Topological and metric entropy for group and semigroup actions (Q2245115)

This is a very concise survey (mostly without proofs) of a version of topological entropy for locally compact group and semigroup actions called receptive topological entropy, as well as a suggested ergodic variant of it. A regular system in such a semigroup, \(G\), is a sequence of compact subsets \((N_k)\) of \(G\) with \(N_k\cdot N_m\subseteq N_{k+m}\). A continuous action by \(G\) on a metric space \(X\) is uniform if for every \(\epsilon>0\) and each compact subset \(K\subseteq G\) there is \(\delta>0\) with \(d(gx,gy)<\epsilon\) whenever \(g\in K\) and \(d(x,y)<\delta\). (Note: in the next paragraph, such actions are already called ``uniformly continuous,'' but apparently it is the same thing.) For a compact subset \(K\) of \(X\), a subset \(N\subseteq G\), and \(\epsilon>0\), denote \(r_N(\epsilon,K)\) as the smallest cardinality of a finite subset \(F\) of \(K\) with the property that for each \(y\in K\), there is \(x\in F\) with \(d(gx,gy)<\epsilon\) for all \(g\in N\). Also denote by \(s_N(\epsilon,K)\) the largest cardinality of a finite set \(E\) with the property that, whenever \(x,y\in E\) and \(x\neq y\), there is \(g\in N\) with \(d(gx,gy)\geq\epsilon\). Now, assuming the action of \(G\) on \(X\) is uniform and \((N_k)\) is a regular system as defined above, denote \(\tilde r(\epsilon,K)=\limsup_{n\to\infty}\frac 1 n r_{N_n}r_N(\epsilon,K)\) and similarly replacing \(r\) with \(s\) everywhere in this formula. One can show that the values \(\lim_{\epsilon\downarrow 0}\tilde r(\epsilon,K)\) and \(\lim_{\epsilon\downarrow 0}\tilde s(\epsilon,K)\) exist and are equal. The supremum of those common values taken over all compact \(K\subseteq X\) is called the receptive topological entropy of the action, formed with regard to the regular system \((N_n)\), and denoted \(\tilde h\). The concept was inspired by the approach to the classical entropy developed by \textit{R. Bowen} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 184, 125--136 (1974; Zbl 0274.54030)] and appears first, in a more restrictive context, in [\textit{E. Ghys} et al., Acta Math. 160, No. 1--2, 105--142 (1988; Zbl 0666.57021)], and in the present form, in [\textit{K. H. Hofmann} and \textit{L. N. Stojanov}, Adv. Math. 115, No. 1, 54--98 (1995; Zbl 0865.22003)]. The article gives a survey of the basic properties of the receptive topological entropy, in particular comparing it to the classical topological entropy. Then a suitable version is proposed for measure preserving actions, and a variational principle linking the two concepts is conjectured.