Expansive actions of automorphisms of locally compact groups \(G\) on \(\text{Sub}_G\) (Q784005)

In the theory of dynamical systems, a homeomorphism \(T\colon X\to X\) of a metric space \((X,d)\) is called expansive if there exists \(\epsilon >0\) such that, for all \(x,y\in X\) with \(x\not=y\), the iterates \(T^n(x)\) and \(T^n(y)\) have distance \(d(T^n(x),T^n(y))>\epsilon\) for some integer~\(n\). For topological groups with left-invariant metrics, results concerning expansive automorphisms emerged in the 1980s and 1990s, mostly for compact groups. The structure theory of totally disconnected locally compact groups, initiated in 1994 by \textit{G. Willis} [Math. Ann. 300, No. 2, 341--363 (1994; Zbl 0811.22004)], enabled progress concerning expansive automorphisms of the latter groups (and the special case of contractive automorphisms) in the last decade, and most recently (via work of \textit{R. Shah} [New York J. Math. 26, 285--302 (2020; Zbl 1435.22005)]) also for general locally compact groups. If \(G\) is a metrizable locally compact group, then the set \(\text{Sub}_G\) of all closed subgroups of~\(G\) is a compact, metrizable topological space in a natural way, using the Chabauty topology introduced in the 1950s. In the last decade, \(\text{Sub}_G\) and the Chabauty topology thereon attracted considerable interest (see [\textit{P.-E. Caprace} (ed.) and \textit{N. Monod} (ed.), New directions in locally compact groups. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2018; Zbl 1390.22004)]). Every automorphism \(T\) of~\(G\) induces a homeo\-morphism \(\text{Sub}_G\to \text{Sub}_G\), \(H \mapsto T(H)\) and a corresponding homeomorphism of the compact subset \(\text{Sub}^a_G\) of abelian closed subgroups of \(G\). Among other topics, the article investigates the question for which \(G\) an automorphism \(T\) can be found such that the corresponding homeomorphism of \(\text{Sub}_G\) (resp., \(\text{Sub}^a_G\)) is expansive. The authors show that whenever a locally compact group \(G\) admits an automorphism \(T\) which acts expansively on \(\text{Sub}_G\), then \(G\) is totally disconnected, \(T\) is expansive and the contraction group \(C(T):=\{g\in G\colon \lim_{n\to\infty} T^n(g)=e\}\) is closed in \(G\) (see Theorem 4.1). Moreover, \(C(T)\cong {\mathbb Q}_{p_1}\times\cdots\times {\mathbb Q_{p_k}}\) for certain primes \(p_1<\cdots <p_k\) (cf.\ Theorem 4.2). If \(T\) acts expansively on \(\text{Sub}_G\), then it acts expansively on \(\text{Sub}^a_G\). Already expansivity of the \(T\)-action on \(\text{Sub}^a_G\) imposes restrictions on~\(G\). For example, a connected Lie group \(G\) must be trivial if it admits an automorphism acting expansively on \(\text{Sub}^a_G\) (Theorem 3.1). Reviewer's comment: In Lemmas 2.4 and 2.5, \(X\) should be assumed compact.