Dynamics in dimension zero. A survey

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to put together several techniques in handling dynamical systems on zero-dimensional spaces, such as array representation, inverse limit representation, or Bratteli-Vershik representation. We describe how one can switch from one representation to another. We also briefly review some more recent related notions: symbolic extensions, symbolic extensions with an embedding, and uniform generators. We devote a great deal of attention to marker techniques and we use them to prove two types of results: one concerning entropy and vertical data compression, and another, about the existence of isomorphic minimal models for aperiodic systems. We also introduce so-called decisiveness of Bratteli--Vershik systems and give for it a sufficient condition.