Ergodic properties of randomly coloured point sets

Abstract

We provide a framework for studying randomly coloured point sets in a locally compact, second-countable space on which a metrisable unimodular group acts continuously and properly. We first construct and describe an appropriate dynamical system for uniformly discrete uncoloured point sets. For point sets of finite local complexity, we characterise ergodicity geometrically in terms of pattern frequencies. The general framework allows to incorporate a random colouring of the point sets. We derive an ergodic theorem for randomly coloured point sets with finite-range dependencies. Special attention is paid to the exclusion of exceptional instances for uniquely ergodic systems. The setup allows for a straightforward application to randomly coloured graphs.