The characterization by automata of certain profinite groups. (Q2254320)

Given a sequence \((G_i,X_i)_{i\in\mathbb N}\) of permutation groups, one can consider the profinite group \(W_\infty\) obtained as inverse limit \(\varprojlim W_i\) of the iterated wreath product \(W_i\) of the first \(i\) groups: this is called the infinitely iterated permutational wreath product of the sequence \((G_i,X_i)_{i\in\mathbb N}\). The present paper makes an attempt to define and study the groups \(W_\infty\) via the combinatorial language of automata. The author deals with the notion of a time-varying automaton, which is thought to be a natural generalization of a Mealy-type automaton, allowing to work not only with a finite alphabet but also with a changing alphabet. He characterizes all sequences \((G_i,X_i)_{i\in\mathbb N}\) of finite transitive groups such that the corresponding infinitely iterated wreath product is a time-varying automaton group as well as a Mealy automaton group in the case when the changing alphabet \(X=(X_i)_{i\in\mathbb N}\) is constant. In other words, he provides the necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a time-varying automaton \(A\), such that the group \(W_\infty\) coincides with the topological closure of the group generated by this automaton. For each time-varying automaton group \(W_\infty\) he also provides the explicit construction of the corresponding automaton realization. This gives the upper bounds for the topological rank and for the minimal number of states in an automaton realization of the group \(W_\infty\).