Endomorphisms of abelian groups with small algebraic entropy (Q2435456)

Let \(G\) be a non-trivial abelian group and \(\phi:G\to G\) an endomorphism. For a non-empty finite subset \(F\) of \(G\), let \[ H_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi,F)=\lim_{n\to\infty}\frac{\log |F+\phi F+\cdots+\phi^nF|}{n}; \] the \textit{algebraic entropy} of \(\phi\) is \[ h_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi)=\sup\{H_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi,F):F\subseteq G\;\text{non empty, finite}\}. \] The endomorphism \(\phi\) is said to be of \textit{small algebraic entropy} if \(h_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi)<\log 2\). The authors show that the study of endomorphisms of abelian groups with small algebraic entropy can be reduced to the case of \(\mathbb Q^d\), where \(d\) is some positive integer. So, from now on, let \(\phi:\mathbb Q^d\to \mathbb Q^d\) be an endomorphism. Then \(\phi\) can be represented by a \(d\times d\) matrix with coefficients in \(\mathbb Q\). Let \(\lambda_1,\ldots,\lambda_n\) be all eigenvalues of \(\phi\), and let \(s\) be the least common multiple of the denominators of the coefficient of the characteristic polynomial of \(\phi\) over \(\mathbb Q\) (i.e., \(s\) is the leading coefficient of the primitive characteristic polynomial of \(\phi\) over \(\mathbb Z\)). The \textit{logarithmic Mahler measure} of \(\phi\) is \[ m(\phi)=\log s+\sum_{|\lambda_i|>1}\log|\lambda_i|. \] The small values of the Mahler measure are involved in the Lehmer Problem from number theory. The authors prove that: (1) \(h_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi)\geq\log|\lambda_i|\) for every non-zero \(\lambda_i\); (2) if \(\phi\) has small algebraic entropy, then \(s=1\) and \(|\lambda_i|<2\) for all \(\lambda_i\). An interesting consequence of these theorems is that, if either \(h_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi)=0\) or \(m(\phi)=0\), then \(h_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi)=m(\phi)\); in this case, equivalently, \(s=1\) and all non-zero \(\lambda_i\) are roots of unity. A direct proof of the algebraic Yuzvinski Formula, that is, the equality \(h_{\mathrm{alg}}(\phi)=m(\phi)\) for any endomorphism \(\phi\) of \(\mathbb Q^d\), is now given in [the reviewer and \textit{S. Virili}, J. Algebra 423, 114--147 (2015; Zbl 1351.37066)].