Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Definitions 3 Elementary Constructions on Extender Sets 4 Decision Problems on Extender Sets 5 𝚷𝟑 Extender Entropies for ℤ Effective Subshifts 6 𝚷𝟑 Extender Entropies for ℤ𝟐 Sofic Subshifts 7 Realizing Extender Entropies: Computable Subshifts 8 Extender Sets of Minimal Subshifts 9 Extender Sets of Subshifts With Mixing Properties References

Computability of Extender Sets in Multidimensional Subshifts

Antonin Callard ORCID Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, ENSICAEN, CNRS, GREYC, 14000, Caen, France Léo Paviet Salomon ORCID Université de Lorraine, CNRS, Inria, LORIA, 54000, Nancy, France Pascal Vanier ORCID Normandie Univ, UNICAEN, ENSICAEN, CNRS, GREYC, 14000, Caen, France
Abstract

Subshifts are sets of colorings of ℤd defined by families of forbidden patterns. Given a subshift and a finite pattern, its extender set is the set of admissible completions of this pattern. It has been conjectured that the behavior of extender sets, and in particular their growth called extender entropy [10], could provide a way to separate the classes of sofic and effective subshifts. We prove here that both classes have the same possible extender entropies: exactly the Π3 real numbers of [0,+∞).

Keywords and phrases:
Symbolic dynamics, subshifts, extender sets, extender entropy, computability, sofic shifts, tilings
Copyright and License:
[Uncaptioned image] © Antonin Callard, Léo Paviet Salomon, and Pascal Vanier; licensed under Creative Commons License CC-BY 4.0
2012 ACM Subject Classification:
Mathematics of computing → Discrete mathematics
; Theory of computation → Models of computation
Related Version:
Extended Version: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2401.07549
Acknowledgements:
We are thankful to the referees for their many helpful remarks and suggestions.
Funding:
This research was partially funded by ANR JCJC 2019 19-CE48-0007-01.
Editors:
Olaf Beyersdorff, Michał Pilipczuk, Elaine Pimentel, and Nguyễn Kim Thắng

1 Introduction

In dimension d∈ℕ, subshifts are sets of colorings of ℤd where a family of patterns, i.e. colorings of finite portions of ℤd, have been forbidden. They were originally introduced to discretize continuous dynamical systems [19]. One of the main families of subshifts that has been studied is the class of subshifts of finite type (SFTs), which can be defined with a finite family of forbidden patterns. This class has independently been introduced under the formalism of Wang tiles [25] in dimension 2 in order to study fragments of second order logic.

In dimension 1, sofic subshifts [26], which are obtained as letter-to-letter projections of SFTs, are studied mainly through their defining graphs. In dimension 2 and higher, SFTs (and thus sofic subshifts) can embed arbitrary Turing machine computations; as such, the main tool in the study of subshifts becomes computability theory. This led to the introduction of a new class of subshifts, the effective subshifts, which can be defined by computably enumerable families of forbidden patterns [13].

An important question in symbolic dynamics is thus to find criteria separating sofic from effective subshifts [15, 22, 12, 3]. In dimension 1, a subshift is sofic if it can be defined by a regular language of forbidden patterns: the Myhill–Nerode theorem states that these are exactly the languages that have finitely many Nerode congruence classes. In dimension 2 and higher, no such clear characterization exists. Indeed, many effective subshifts have been proved to be sofic, such as substitutive subshifts [20], or effective subshifts on {0,1} whose densities of symbols 1 are sublinear [6]; it even turns out that sofic subshifts of dimension d+1 capture all the behaviors of effective shifts of dimension d [13, 8, 2].

All the methods used to prove some cases of non-soficity that are known by the authors revolve around a counting argument: only a linear amount of information may cross the border of an n×n square pattern (see for example [1, Proposition 9.4.5]). The most recent argument in this vein uses resource-bounded Kolmogorov complexity [7].

One formalization of this counting argument relies on extender sets of patterns [15], which can be considered as a higher-dimensional generalization of Nerode congruence classes: the extender set of a pattern p is the set of all configurations with a p-shaped hole that may extend p. For SFTs, the extender set of a given pattern is entirely determined by its boundary, which implies that the number of extender sets of an SFT cannot grow too quickly. For subshifts in dimension 1, [21, Lemma 3.4] proves the analog of Myhill-Nerode theorem: a subshift is sofic if and only if its number of extender sets of every size is bounded. In dimension 2 and higher, only sufficient conditions are known: for example, a subshift whose number of extender sets for patterns of size nd is bounded by n must be sofic [21].

The study of the growth rate of the number of extender sets can be done asymptotically through the notion of the extender entropy, which is defined in a similar way to the classical notion of topological entropy [17]. Extender entropies in fact relate to the to notion of follower entropies [4], but are more robust in the sense that, despite it not being decreasing under factor map applications, the extender entropy of a subshift is still a conjugacy invariant.

In this paper, we achieve characterizations of the possible extender entropies in terms of computability, in the same vein as recent results on conjugacy invariants of subshifts [14, 18].

Theorem A.

The set of extender entropies of ℤ effective subshifts is exactly Π3∩[0,+∞).

Theorem B.

The set of extender entropies of ℤ2 sofic subshifts is exactly Π3∩[0,+∞).

These results generalize to dimension d≥2 by Claim 8 and Corollary 12. While sofic subshifts were conjectured in [15] to have extender entropy zero, this was later disproved (see for example [7]); in fact, our characterization shows that the possible values are dense in [0,+∞). This also proves that extender entropies do not separate sofic from effective shifts.

ℤ ℤd,d≥2
SFT {0} (Folklore: see Proposition 6)
Sofic {0} ([9, Theorem 1.1]) Π3 (B)
Effective Π3 (A)
Computable (ℤ effective, ℤd sofic) Π2 (Theorem 27)
Sofic and minimal {0} (Corollary 29)
Effective and minimal Π1 (Corollary 30)
Effective and 1-Mixing/Block-Gluing Π3 (Proposition 32) Π3 (Proposition 34)
Figure 1: Sets of possible extender entropies for various classes of subshifts.

Finally, we also study extender entropies of subshifts constrained by some dynamical assumptions, such as minimality or mixingness. What is known by the authors at this stage can be summed up by the table Figure 1.

2 Definitions

2.1 Subshifts

Let 𝒜 denote a finite set of symbols and d∈ℕ the dimension. A configuration is a coloring x∈𝒜ℤd, and the color of x at position p∈ℤd is denoted by xp. A (d-dimensional) pattern over 𝒜 is a coloring w∈𝒜P for some set P⊆ℤd called its support111It is sometimes convenient to consider patterns up to the translation of their support. Usually, context will make it clear whether patterns are truly equal, or only up to a ℤd translation.. For any pattern w over 𝒜 of support P, we say that w appears in a configuration x (and we denote w⊑x) if there exists p0∈ℤd such that wp=xp+p0 for all p∈P.

The shift functions (σt)t∈ℤd act on configurations as (σt⁢(x))p=xp+t. For t∈ℤd, a configuration x is t-periodic if σt⁢(x)=x. We sometimes consider patterns or configuration by their restriction: for S⊆ℤd either finite or infinite, and x∈𝒜ℤd a configuration (resp. w a pattern), we denote by x|S (resp. w|S) the coloring of 𝒜S it induces on S.

Definition 1 (Subshift).

