\textit{IP}-systems and recurrence in ergodic theory: an update (Q2677809)

This is an overview and update of Benjamin Weiss' remarkably fruitful concept of \(IP\)-systems in notions of recurrence in ergodic theory. An \(IP\)-system in a semigroup \(S\) is obtained by choosing a sequence \((s_n)_{n\in\mathbb{N}}\) of elements and then forming all possible products \(s_{i_1}s_{i_2}\cdots s_{i_k}\) with \(i_1<i_2<\cdots<i_k\). Thus the elements of the \(IP\)-system can be indexed by the set \(\mathcal{F}\) of finite subsets of \(\mathbb{N}\) using the order relation on \(\mathbb{N}\). An \(\mathcal{F}\)-sequence (a sequence of elements in \(S\) indexed by \(\mathcal{F}\)) is said to be an \(IP\)-system if \(\prod_{i\in\alpha\cup\beta}s_i =\prod_{i\in\alpha}s_i\prod_{i\in\beta}s_i\) whenever every element of \(\alpha\in\mathcal{F}\) is less than every elements of \(\beta\). In the case \(S=\mathbb{N}\) an \(IP\)-system comprises the fundamental notion of an \(IP\)-set, and for an \(IP\)-set \(\{n_{\alpha}\}\) and a map \(T\colon X\to X\) there is an \(IP\)-system of transformations \(\{T^{n_{\alpha}}\}\). These starting notions are used here to describe the main ideas in recurrence, starting with the ergodic Szemerédi theorem and Hindman's theorem and then outlining the Furstenberg correspondence principle which shows how recurrence phenomena in ergodic theory relates to results in combinatorial number theory. Recurrence phenomena in the setting of topological dynamics is then discussed, and the colouristic theorems in combinatorial number theory shown by the author and their collaborators are described. The algebraic approach to recurrence using the Ellis semigroup is outlined, and the route to dynamical proofs of things like the Hales-Jewett theorem is described.