Dual entropy in discrete groups with amenable actions

Abstract

We introduce a notion of entropy for automorphisms of discrete groups which admit amenable actions on a compact space. This entropy is dual to classical topological entropy in the sense that if G is discrete and abelian then our notion of entropy agrees with the topological entropy of the induced automorphism on the (compact) dual group of G. We prove a number of basic properties of this dual entropy and give a few calculations. In particular, we are able to give precise calculations for arbitrary automorphisms of crystallographic groups.