For any family of finite patterns ℱ, we define

Xℱ={x∈𝒜ℤd∣∀w∈ℱ,w⋢x}

A set X⊆𝒜ℤd is called a subshift if it is equal to some Xℱ.

Given a subshift X and a finite support P⊆ℤd, we define ℒP⁢(X) as the set of patterns w of support P that appear in the configurations of X. Such patterns are said to be globally admissible in X. We define the language of X as ℒ⁢(X)=⋃P⊆ℤd⁢ finiteℒP⁢(X). Slightly abusing notations, we denote ℒn⁢(X)=ℒ⟦0,n−1⟧d⁢(X) for n∈ℕ.

For X⊆𝒜ℤd and Y⊆ℬℤd two subshifts, φ:X→Y is a factor map if there exists some N⊆ℤd and f:𝒜N→ℬ such that φ⁢(x)p=f⁢(x|p+N): then Y is a factor of X. X and Y are conjugate if there exists a bijective factor map φ:X→Y (called a conjugacy). Any object associated with subshifts that is preserved by conjugacy is a conjugacy invariant.

Subshifts can be classified as follows: a subshift is of finite type (SFT) if it is equal to Xℱ for some finite family ℱ of forbidden patterns; a subshift X is effective if it is equal to Xℱ for some computably enumerable family ℱ of forbidden patterns; and a subshift is sofic if it is a factor of some SFT, called its SFT cover. SFTs are sofic by definition, and sofic subshifts are effective.

Reciprocally, for a ℤd subshift X⊆𝒜ℤd, define the following lifts:

  • ■

    the periodic lift X↑={x↑∈𝒜ℤd+1∣x∈X}, where (x↑)|ℤd×{i}=x for all i∈ℤ;

  • ■

    the free lift X⇑={y∈𝒜ℤd+1∣∀i∈ℤ,yℤd×{i}∈X}.

If X is sofic (resp. effective), then both X↑ and X⇑ are also sofic (resp. effective) since they can be defined by the same forbidden patterns. On the other hand:

Theorem 2 ([13], [2, Theorem 3.1], [8, Theorem 10]).

If X is an effective ℤd subshift, then X↑ is a sofic ℤd+1 subshift.

Finally, most of our constructions will involve the notion of layers: for a subshift of a cartesian product X⊆∏i∈ILi, the layers of X are the projections of X onto each of the Li, which are often named for convenience. For J⊆I, we will denote by πLj1×Lj2×…:∏i∈ILi↦∏j∈JLj the cartesian projection.

2.2 Pattern Complexity and Extender Sets

The traditional notion of complexity is called pattern complexity and is defined by NX⁢(n)=ℒn⁢(X). The exponential growth rate of |NX⁢(n)| is the topological entropy:

h⁢(X)=limn↦+∞log⁡|NX⁢(n)|nd.

In this article, we focus on another notion of complexity based on extender sets:

Definition 3 (Extender set).

For X⊆𝒜ℤd a d-dimensional subshift, P⊆ℤd and w∈𝒜P a pattern of support P, the extender set of w is the set

EX⁢(w)={x∈𝒜ℤd∖P∣x⊔w∈X},

where (x⊔w)p=wp if p∈P and (x⊔w)p=xp otherwise.

In other words, EX⁢(w) is the set of all possible valid “completions” of the pattern w in X. For example, for two patterns with the same support w,w′, we have EX⁢(w)⊆EX⁢(w′) if and only if the pattern w can be replaced by w′ every time it appears in any configuration of X.

In the case of ℤ subshifts, extender sets are similar to the more classical notions of follower (resp. predecessor) sets, which are the set of right-infinite (resp. left-infinite) words that complete a finite given pattern (see for example [9]). Parallels can also be drawn with Nerode congruence classes.

For X a ℤd subshift, denote EX⁢(n)={EX⁢(w)∣w∈ℒn⁢(X)} its set of extender sets. The extender set sequence (|EX⁢(n)|)n∈ℕ and its growth rate222The authors define it for ℤ subshifts, but the definition makes sense for higher dimensional shifts. are defined in [9]:

Definition 4 ([10, Definition 2.17]).

For a ℤd subshift X, its extender entropy is

hE⁢(X)=limn→+∞log⁡|EX⁢(n)|nd.

This limit is well-defined by the multivariate subadditive lemma (see [5, Theorem 1]). In particular, hE⁢(X)=infn→+∞log⁡|EX⁢(n)|nd, and hE⁢(X) could actually be computed along any sequence of hyperrectangles that eventually fills ℤd.

Examples
  1. 1.

    Let us consider X=𝒜ℤd some full-shift in dimension d. Then X has maximal topological entropy, but hE⁢(X)=0: indeed, for any two patterns w,w′∈ℒn⁢(X), we have EX⁢(w)=EX⁢(w′)={𝒜ℤd∖⟦0,n−1⟧d}; which implies that |EX⁢(n)|=1 for every n∈ℕ.

  2. 2.

    Let us consider X a (strongly) periodic subshift: there exist p1,…,pd∈ℕ such that, for every x∈X and i≤d, we have σpi⋅ei⁢(x)=x. Then X has zero topological entropy, and we also have hE⁢(X)=0. Indeed, for n≥max⁡pi and w∈ℒn⁢(X), w is the only pattern w′ such that EX⁢(w′)=EX⁢(w); so that |EX⁢(n)|=|ℒn⁢(X)|≤p⁢𝒜p for p=∏ipi.

Some Properties
Theorem 5 (From [10] on ℤ subshifts).

On ℤd subshifts:

  • ■

    hE is a conjugacy invariant.

  • ■

    hE is not necessarily decreasing under factor map.

  • ■

    hE is additive under product (i.e. for X,Y two subshifts, hE⁢(X×Y)=hE⁢(X)+hE⁢(Y)).

  • ■

    hE is upper bounded by h (i.e. for X a subshift, hE⁢(X)≤h⁢(X)).

For SFTs, the following proposition is folklore:

Proposition 6 ([15, Section 2]).

Let X be a d-dimensional SFT. Then hE⁢(X)=0.

Sketch of proof.

In an SFT defined by adjacency constraints, the extender set of a pattern w∈𝒜⟦0,n−1⟧d is determined by its border; and there are at most 2O⁢(nd−1) such borders. ◀ By an analog of the Myhill-Nerode theorem, ℤ sofic subshifts have extender entropy zero:

Proposition 7 ([21, Lemma 3.4]).

Let X be a 1-dimensional subshift. Then X is sofic if and only if (|En⁢(X)|)n∈ℕ is uniformly bounded.

2.3 Computability Notions

2.3.1 Arithmetical Hierarchy

The arithmetical hierarchy [24, Chapter 4] stratifies formulas of first-order arithmetic over ℕ by the number of their alternating unbounded quantifiers: for n∈ℕ, define

Πn0 ={∀k1,∃k2,∀k3,…⁢ϕ⁢(k1,…,kn)∣ϕ⁢ only contains bounded quantifiers}
Σn0 ={∃k1,∀k2,∃k3,…⁢ϕ⁢(k1,…,kn)∣ϕ⁢ only contains bounded quantifiers}.

