Structure of \(K\)-interval exchange transformations: induction, trajectories, and distance theorems (Q628370)

Interval exchange transformations were introduced by Oseledec more than forty years ago. This paper defines a new induction algorithm for \(k\)-interval exchange transformations associated with a symmetric permutation. An exchange \(J\) of \(k\) intervals is given by a probability vector of \(k\) lengths \((\alpha_1,\alpha_2,\dots, \alpha_k)\) together with a permutation \(\pi\) on \(k\) letters. The unit interval is partitioned into \(k\) subintervals of lengths \(\alpha_1,\alpha_2,\dots,\alpha_k\) that are rearranged by \(J\) according to \(\pi\). Rauzy first identified interval exchange transformations as a means for generalizing circular transformations as well as Sturmian sequences via the continued fraction algorithm. Rauzy's renormalization algorithm, called Rauzy induction, generalizes the Euclidean algorithm. The authors of this paper explore their new induction algorithm for the \(i\mapsto k-i+1\) permutation. This induction acts as a multidimensional continued fraction algorithm by defining a sequence of generalized partial quotients given by an infinite path in a certain graph. The vertices in the graph are trees, called ``trees of relations'' by the authors. The induction is used to obtain several new results, both combinatorial and dynamical. For example, the authors give an \(S\)-adic presentation of interval exchange transformations and characterize whose trajectories are self-similar and generated by a primitive substitution rule.