On the independence of shifts defined on $\mathbb{N}^d$ and trees

Abstract

In this paper, we study the independence of shifts defined on $\mathbb{N}^d$ ($\mathbb{N}^d$ shift) and trees (tree-shift). Firstly, for the completeness of the article, we provide a proof that an $\mathbb{N}^d$ shift has positive (topological) entropy if and only if it has an independence set with positive upper density. Secondly, we obtain that when the base shift $X$ is a hereditary shift, then the associated tree-shift $\mathcal{T}_X$ on an unexpandable tree has positive entropy if and only if it has an independence set with positive density. However, the independence of the tree-shift on an expandable tree differs from that of $\mathbb{N}^d$ shifts or tree-shifts on unexpandable trees. The boundary independence property is introduced and we prove that it is equivalent to the positive entropy of a tree-shift on an expandable tree.