A decision problem is said to be in Πn0 (resp. Σn0) if its set of solutions S⊆ℕ is described by a Πn0 (resp. Σn0) formula: in other words, Π00=Σ00 corresponds to the set of computable decision problems; Σ10 is the set of computably enumerable decision problems, etc…

2.3.2 Arithmetical Hierarchy of Real Numbers

The arithmetical hierarchy of real numbers [27] stratifies real numbers depending on the difficulty of computably approximating them: for n≥0, define

Σn ={x∈ℝ∣{r∈ℚ∣r≤x}⁢ is a ⁢Σn0⁢ set}
Πn ={x∈ℝ∣{r∈ℚ∣r≥x}⁢ is a ⁢Σn0⁢ set}={x∈ℝ∣{r∈ℚ∣r≤x}⁢ is a ⁢Πn0⁢ set}.

In particular, Σ0=Π0 is the set of computable real numbers, i.e. numbers that can be computably approximated up to arbitrary precision; Π1 real numbers are also called right-computable, since they can be computably approximated from above; etc…

Alternatively, this hierarchy is also defined by the number of alternating limit operations needed to obtain a real number from the computable ones [27]. In other words, for n≥1:

Σn ={supk1∈ℕinfk2∈ℕsupk3∈ℕ…⁢βk1,…,kn∣(βk1,…,kn)k1,…,kn∈ℕ∈ℚℕn⁢ is computable}
Πn ={infk1∈ℕsupk2∈ℕinfk3∈ℕ…⁢βk1,…,kn∣(βk1,…,kn)k1,…,kn∈ℕ∈ℚℕn⁢ is computable}

3 Elementary Constructions on Extender Sets

The free lift

We use this construction to generalize results on ℤ or ℤ2 subshifts to higher dimensions:

Claim 8.

For a subshift X⊆𝒜ℤd, hE⁢(X)=hE⁢(X⇑).

Proof.

Consider X⇑⊆𝒜ℤd+1. Since each d-dimensional hyperplane of ℤd+1 contains an independent configuration, we have |EX⇑⁢(n)|=|EX⁢(n)|n and hE⁢(X⇑)=hE⁢(X). ⊲

The (semi)-mirror construction
Claim 9.

Let Y be any ℤ2 sofic subshift over an alphabet 𝒜. There exists a ℤ2 sofic subshift Ymirror such that hE⁢(Ymirror)=h⁢(Y) (=h⁢(Ymirror)).

A first idea to create one extender set per pattern of Y is the mirror construction: add a line of some special symbol ∗ to separate two half-planes; the upper half-plane contains a half-configuration of Y, while the lower half-plane contains its reflection by the line of ∗. As any two patterns of Y have distinct reflections, they generate different extender sets: this results in a subshift Y′ verifying hE⁢(Y′)=h⁢(Y). Unfortunately, Y′ is not always sofic, see for example [1, Proposition 57].

Refer to caption

(a) The (classical) mirror shift.

Refer to caption

(b) The semi-mirror shift.
Figure 2: Example configurations of the mirror and semi-mirror subshifts.

To solve this non-soficness issue, the semi-mirror with large discrepancy from [7, Example 5′′] reflects a single symbol instead of the whole upper-plane:

Sketch of proof.

For 𝒜′=𝒜∪{□,∗}, define Ymirror over the alphabet 𝒜′ as follows:

  • ■

    Symbols ∗ must be aligned in a row, and there is at most one such row per configuration.

  • ■

    If a row of ∗ appears in a configuration x, then the lower half-plane contains at most one non-□ position; and the upper half-plane must appear in a configuration of Y.

  • ■

    If xi,j=∗ and xi,j−k∈𝒜 for some i∈ℤ,j∈ℤ,k∈ℕ, then xi,j+k=xi,j−k. In other words, the only symbol of 𝒜 in the lower half-plane must be the mirror of the same symbol in the upper half-plane, as reflected by the horizontal row of ∗ symbols.

Then Ymirror is sofic and hE⁢(Ymirror)=h⁢(Y). Indeed, any two distinct patterns of Y must appear in Ymirror and have distinct extender sets, since they can have different reflections. ◀

This construction shows that there exist subshifts with arbitrarily large extender entropy; and since every Π1 real number is the topological entropy of some (SFT, thus) sofic subshift [14], every Π1 number can be realized as the extender entropy of some sofic subshift. In particular, this further disproves the conjecture from [15] mentioned in the introduction.

4 Decision Problems on Extender Sets

4.1 Inclusion of Extender Sets

Let us consider the following decision problem:

Extender-inclusion
Input: An effective subshift X⊆𝒜ℤd, and u,v∈ℒ⁢(X),
Output: Whether EX⁢(u)⊆EX⁢(v).
Proposition 10.

Extender-inclusion is a Π20-complete problem.

Proof of inclusion.

As EX⁢(u)⊆EX⁢(v) if and only if ∀B∈𝒜∗,u⊑B⟹(B∉ℒ⁢(X)∨((B∖u)⊔v)∈ℒ⁢(X)), we obtain inclusions: indeed, for X effective, deciding whether a pattern w belongs in ℒ⁢(X) is a Π10 problem. ◀

Proof of 𝚷𝟐𝟎-hardness for ℤ subshifts.

We reduce the following known Π20 problem333It is equivalent to Inf (does a given machine halt on infinitely many inputs?). See [24, Theorem 4.3.2].:

Det-Rec-state
Input: A deterministic Turing Machine M, and a state q,
Output: Is q visited infinitely often by M during its run on the empty input?

Let (M,q) be an instance of this Det-Rec-state. We construct an effective subshift X over the alphabet {0,1,□} as follows:

  • ■

    Symbols 0 and 1 cannot appear together in a configuration. The symbol 1 can only appear at most once in a configuration.

  • ■

    If two symbols 0 appear in a configuration at distance, say, n>0, then the whole configuration is n-periodic; and if M enters q at least n′ times, then we impose n>n′.

As the rules above forbid an enumerable set of patterns, X is an effective subshift.

Finally, EX⁢(0)⊆EX⁢(1) if and only if M enters q infinitely many times. Indeed, the symbol 0 can be extended either by semi-infinite lines of symbols □, which also extend the symbol 1 ; or by configurations containing n-periodic symbols 0, which do not extend the symbol 1 because of the first rule. However, by the second rule, this n-periodic configuration exists if and only if M visits q less than n times. ◀

4.2 Computing the Number of Extender Sets

Let us determine the computational complexity of the problem “k≤|EX⁢(n)|”, when given a subshift X, some size n and some k. It is equivalent to the following:

⋁v1,…,vk∈ℒn⁢(X)⋀1≤i<j≤kEX⁢(vi)≠EX⁢(vj).

Since vi∈ℒn⁢(X) is a Π10⊆Σ20 problem and that the class of Σ20 problems is stable by finite disjunctions and conjunctions, we conclude from Proposition 10 that:

Lemma 11.

For an effective subshift X, “k≤|EX⁢(n)|” is a Σ20 problem.

4.3 Upper Computational Bounds on Extender Entropies

Corollary 12.

For X an effective subshift, hE⁢(X)∈Π3.

Proof.

Given X and n, the set {k≤|EX⁢(n)|} is a Σ20 set if X is effective by Lemma 11. This implies that log⁡|EX⁢(n)|nd is Σ2; and since hE⁢(X)=infnlog⁡|EX⁢(n)|nd, we obtain hE⁢(X)∈Π3 as the infimum of Σ2 real numbers. ◀

5 𝚷𝟑 Extender Entropies for ℤ Effective Subshifts

Let us focus on one-dimensional subshifts for the time being.

