On the Ellis semigroup of a discrete dynamical system \(([0, 1], f)\) (Q2665921)

The authors consider dynamical systems given by continuous surjections \(f: [0,1] \to [0,1]\) such that the powers \(f^n\), \(n \in \mathbb N\), are pairwise distinct. The Ellis semigroup associated to such a dynamical system is the closure of set of powers \(f^n\) in the product space \([0,1]^{[0,1]}\). The authors prove that in this situation the Ellis semigroup is always a compactification of the discrete natural numbers. In particular, it cannot be a Cantor set like in some other situations. Moreover, they compute the cardinality of the Ellis semigroup if \(f\) has positive topological entropy. If \(f\) has cycles of order \(2^k\) for all \(k \le n\) but no other cycles, then the Ellis semigroup has exactly \(2^n\) elements that are not powers of \(f\).