1087.11007)]; the reference [BHM] by \textit{V. Bergelson, I. J. Knutson} and the author has now appeared [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 26, No.~4, 999--1019 (2006; Zbl 1107.37007)].