See A

In order to construct a subshift Zα with hE⁢(Zα)=α, we would like to have |EZα⁢(n)|≃2α⁢n. To do so, we could create one extender set per pattern, and 2α⁢n patterns of size n (as the semi-mirror in Section 3); however, since effective subshifts have Π1 entropies, this would not realize the whole class of Π3 numbers.

Yet, realizing the right number of patterns is the main idea behind the proof that follows: we just do not blindly create one extender set per pattern, but only separate extender sets when some conditions are met.

5.1 Preliminary: Encoding Integers With Configurations ⟨𝒊⟩𝒌

Before we begin our construction, we fix a way to encode integers in configurations: to encode the integer i∈ℕ, we use configurations where a symbol ∗ is i-periodic, and the rest is blank.

More formally, consider the alphabet 𝒜∗={∗,␣}. Denote by ⟨i⟩k1 the i-periodic configuration ⟨i⟩k1=σk1⁢(…⁢␣⁢∗␣…␣∗⏟i+1⁢ symbols⁢␣⁢…⁢␣∗␣⁢…) properly defined as (⟨i⟩k1)p=∗ if and only if p=k1modi. A configuration ⟨i⟩k1 is said to encode the integer i∈ℕ. Considering the subshift all the configurations ⟨i⟩k1 for i∈ℕ and k1≤i generate, we denote:

X∗=⋃i∈ℕ{⟨i⟩k1∈𝒜∗ℤ∣k1≤i}∪⟨∞⟩

where ⟨∞⟩={x∈𝒜∗ℤ∣|x|∗≤1} is the set of configurations having at most one symbol ∗. The configurations of ⟨∞⟩ are said to be degenerate, and they appear when taking the closure of all ⟨i⟩k1.

5.2 Preliminary: Toeplitz Density in Periodic Configurations

Our construction will also need to build configurations with a controlled density of symbols, i.e. configurations on {0,1} where the number of symbols 1 in large patterns converges to some value: for some fixed α, we want to build configurations x∈{0,1}ℤ such that limn→+∞1n⋅|x|⟦0,n−1⟧|1=α. Several explicit constructions of such configurations and subshifts exist. We choose to work with Toeplitz sequences.

Toeplitz density words

Consider the ruler sequence T=12131214⁢… defined by Tn=max⁡{m∈ℕ:2m∣2⁢n} (see Oeis A001511). For a given binary sequence u=(un)n∈ℕ∈{0,1}ℕ, we consider its Toeplitzification T⁢(u)∈{0,1}ℕ defined as T⁢(u)n=uTn for n∈ℕ.

In particular, for β∈[0,1] a real number and (βn)n∈ℕ its proper binary expansion, we consider the word T⁢(β)=(βTn)n∈ℕ=β1⁢β2⁢β1⁢β3⁢β1⁢β2⁢…. Denoting by |w|1 the numbers of letters 1 in a binary word w∈{0,1}∗ and by |w| its length, we have:

Claim 13.

For β∈[0,1] and w⊑T⁢(β) a factor of T⁢(β), we have |w|1=β⋅|w|+O⁢(1).

Toeplitz density in periodic configurations

For our specific construction, let α∈[0,1] and i∈ℕ, and consider the subshift T≤α,i composed of i-periodic configurations made of truncated Toeplitz words:

T≤α,i={x∈{0,1}ℤ∣∃β≤α,∃k1∈⟦0,i−1⟧,∀p∈ℤ,xp=T⁢(β)(p+k1modi)}

We denote T⁢(β,i)k1∈{0,1}ℤ the configuration defined by (T⁢(β,i)k1)p=T⁢(β)(p+k1modi) for p∈ℤ. Notice that, for any α∈[0,1], i∈ℕ and n∈ℕ, there are |ℒn⁢(T≤α,i)|=2log⁡(min⁡(i,n))+O⁢(1)⋅O⁢(min⁡(i,n)) factors of length n in T≤α,i.

Claim 14.

Let α∈[0,1]∩Π1. Then T≤α,i is an SFT, and a family of forbidden patterns realizing T≤α,i can be computably enumerated from α.

Proof.

Consider α∈Π1: the set {r∈Q∣r>α} is computably enumerable. Thus, the following family ℱ of forbidden patterns that realizes T≤α,i is recursively enumerable: forbid finite pattern that are either not i-periodic, or do not respect the structure of the ruler sequence in an i-period; and inside an i-period, forbid patterns rT1⁢rT2⁢rT1⁢…∈{0,1}i that encode the finite expansion of a rational r=∑k=1log⁡irk⁢2−k if r is such that r>α. ⊲

5.3 Construction: the Effective ℤ Subshift 𝒁𝜶

Let us now begin the construction to prove A. Let α∈Π3 be a positive real number, α=infisupjαi,j for some computable sequence (αi,j) of Π1 real numbers. We can assume α≤1 since extender entropy is additive under cartesian products, and using [27, Lemma 3.1] we can assume that (αi,j)i,j∈ℕ2 satisfies some monotonicity properties: for all i, (αi,j)j∈ℕ is weakly increasing towards some αi; and the sequence (αi)i∈ℕ is weakly decreasing towards α.

Auxiliary subshift 𝒁𝜶′

We create an auxiliary subshift Zα′ on the following three layers:

  1. 1.

    First layer L1: We take L1=X∗ to encode integers i∈ℕ. Intuitively, i will denote which Σ2 number αi is approximated in the configuration.

  2. 2.

    Second layer L2: We also set L2=X∗ to encode integers j∈ℕ, j≥i. Intuitively, j will denote which Π1 number αi,j is approximated in the configuration.

  3. 3.

    Density layer Ld: We define the density layer as Ld={0,1}ℤ. Whenever the first two layers are non-degenerate, this layer will be restricted to densities ≲αi,j. Since the real numbers αi,j are Π1, the subshifts T≤αi,j,i are effective from the numbers αi,j.

such that Zα′ is defined as:

Zα′ ={(z(1),z(2),z(d))∈L1×L2×Ld∣z(2)∈⟨∞⟩}
∪⋃i∈ℕ⋃j≥i{(z(1),z(2),z(d))∈L1×L2×Ld∣∃k1,k2∈ℕ,
z(1)=⟨i⟩k1,z(2)=⟨j⟩k2and ∃β≤αi,j,z(d)=T(β,i)k1}
Figure 3: A proper configuration: Ld contains a Toeplitz encoding of .1010¯2=58. z=(⟨15⟩11,⟨18⟩1,T⁢(58,15)10). The vertical red line indicates the origin.
Claim 15.

The ℤ subshift Zα′ is an effective subshift.

Proof.

Since the subshift X∗ is effective, the conditions on the first two layers L1 and L2 are straightforward to enforce. Furthermore, since the αi,j are Π1 real numbers enumerated by a single machine, by Claim 14 we can obtain Zα′ as follows: a pattern w=(w(1),w(2),w(d))∈ℒ⁢(X∗)×ℒ⁢(X∗)×{0,1}n is forbidden whenever both w(1) and w(2) contain at least two symbols ∗ (so that w(1) encodes an integer i∈ℕ, w(2) encodes an integer j≥i) and w(d) contains a pattern forbidden in T≤αi,j,i. ⊲

A configuration z=(⟨i⟩k1,⟨j⟩k2,T⁢(β,i)k1)∈Zα′ is said to be proper. A configuration z=(z(1),z(2),⋅)∈Zα′ with z(2)∈⟨∞⟩ is said to be degenerate. Thus, we separate patterns into two categories: whenever w∈ℒ⁢(Zα′) only appears in degenerate configurations, we call it a degenerate pattern; if w can appear in a proper configuration, we call it a proper pattern.

