The $(-\beta)$-shift and associated Zeta Function

Given a real number $\beta > 1$, we study the associated $(-\beta)$-shift introduced by S. Ito and T. Sadahiro. We compares some aspects of the $(-\beta)$-shift to the $\beta$-shift. When the expansion in base $-\beta$ of $-\frac{\beta}{\beta+1}$ is periodic with odd period or when $\beta$ is strictly less than the golden ratio, the $(-\beta)$-shift, as defined by S. Ito and T. Sadahiro cannot be coded because its language is not transitive. This intransitivity of words explains the existence of gaps in the interval. We observe that an intransitive word appears in the $(-\beta)$-expansion of a real number taken in the gap. Furthermore, we determine the Zeta function $\zeta_{-\beta}$ of the $(-\beta)$-transformation and the associated lap-counting function $L_{T_{-\beta}}$. These two functions are related by $\zeta_{-\beta}=(1-z^2)L_{T_{-\beta}}$. We observe some similarities with the zeta function of the $\beta$-transformation. The function $\zeta_{-\beta}$ is meromorphic in the unit disk, is holomorphic in the open disk $\{z |z| < \frac{1}{\beta} \}$, has a simple pole at $\frac{1}{\beta}$ and no other singularities $z$ such that $\|z| = \frac{1}{\beta}$. We also note an influence of gaps ($\beta$ less than the golden ratio) on the zeta function. In factors of the denominator of $\zeta_{-\beta}$, the coefficients count the words generating gaps.