The Adjoint Action of an Expansive Algebraic -Action

Abstract.

 Let , and let α be an expansive -action by continuous automorphisms of a compact abelian group X with completely positive entropy. Then the group of homoclinic points of α is countable and dense in X, and the restriction of α to the α-invariant subgroup is a -action by automorphisms of . By duality, there exists a -action by automorphisms of the compact abelian group : this action is called the adjoint action of α.

We prove that is again expansive and has completely positive entropy, and that α and are weakly algebraically equivalent, i.e. algebraic factors of each other.

A -action α by automorphisms of a compact abelian group X is reflexive if the -action on the compact abelian group adjoint to is algebraically conjugate to α. We give an example of a non-reflexive expansive -action α with completely positive entropy, but prove that the third adjoint is always algebraically conjugate to . Furthermore, every expansive and ergodic -action α is reflexive.

The last section contains a brief discussion of adjoints of certain expansive algebraic -actions with zero entropy.