On the one hand, degenerate patterns of Zα′ do not contribute much to the number of extender sets, despite being exponentially many:

Claim 16.

Let n∈ℕ, and consider DE⁢(n)={EZα′⁢(w)∣w∈ℒn⁢(Zα′)⁢ degenerate}, the set of extender sets of degenerate patterns of size n. Then |DE⁢(n)|=O⁢(n3).

Proof.

Let u,v∈ℒn⁢(Zα′) be two degenerate patterns. Whenever u(1)=v(1) and u(2)=v(2), we have EZα′⁢(u)=EZα′⁢(v) because the density layer of such patterns can be anything. Since at most a single symbol ∗ can appear on the second layer of degenerate patterns, by counting possibilities for their first layers we obtain |DE⁢(n)|=O⁢(n3). ⊲

On the other hand, all proper patterns of Zα′ belong to distinct extender sets:

Claim 17.

Let u,v∈ℒn⁢(Zα′) be two distinct proper patterns. Then EZα′⁢(u)≠EZα′⁢(v).

Proof.

Let u∈ℒn⁢(Zα′) be a proper pattern. It can be extended into a whole proper configuration z=(⟨i⟩k1,⟨j⟩k2,z(d))∈Zα′ such that z|⟦0,n−1⟧=u. By definition, z is periodic of period i⋅j: thus, z|⟦0,n−1⟧ is entirely determined by z|⟦n,i⋅j+n−1⟧, and z|ℤ∖⟦0,n−1⟧ can only extend the pattern u itself. ⊲

However, there are only polynomially many distinct proper patterns of a given size in Zα′. The next section will neverthelesss create a subshift Zα with the correct (exponential) amount of proper patterns, thanks to the following remark:

Claim 18.
  • ■

    For an integer i∈ℕ and a proper configuration z∈Zα′ such that z(1)=⟨i⟩k1, an i-period of the density layer z(d) contains at most αi⋅i+O⁢(1) symbols 1.

  • ■

    For integers n∈ℕ and i≥n, and a proper configuration z∈Zα′ such that z(1)=⟨i⟩k1, a factor of length n of the density layer z(d) contains at most αn⋅n+O⁢(1) symbols 1.

Proof.

This follows from Claim 13 and the monotonicity of the sequence (αi,j)i,j∈ℕ2. ⊲

Free bits in the subshift 𝒁𝜶

To create the desired exponential number of extender sets, we create the subshift Zα by adding free bits on top of the symbols 1 of the density layer. Informally, if there were β⋅i+O⁢(1) symbols 1 in an i-period of the density layer in Zα′, adding free bits on top of the symbols 1 creates 2β⋅i+O⁢(1) patterns in Zα. Thus, we add a fourth layer to Zα′:

  1. 4.

    Free layer Lf: We define the free layer as Lf={␣,0,1}ℤ. Given the synchronizing map πsync:{␣,0,1}→{0,1} defined as πsync⁢(0)=πsync⁢(1)=1 and πsync⁢(␣)=0, we say that two configurations z(d)∈Ld and z(f)∈Lf are synchronized if πsync⁢(z(f))=z(d).

and we define Zα as:

Zα ={(z(1),z(2),z(d),z(f))∈L1×L2×Ld×Lf∣z(1)∈⟨∞⟩⁢ or ⁢z(2)⁢⟨∞⟩}
∪⋃i∈ℕ⋃j≥i{(z(1),z(2),z(d),z(f))∈L1×L2×Ld×Lf∣∃k1,k2∈ℕ,
z(1)=⟨i⟩k1,z(2)=⟨j⟩k2⁢πsync⁢(z(f))=z(d),
∃β≤αi,j,z(d)=T(β,i)k1and z(f) is i-periodic }.
Claim 19.

The ℤ subshift Zα is effective.

Proof.

In addition to the forbidden patterns of Zα′, forbid patterns w=(w(1),w(2),w(d),w(f)) for which w(1) and w(2) both contain two symbols ∗ (in which case, denote by i the distance between two symbols ∗ in w(1)), but w(f) is either not synchronized with w(d) or not i-periodic. ⊲

We extend the terminology from Zα′ to Zα and call proper the configurations of Zα that encode integers i∈ℕ and j≥i on their first two layers, and degenerate those who do not. Similarly, a pattern is proper if it can be extended into a proper configuration, and degenerate if it only extends into degenerate configurations.

Since the free layer is required to be i-periodic only in proper configurations, Claims 16 and 17 both extend from Zα′ to Zα by the very same arguments:

Claim 20.
  • ■

    For n∈ℕ, consider DE⁢(n)={EZα⁢(w)∣w∈ℒn⁢(Zα)⁢ degenerate}. Then DE⁢(n)=O⁢(n2).

  • ■

    Let u,v∈ℒn⁢(Zα) be two distinct proper patterns. Then EZα⁢(u)≠EZα⁢(v).

Lemma 21.

Let P⁢(n)={w∈ℒn⁢(Zα)∣w⁢ is proper}. Then

2n⋅αn+O⁢(1)≤P⁢(n)≤poly⁢(n)⋅∑i=1n2αi⋅i+O⁢(1).
Proof: lower bound..

Consider the patterns w′=(⟨n⟩0,⟨j⟩0,T⁢(αn,j,n)0)|⟦0,n−1⟧ in Zα′ for j≥n : the number of symbols 1 in the density layer w′⁣(d) of such w′ is αn,j⋅n+O⁢(1) by Claim 13. Since αn,j→αn, by taking j≥n large enough we obtain a proper pattern w′∈ℒn⁢(Zα′) such that its density layer w′⁣(d) contains αn⋅n+O⁢(1) symbols 1.

Thus, we obtain 2αn⋅n+O⁢(1) proper patterns w∈ℒn⁢(Zα) such that πL1×L2×Ld⁢(w)=w′ (since each symbol 1 in w(d) leads to two distinct patterns in the free layer Lf). ◀

Proof: upper bound..

To overestimate the number of proper patterns |P⁢(n)|, we consider the restrictions w′=z⟦0,n−1⟧′ for z′ ranging in the proper configurations of Zα′ (consider all values of ⟨i⟩k1,⟨j⟩k2 and of n-factors in y(d)), and bound the number of symbols 1 in each case: by Claim 18,

  • ■

    If i≤n, an i-period of the density layer w′⁣(d) contains less than αi⋅i+O⁢(1) symbols 1.

  • ■

    For i>n, w′⁣(d) contains less than αn⋅n+O⁢(1) symbols 1.

Since each symbol 1 in an i-period of the density layer results in two distinct patterns in the free layer, and there are less than O⁢(i2) possibilities for such periods, we obtain:

P⁢(n) ≤∑i=1n∑k1=0i−1∑j=1n∑k2=0j−1O⁢(i2)⋅2αi⋅i+O⁢(1)+∑k1=0n∑k2=0nO⁢(n2)⋅2αn⋅n+O⁢(1)
≤poly⁢(n)⋅∑i=1n2αi⋅i+O⁢(1).

◀

Combining Lemma 21 with Claim 20, we obtain by taking the limit over αn→α that hE⁢(Zα)=α, which concludes the proof.

