Quasifactors of ergodic systems with positive entropy (Q1812263)

Quasifactors -- a generalization of the usual notion of factor -- were introduced by the first author [Isr. J. Math. 45, 198-208 (1983; Zbl 0528.46047)], and in later work [J. Am. Math. Soc. 8, 665-686 (1995; Zbl 0846.28009)] both authors showed that the properties zero entropy and distality are preserved by quasifactors. On the other hand any joining of two measure-preserving systems defines a quasifactor of each of them, and any quasifactor can be obtained from a joining. This paper investigates the rather subtle connections between the notions of joining and quasifactor. In developing this, the result that zero entropy is preserved by quasifactors is recovered, along with the profound contrasting results that any ergodic system of positive entropy admits all ergodic systems of positive entropy as quasifactors and any weak-mixing system of positive entropy admits every Bernoulli shift as a quasifactor. In the last section it is shown that if \(\mathcal Y\) is a weak-mixing system of positive entropy and \(\mathcal X\) an ergodic system with finite positive entropy satisfying the weak Pinsker property, then some finite-to-one group factor of \(\mathcal X\) is isomorphic to a joining quasifactor (a technical condition) of \(\mathcal Y\). Finding an ergodic quasifactor of an ergodic system which fails to be a joining quasifactor is presented as an open problem.