The restricted Weyl group of the Cuntz algebra and shift endomorphisms (Q2898927)

The Cuntz \(C^*\)-algebra \({\mathcal O}_n\) is generated by isometries \(S_1,\dots,S_n\) with \(\sum_{i=1}^n S_i S_i^* =I\). Let \({\mathcal F}_n \cong \bigotimes_{\mathbb N} M_n({\mathbb C})\) denote the core AF-subalgebra of \({\mathcal O}_n\). Consider also the (diagonal) MASA \({\mathcal D}_n\) of both \({\mathcal F}_n\) and \({\mathcal O}_n\), with Gelfand spectrum \(X_n=\{ 1,\dots,n\}^{\mathbb N}\). The one-to-one correspondence \(u\leftrightarrow \rho=\lambda_u\) between \({\mathcal U}({\mathcal O}_n)\) and \(\text{End} ({\mathcal O}_n)\), with \(\lambda_u(S_i)=uS_i\) and \(u=\sum_{i=1}^n \rho(S_i)S_i^*\), is well known. The problem of deciding which endomorphisms are actually automorphisms is very complicated (see, e.g., [\textit{R. Conti} and \textit{W. Szymański}, Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 363, No. 11, 5847--5870 (2011; Zbl 1236.46056)]).NEWLINENEWLINEFor each set \(E\subseteq {\mathcal U}({\mathcal O}_n)\), consider \(\lambda(E)^{-1}:=\{ \lambda_u: u\in E\} \cap \text{Aut}({\mathcal O}_n)\). Of particular interest here is the group \(E={\mathcal P}_n\) of all finite permutation unitaries in \({\mathcal F}_n\). In this case, \(\lambda ({\mathcal P}_n)^{-1}\) is shown to be isomorphic with the restricted Weyl group of \({\mathcal O}_n\), defined as the quotient of the group of automorphisms of \({\mathcal O}_n\) leaving both \({\mathcal D}_n\) and \({\mathcal F}_n\) invariant by the normal subgroup of automorphisms fixing \({\mathcal D}_n\) point-wise. The image of \(\lambda ({\mathcal P}_n)^{-1}\) in \(\text{Out}({\mathcal O}_n)\), called the restricted outer Weyl group of \({\mathcal O}_n\), is also considered. The motivation for the whole program of the authors comes from the seminal work of \textit{J. Cuntz} [``Automorphisms of certain simple \(C^*\)-algebras'', Quantum fields -- algebras, processes, Proc. Symp., Univ. Bielefeld 1978, 187--196 (1980; Zbl 0475.46046)] and from his suggestion that the structure of the restricted Weyl group of \({\mathcal O}_n\) should be tractable as a combinatorial problem. The main results of the paper are the following: {\parindent=7mm \begin{itemize}\item[(i)] Identifying, by confining to \({\mathcal D}_n\), the restricted Weyl group with the group of homeomorphisms of \(X_n\) which eventually commute together with their inverses, with the one-sided shift on \(X_n\). \item[(ii)] Embedding the restricted outer Weyl group into the quotient \(\text{Aut} (\Sigma_n)/\langle \sigma\rangle\) of the group of automorphisms of \(\Sigma_n=\{ 1,\dots,n\}^{\mathbb Z}\) by its subgroup generated by the two-sided shift \(\sigma\). When \(n\) is prime, this embedding is shown to be actually an isomorphism. \item[(iii)] Proving that the group \(\text{Aut} (\Sigma_n)/\langle \sigma\rangle\) is residually finite, which gives, in particular, that the restricted outer Weyl group is residually finite.NEWLINENEWLINE\end{itemize}}