6 𝚷𝟑 Extender Entropies for ℤ𝟐 Sofic Subshifts

We now want to extend A to multidimensional sofic shifts: an idea could be to replace i-periodic words on ℤ in the previous construction with (i,i)-periodic squares on ℤ2. Unfortunately, such a subshift cannot be sofic444The argument proving that the classical mirror subshift cannot be sofic still applies here: there would be 2O⁢(i2) distinct i×i patterns, but only 2O⁢(i) borders in the SFT cover..

Yet, making configurations periodic is not necessary to ensure that two proper patterns u and v have distinct extender sets: it is enough to have a configuration that witnesses the difference between u and v (by extending one but not the other). This was already illustrated in the semi-mirror shift (see Section 3): instead of mirroring the whole half-plane (which is not sofic), non-deterministically reflecting a single bit from the upper to the lower half-plane is actually enough, since each bit can be reflected individually in some configuration. In this section, we use this idea to prove (see Figure 4):

Refer to caption

(a) Whole (i,i)-periodic squares of free bits.

Refer to caption

(b) A single (i,i)-periodic free bit.
Figure 4: The periodized area is highlighted in color ■ and hatched. To make the figure readable, symbols for free bits are {■,■} instead of {b,b′}.

See B

6.1 Preliminary: Marking Offsets With Configurations [𝟐⁢𝒊]𝒎𝟏,𝒎𝟐

In our construction, we will need to mark some positions (m1+i⁢ℤ,m2+i⁢ℤ). To do so, we consider the alphabet Am={□,■}. Denote by [2⁢i]m1,m⁢2 the (2⁢i,2⁢i)-periodic configuration formally defined as ([2⁢i]m1,m2)p=■ if and only if p=(m1,m2)mod(2⁢i,2⁢i). We say that a symbol ■ is a marker.

For a configuration x=[2⁢i]m1,m2 with (m1,m2)∈⟦0,2⁢i−1⟧2, we say that a position p∈ℤ2 is marked if p∈(m1+i⁢ℤ,m2+i⁢ℤ). This lattice has unit cells of size i×i instead of 2⁢i×2⁢i: this is voluntary. In particular, some marked positions p∈ℤ2 satisfy xp=□.

Considering the subshift generated by all the configurations [i]m1,m2, we define:

𝒢=⋃i∈ℕ{[i]m1,m2∣(m1,m2)∈⟦0,i−1⟧2}∪[∞]

where [∞]={x∈Amℤ2∣|x|■≤1} is the set of configurations having at most one marker symbol ■: these are the configurations that appear when taking the closure of all [i]m1,m2.

6.2 Construction: the Sofic ℤ𝟐 Subshift 𝒀𝜶

Let us now begin a construction to prove B. We use the notations introduced in the proof of A: we fix α∈[0,1]∩Π3 such that α=infisupjαi,j for αi,j a computable sequence of Π1 real numbers (we assume the same monotonicity properties). We define a subshift Yα on the following five layers:

  • ■

    Lifted layers: We define the first three layers of Yα as L1↑×L2↑×Ld↑, where L1,L2 and Ld are the three layers of the subshift Zα′ defined in the proof of A.

  • ■

    Marker layer Lm: We define Lm=𝒢 to mark positions p∈(m1+i⁢ℤ,m2+i⁢ℤ).

  • ■

    Free layer Lf: We also define the free layer by Lf={␣,0,1}ℤ2.

and we define Yα as (see Figure 5 for an illustration):

Yα ={(y(1)↑,y(2)↑,y(d)↑,y(m),y(f))∈L1↑×⟨∞⟩↑×Ld↑×Lm×Lf∣
∀i∈ℕ,(∃k1∈ℕ,y(1)=⟨i⟩k1⇔∃m1,m2∈ℕ,y(m)=[2i]m1,m2)}
∪⋃i∈ℕ⋃j≥i{(y(1)↑,y(2)↑,y(d)↑,y(m),y(f))∈L1↑×L2↑×Ld↑×Lm×Lf∣∃k1,m1,m2,k2∈ℕ,
y(1)=⟨i⟩k1,y(m)=[2⁢i]m1,m2,y(2)=⟨j⟩k2,πsync⁢(y(f))=y(d)↑,
∃β≤αi,j,y(d)=T(β,i)k1and y(f)|(m1+i⁢ℤ)×(m2+i⁢ℤ) is constant}.
Figure 5: Projection of a proper configuration on L1↑×Lm×Lf. The symbols ∗ are on L1↑, the symbols ■ on Lm the symbols 1 on Lf. All the other bits of Lf (not drawn here) are free.

Extending the terminology from Zα to Yα, we call proper the configurations of Yα that encode integers i∈ℕ and j≥i on their first two layers, and degenerate those which do not. Additionally we say that a pattern is proper if it can be extended into a proper configuration, and degenerate otherwise. We say that two proper patterns u,v∈ℒn⁢(Yα) are similar if they are equal on their first four layers (i.e. πL1↑×L2↑×Ld↑×Lm⁢(u)=πL1↑×L2↑×Ld↑×Lm⁢(v)).

Claim 22.

Two similar proper patterns u,v∈ℒn⁢(Yα) have distinct extender sets if and only if there exists a proper configuration y that extends u and that marks a position p∈⟦0,n−1⟧2 such that up(f)≠vp(f).

We would very much like an analog of Claim 20: unfortunately, not all proper patterns generate distinct extender sets. Indeed, by the previous claim, similar proper patterns generate distinct extender sets only when the positions at which they differ can be marked by an extending configuration (this depends on the relative position of an n×n window covering the four quadrants of a 2⁢i×2⁢i square, etc…). Yet, we do not need precise considerations to count the number of extender sets, and simply prove the following bounds:

Lemma 23.

Let PE⁢(n)={EYα⁢(w)∈ℒn⁢(Yα)∣w⁢ is proper}. Then

2αn⋅n2+O⁢(n)≤PE⁢(n)≤poly⁢(n)⋅∑i=0n2αi⋅i2+O⁢(i).
Proof: lower bound..

For j≥n, consider the set Jj={(y∈Yα∣y(1)=⟨n⟩0,y(2)=⟨j⟩0,y(d)=T(αn,j,n)}. The number of symbols 1 in an (n×n)-period in the density layer of such configurations is αn,j⋅n2+O⁢(n) by Claim 13. Since αn,j→αn, by taking j≥n large enough we obtain a set J=Jj of proper configurations y whose density layer y(d) contains αn⋅n2+O⁢(n) symbols 1 in an (n×n)-period.

Considering the free layer of such patterns, there are at least 2αn⋅n2+O⁢(n) distinct patterns in the finite set W={y|⟦0,n−1⟧2∣y∈Jj⁢ and ⁢y(m)|⟦0,n−1⟧2=□⟦0,n−1⟧2}, and we claim that they all generate distinct extender sets. Indeed, for any two distinct patterns u,v∈W, there exists a position p∈⟦0,n−1⟧2 such that up(f)≠vp(f); and there exists a configuration y∈Jj that extends u with y(m)=[2⁢n]p+(n,n): in particular, y marks the position p.555Markers were chosen to be (2⁢i,2⁢i)-periodic for this reason: we need to be able to mark a position p∈⟦0,i−1⟧2 in a configuration without seeing a marker in the square ⟦0,i−1⟧2. By Claim 22, we obtain EYα⁢(u)≠EYα⁢(v). This proves that PE⁢(n)≥2αn⋅n2+O⁢(n). ◀

Proof: upper bound..

