Dynamic asymptotic dimension: relation to dynamics, topology, coarse geometry, and \(C^\ast\)-algebras (Q514365)

This somewhat lengthy work (including \(44\) references) introduces the notion of \textit{dynamic asymptotic dimension}, a concept of dimension for actions of discrete groups on locally compact Hausdorff spaces. We quote from the authors' abstract: ``We study our notion for minimal actions of the integer group, its relation with conditions used by Bartels, Lück, and Reich in the context of controlled topology, and its connections with Gromov's theory of asymptotic dimension. We also show that dynamic asymptotic dimension gives bounds on the nuclear dimension of Winter and Zacharias for \(C^*\)-algebras associated to dynamical systems. Dynamic asymptotic dimension also has implications for \(K\)-theory and manifold topology: these will be drawn out in subsequent work.'' When the term action of a discrete group on a space is used, it is understood to be an action by homeomorphisms. Let us state a couple of definitions. {Definition 1.1.} Let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete group acting on a space \(X\). For a subset \(E\) of \(\Gamma\) and an open subset \(U\) of \(X\), let \(\sim_{U,E}\) be the equivalence relation on \(U\) generated by \(E\): precisely, for \(x\), \(y\in U\), \(x\sim_{U,E}y\) if there is a finite sequence \[ x=x_0,\dots,x_n=y \] of points in \(U\) such that for each \(i\in\{1,\dots,n\}\), there exists \(g \in E\cup E^{-1}\cup\{e\}\) such that \(gx_{i-1}=x_i\). With this in mind, the main definition is: {Definition 1.2.} Let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete group acting freely on a compact Hausdorff space \(X\). The \textit{dynamic asymptotic dimension} is the smallest \(d\in\mathbb{N}\) with the following property: for each finite subset \(E\subset\Gamma\), there is an open cover \(\{U_0,\dots,U_d\}\) of \(X\) such that for each \(i\in\{0,\dots,d\}\), the equivalence relation \(\sim_{U,E}\) on \(U_i\) has uniformly finite equivalence classes. Let us mention that the main theorem (Theorem 1.3) gives a list of four applications. The first of these is that if \(\mathbb{Z}\) acts freely and minimally on a compact (we presume nonempty) Hausdorff space, then the dynamic asymptotic dimension of this action equals \(1\).