Equicontinuity, orbit closures and invariant compact open sets for group actions on zero-dimensional spaces (Q784888)

Let \(X\) be a locally compact zero-dimensional space and \(S\) an equicontinuous set of homeomorphisms such that \(1\in S=S^{-1}\). If \(G\) is the finitely generated group of homeomorphisms \(G=\langle S\rangle\), suppose that the closure \(\overline{Gx}\) is compact for each \(x\in X\). Under these conditions the author shows that the following conditions are equivalent: \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] \(G\) acts minimally on the closure of each orbit; \item[(2)] the orbit closure relation is closed; \item[(3)] for each compact open subset \(U\) of \(X\), there exists \(F\subseteq S\) finite such that \(\bigcap_{g\in F}g(U)\) is \(G\)-invariant. \end{itemize} All of these conditions are in turn equivalent to a kind of recurrence defined in terms of a word metric on \(G\), which is a variation on a concept of \textit{J. Auslander} et al. [Forum Math. 19, No. 1, 107--114 (2007; Zbl 1131.37020)]. As a consequence, the action is distal if and only if it is equicontinuous. The author also proves similar consequences of minimal orbit closures in a more general setting.