We proceed as with the ℤ effective subshift Zα: to bound the cardinality of PE⁢(n), we consider the restrictions w=y|⟦0,n−1⟧2 for y ranging in the proper configurations of Yα (for all values of ⟨i⟩k1, ⟨j⟩k2, T⁢(β,i) and [2i]m1,m2), and count free layers by Claim 18:

  • ■

    If i≤n, an i×i square of the density layer w(d) contains less than αi⋅i2+O⁢(i) symbols 1.

  • ■

    If i>n, the density layer w(d) contains less than αn⋅n2+O⁢(n) symbols 1.

Finally, when summing over all these cases, we overestimate the number of extender sets generated by the free layer by assuming that each position p∈⟦0,i−1⟧2 containing a symbol 1 on the density layer can be marked by a proper configuration y extending the pattern (while only a subset of such positions can be marked):

PE⁢(n) ≤∑i=1n∑k1=0i−1∑j=1n∑k2=0j−1O⁢(i4)⋅2αi⋅i2+O⁢(i)+∑k1=0n∑k2=0nO⁢(n4)⋅2αn⋅n2+O⁢(n)
≤poly⁢(n)⋅∑i=1n2αi⋅i2+O⁢(i).

◀

By taking the limit α=limnαn, we obtain that hE⁢(Yα)=α. Thus, we are left to prove:

Claim 24.

The subshift Yα is a sofic subshift.

This proof is very standard and unsurprising, yet is included for the sake of exhaustiveness.

Sketch of proof.

First, we introduce a grid subshift. Let us denote by Ygrid the subshift on the alphabet {[Uncaptioned image],[Uncaptioned image],[Uncaptioned image]} defined as the closure of all the square grid configurations (see Figure 6(a)). It is a sofic subshift: by enforcing the continuity of black lines between adjacent positions, we obtain an irregular grid; to obtain a regular square grid, we make each cross [Uncaptioned image] send diagonals in the SFT cover (since diagonals can only go through a cross, the grid becomes regular).

(a) A square grid configuration of mesh i×i.
(b) Vertical blue columns of symbols ∗ are i-periodic, the square grid has mesh i×i.
Figure 6: Two configurations using grids.

Let us now synchronize Ygrid with L1↑: we define Ygrid⁣∗⊆L1↑×Ygrid the set of configurations (x(1)↑,x(g)) such that x(g) has mesh i×i if and only if x(1) encodes some i∈ℕ (see Figure 6(b)).

Claim 25.

Ygrid⁣∗ is a ℤ2 sofic subshift.

Sketch of proof..

Using areas of colors in the SFT cover, ensure that exactly one black vertical line in Ygrid can appear between two vertical lines of symbols ∗ in L1↑. ⊲

Let us now prove that Yα is a ℤ2 sofic subshift. Intuitively, it follows from Theorem 2: Yα is a “decorated version” of Zα′⁣↑. The most tricky step is in the periodicity condition: periodicity of a free bit in L(f) should only be enforced whenever both layers y(1) and y(2) do not belong in ⟨∞⟩↑, i.e. whenever they both actually encode some integers i∈ℕ and j∈ℕ.

To proceed, we slightly alter the ℤ subshift Zα′ to define a new subshift Zα′′: it contains an additional layer Lp (the proper layer) that can take two values (either 𝗉ℤ or 𝖽ℤ), and is forced to be 𝗉ℤ whenever both the first and second layer do encode integers:

Zα′′ ={(z(1),z(2),z(d),z(p))∈L1×L2×Ld×{𝗉ℤ,𝖽ℤ}∣z(2)∈⟨∞⟩}
∪⋃i∈ℕ⋃j≥i{(z(1),z(2),z(d),z(p))∈L1×L2×Ld×{𝗉ℤ}∣∃k1,k2∈ℕ,
z(1)=⟨i⟩k1,z(2)=⟨j⟩k2and ∃β≤αi,j,z(d)=T(β,i)k1}.

By a slight alteration of Claim 15, the subshift Zα′′ is effective whenever α is a Π3 real number. By Theorem 2, the ℤ2 subshift Zα′′⁣↑ is thus sofic. Then, we use the proper layer to enforce periodicity of a free bit in L(f) only whenever y(p)=𝗉Z2, and define Yα′ as:

Yα′ ={(y(1)↑,y(2)↑,y(d)↑,y(p)↑,y(g),y(f))∈Zα′′⁣↑×Ygrid×{␣,0,1}ℤ2∣
(y(1)↑,y(g))∈Ygrid⁣∗,πsync⁢(y(f))=y(d)↑,
∃b∈{␣,0,1},∀p∈ℤ2,y(p)=𝗉ℤ∧yp(g)=[Uncaptioned image]⟹yp(f)=b}
Claim 26.

Yα′ is a ℤ2 sofic subshift.

Sketch of proof..

By the previous paragraph, the first four layers are sofic; and by Claim 25, the synchronization Ygrid⁣∗ of L1↑ and Ygrid is sofic. To make a free bit periodic, one can carry a unique symbol bgrid∈{␣,0,1} along the black lines of Ygrid in an SFT cover, and enforce the following: on positions at which a cross symbol [Uncaptioned image] appears on the grid layer y(g), and a symbol 𝗉 appears on the proper layer y(p)↑, the free bit in y(f) is then made equal to the symbol bgrid. ⊲

We can now prove that Yα is sofic. Indeed, fix an SFT cover of Yα′ in which we color cross symbols [Uncaptioned image] into two colors alternatingly: let us say, red and blue. On each horizontal and vertical line of the grid layer Ygrid, crosses are now alternating between red and blue. We claim that we obtain the subshift Yα by projecting this SFT cover as follows:

  • ■

    Erase the proper layer.

  • ■

    Projection of the grid layer: red crosses become ■, and all other symbols become □.

Indeed, projecting the grid layer as mentioned creates the marker layer Lm. The only condition that remains to be checked is the (i,i)-periodicity condition on a free bit.

Notice that in Yα′, both cases y(p)↑=𝗉ℤ2 and y(p)↑=𝖽ℤ2 are possible whenever y(1)∈⟨∞⟩ or y(2)∈⟨∞⟩, so that erasing the proper layer in the projection merges the two cases together and removes the periodicity enforced a free bit of y(f); while whenever y(1)=⟨i⟩k1 and y(2)=⟨j⟩k2, only the case y(p)=𝗉ℤ2 is allowed: so that, when projecting, the periodicity condition is still enforced. ⊲

7 Realizing Extender Entropies: Computable Subshifts

A subshift X is said to be computable if its language ℒ⁢(X) is decidable. Following the proofs from Section 4, one proves that extender entropies of computable subshifts are Π2 real numbers. We prove the converse inclusion and obtain:

Theorem 27.

The set of extender entropies of computable ℤ effective subshifts (resp. computable ℤ2 sofic subshifts) is exactly Π2∩[0,+∞).

Sketch of proof.

We slightly alter our previous constructions. The subshift Zα′ constructed in A might not be computable whenever α∈Π3, since, given some i,j∈ℕ and some factor of T⁢(β,i), it might be undecidable to know whether β≤αi,j when αi,j∈Π1.

Yet, when taking α=infiαi=infisupjαi,j∈Π2 for (αi,j) a computable sequence, the previous problem becomes decidable; thus, the subshift Zα′ is computable. Both proofs, on ℤ and ℤ2, then go through without any other modification. ◀

8 Extender Sets of Minimal Subshifts

Minimality is a general dynamical notion; in our context, a subshift is minimal if it contains no nonempty proper subshift. Extender sets are much easier in minimal subshifts and do not even depend on the computability of the language:

Proposition 28.

