Normal amenable subgroups of the automorphism group of sofic shifts

Abstract

Let $(X, \sigma)$ be a transitive sofic shift and let $\rm{Aut}(X)$ denote its automorphism group. We generalize a result of Frisch, Schlank, and Tamuz to show that any normal amenable subgroup of $\rm{Aut}(X)$ must be contained in the subgroup generated by the shift. We also show that the result does not extend to higher dimensions by giving an example of a two-dimensional mixing shift of finite type whose automorphism group is amenable and not generated by the shift maps.