Nilsequences and a structure theorem for topological dynamical systems

Ergodic theory on groups (22D40) Dynamical systems involving transformations and group actions with special properties (minimality, distality, proximality, expansivity, etc.) (37B05)

Abstract: We characterize inverse limits of nilsystems in topological dynamics, via a structure theorem for topological dynamical systems that is an analog of the structure theorem for measure preserving systems. We provide two applications of the structure. The first is to nilsequences, which have played an important role in recent developments in ergodic theory and additive combinatorics; we give a characterization that detects if a given sequence is a nilsequence by only testing properties locally, meaning on finite intervals. The second application is the construction of the maximal nilfactor of any order in a distal minimal topological dynamical system. We show that this factor can be defined via a certain generalization of the regionally proximal relation that is used to produce the maximal equicontin uous factor and corresponds to the case of order 1.

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Let \(G\) be a \(k\)-step nilpotent Lie group, and let \(\Gamma\) be a discrete, cocompact subgroup of \(G\). Let \(X\) be the compact manifold \(G/\Gamma\), and let \(T\) be the transformation on \(X\) suggested by left multiplication by some fixed element of \(G\). Then \((X,T)\) is called a \(k\)-step nilsystem. The authors' main result is a characterization of when a system \((X,T)\) is an inverse limit of \(k\)-step nilsystems. In particular, for a fixed \((X,T)\), a parallelepiped in \(X^{2^d}\) is a limit of tuples of the form \((T^{u}(x))_{D\subseteq \{1,\dots,d\}}\) where \(u=\sum_{j\in D} n_j\), for some \(n_1,n_2, \dots,n_d\). The authors show that a system \((X,T)\) is an inverse limit of \((d-1)\)-step nilsystems if and only if whenever two parallelepipeds agree on all but one coordinate they must also agree on the last coordinate. The authors give two applications of this result. The first is to give a characterization of when a sequence is of the form \(a_n=f(T^n(x))\), for some continuous function \(f\) on \(X\), or a uniform limit of such sequences. This characterization can detect such sequences (called nilsequences) by testing properties of only finite intervals of a sequence. The second application is the construction of the maximal nilfactor of any order in a distal minimal topological dynamical system. The authors show that this factor can be defined via a certain generalization of the regionally proximal relation used to produce the maximal equicontinuous factor and corresponds with the order 1 case.

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