Let X be a minimal subshift over ℤd. Then for any n>0 and any patterns u,v∈ℒn⁢(X), EX⁢(u)⊆EX⁢(v)⇔u=v.

Proof.

Let u,v∈ℒn⁢(X) and suppose that EX⁢(u)⊆EX⁢(v). Then any appearance of u in a configuration can be replaced by v: by iterating the process while ordering patterns lexicographically (see [23, Lemma 2.2] for the complete argument), we obtain by compactness a configuration of X is which u does not appear, which contradicts minimality. ◀

This implies that hE⁢(X)=h⁢(X) if X is minimal. Since minimal sofic subshifts have zero entropy (folklore, see [11, Proposition 6.1]), and minimal effective subshifts have arbitrary Π1 entropy (consider [16, Theorem 4.77] with computable sequences (kn)n∈ℕ), we obtain:

Corollary 29.

The extender entropy of a minimal ℤd sofic subshift is always 0.

Corollary 30.

The set of extender entropies of minimal ℤd effective subshifts is exactly Π1∩[0,+∞).

9 Extender Sets of Subshifts With Mixing Properties

9.1 Mixing ℤ Subshifts

Mixingness is another dynamical notion. In the context of ℤ subshifts, mixingness intuitively implies that for any pair of admissible words, there exists a configuration containing both of them at arbitrary positions, provided they are sufficiently far apart:

Definition 31 (Mixing subshift).

A ℤ subshift X is mixing if

∀n>0,∃N>0,∀u,v∈ℒn⁢(X),∀k≥N,∃w∈ℒk⁢(X),u⁢w⁢v∈ℒ⁢(X).

We say that X is f⁢(n)-mixing for some function f if N can be taken equal to f⁢(n) in the previous definition. When f is constant f⁢(n)=N, we simply write that X is N-mixing.

One could expect that strong mixing conditions would restrict the behaviors of extender sets: indeed, all the examples we mentioned so far either have strong mixing properties (the full shift, ℤ SFTs…) and zero extender entropy, or have positive extender entropy but are far from mixing (periodicity, reflected positions, …). However, we show in this section that even very restrictive mixing properties do not imply anything on extender entropies.

Proposition 32.

Let X be a one-dimensional subshift. There exists a 1-mixing subshift X# with hE⁢(X)=hE⁢(X#). (Furthermore, if X was effective, then X# can be taken effective.)

Proof.

Let X⊆𝒜ℤ be a subshift, and α=hE⁢(X). Denote ℱ=𝒜∗∖ℒ⁢(X). Let us define a subshift X# over the alphabet 𝒜⊔{#} (assuming that # is a free symbol not in 𝒜) by the same family of forbidden patterns ℱ: configurations of X# are composed of (possibly infinite) words of ℒ⁢(X) separated by the safe symbol #. Then X# is 1-mixing, as for any u,v∈ℒ⁢(Y), we have u⁢#⁢v∈ℒ⁢(Y).

We are left with proving that hE⁢(X#)=hE⁢(X). First, we need to introduce the notion of follower and predecessor sets: in X, the follower and predecessor sets are respectively defined as FX⁢(w)={x∈𝒜ℕ∣w⁢x⊑X} and PX⁢(w)={x∈𝒜−ℕ∣x⁢w⊑X}. In other words, the follower set (resp. predecessor set) of some word w correspond to the set of right-infinite (resp. left-infinite) sequences x such that u⁢x (resp. x⁢u) appears in some configuration of X.

Let n≥0. We prove that:

|EX⁢(n)|≤|EX#⁢(n)|≤|EX⁢(n)|+∑i+j<n|PX⁢(i)|⁢|FX⁢(j)|
Lower bound.

The lower bound holds simply because if x extends a pattern w∈ℒ⁢(X) but not w′∈ℒ⁢(X), then x also belongs in X# and still extends w but not w′ in X#, so that EX#⁢(w)≠EX#⁢(w′). ◀

Upper bound.

For the rightmost inequality, we need to distinguish some cases according to whether a pattern contains a # or not.

  • ■

    Let w∈ℒn⁢(X#) that does not contain a symbol #. Then

    EX#⁢(w)=EX⁢(w)∪⋃l,r∈𝒜∗∣l⁢w⁢r∈ℒ⁢(X){(x⁢#⁢l,r⁢#⁢x′)∣x,x′⁢ admissible in ⁢X#}

    So, for w,w′∈ℒn⁢(X#). So, for w,w′∈ℒn⁢(X#) that do not contain a symbol #, we have EX#⁢(w)=EX#⁢(w′) if and only if EX⁢(w)=EX⁢(w′).

  • ■

    Let w∈ℒn⁢(X#) containing at least a symbol #, and let i≤j be the first and last positions in w at which a symbol # appear. Let l,r∈𝒜∗ be respectively w⟦0,i−1⟧ and w⟦j+1,n−1⟧). Since # is a safe symbol, EX#⁢(w) is entirely determined by (PX⁢(l),FX⁢(r)):

    EX#⁢(w) =(PX⁢(l)×FX⁢(r))∪⋃l′,r′∈𝒜∗∣l′⋅l,r⋅r′∈ℒ⁢(X){(y⁢#⁢l′,r′⁢#⁢y′)∣y,y′⁢ admissible in ⁢X#}.

Doing a disjunction on these two cases, and over the pairs i+j<n in the second case (and abusing notations again by denoting PX⁢(i)={PX⁢(w)∣w∈ℒi⁢(X)} and FX(j)={FX(w)∣w∈ℒj(X)) we obtain:

|EX#⁢(n)|≤|EX⁢(n)|+∑i+j<n|PX⁢(i)|⁢|FX⁢(j)|

◀

As |PX⁢(n)|≤|EX⁢(n)| and |FX⁢(n)|≤|EX⁢(n)|, and that |EX⁢(n)|=2α⁢n+o⁢(n), we obtain 2αn⁢n+o⁢(n)≤|EX#⁢(n)|≤poly⁢(n)⋅2αn⁢n+o⁢(n), and conclude that hE⁢(X#)=α. ◀

9.2 Block-gluing ℤ𝒅 Subshifts

There exists various mixing notions in higher dimension. We formulate our results for block-gluing subshifts:

Definition 33.

Let X⊆𝒜ℤd be a subshift, and f:ℕ→ℕ be a (weakly) increasing function. We say that X is f-block-gluing if

∀p,q∈ℒn⁢(X),∀k≥n+f⁢(n),∀u∈ℤd,‖u‖∞≥k⟹(p∪σu⁢(q)∈ℒ⁢(X))

Said differently, X is f-block-gluing if any two square patterns of size n can appear at any position as long as they are placed with a gap of size at least f⁢(n) between them. As with Definition 31, we will simply write N-block-gluing for constant gluing distance (f:n→N).

Proposition 34.

For any α∈Π3∩[0,+∞), there exists an effective and 1-block-gluing ℤd subshift Zα,# such that hE⁢(Zα,#)=α.

Proof.

Notice that the free lift of a 1-block-gluing ℤd subshift to ℤd+1 is also 1-block-gluing. By Claim 8, the free lift preserves the extender entropy: thus, we reduce to the one-dimensional case. We conclude by combining the previous Proposition 32 with A. ◀

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