Ergodic properties of boundary actions and the Nielsen-Schreier theory (Q436239)

The authors study the basic ergodic properties (ergodicity and conservativity) of the action of an arbitrary subgroup \(H\) of a free group \(F\) on the boundary \(\partial F\) with respect to the uniform measure. The approach is geometrical and combinatorial, and is based on choosing a system of Nielsen-Schreier generators in \(H\) associated with a geodesic spanning tree in the Schreier graph \(X:=H\setminus F\). Several (mod 0) equivalent descriptions of the Hopf decomposition of the boundary into the conservative and the dissipative parts are given. The conservativity and dissipativity of the group action is related with the growth of the Schreier graph \(X\) and of the subgroup \(H\), respectively. Connections between various relevant notions are illustrated by a number of examples.