On ergodic one-dimensional cellular automata (Q2277594)

Let \(X=\{0,1\}^{{\mathbb{Z}}}\) be the binary sequence space over \(\{\) 0,1\(\}\) and \(\mu\) the normalized Haar measure on the compact Abelian group X. If \(f: \{0,1\}^ n\to \{0,1\}\) is a Boolean function of n variables and \(r\leq s\) are fixed integers with \(r-s=n-1,\) let \(f_{\infty}\) denote the associated cellular automaton, that is, \(f_{\infty}(a)_ i=f(a_{r+i},...,a_{s+i}),\quad a\in X,\quad i\in {\mathbb{Z}}.\) Such cellular automata have been studied in detail from various points of view. The authors investigate the questions of when \(f_{\infty}\) is \(\mu\)-preserving and ergodic. They show that if \(f_{\infty}\) is onto, then it is measure-preserving, the converse being obvious. A sample of their results concerning ergodicity is a follows. If \(f_{\infty}\) is onto and either \(0<r\leq s\) or \(r\leq s<0\), then \(f_{\infty}\) is strongly mixing and hence ergodic. Consequently, all one-dimensional affine cellular automata \(f_{\infty}\) other than the identity and the inversion maps are strongly mixing and hence ergodic. For general onto one-dimensional cellular automata this problem remains open.