English

On minimal subshifts of linear word complexity with slope less than 3/2

Dynamical Systems 2023-12-11 v2

Abstract

We prove that every infinite minimal subshift with word complexity p(q)p(q) satisfying lim supp(q)/q<3/2\limsup p(q)/q < 3/2 is measure-theoretically isomorphic to its maximal equicontinuous factor; in particular, it has measurably discrete spectrum. Among other applications, this provides a proof of Sarnak's conjecture for all subshifts with lim supp(q)/q<3/2\limsup p(q)/q < 3/2 (which can be thought of as a much stronger version of zero entropy). As in \cite{creutzpavlov}, our main technique is proving that all low-complexity minimal subshifts have a specific type of representation via a sequence {τk}\{\tau_k\} of substitutions, usually called an S-adic decomposition. The maximal equicontinuous factor is the product of an odometer with a rotation on a compact abelian connected one-dimensional group, for which we can give an explicit description in terms of the substitutions τk\tau_k. We also prove that all such odometers and groups may appear for minimal subshifts with lim supp(q)/q=1\limsup p(q)/q = 1, demonstrating that lower complexity thresholds do not further restrict the possible structure.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2308.14901,
  title  = {On minimal subshifts of linear word complexity with slope less than 3/2},
  author = {Darren Creutz and Ronnie Pavlov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.14901},
  year   = {2023}
}