S-integer dynamical systems: periodic points.

Abstract

We associate via duality a dynamical system to each pair (RS,x), where RS is the ring of S-integers in an A-field k, and x is an element of RS\{0}. These dynamical systems include the circle doubling map, certain solenoidal and toral endomorphisms, full one- and two-sided shifts on prime power alphabets, and certain algebraic cellular automata. In the arithmetic case, we show that for S finite the systems have properties close to hyperbolic systems: the growth rate of periodic points exists and the periodic points are uniformly distributed with respect to Haar measure. The dynamical zeta function is in general irrational however. For S infinite the systems exhibit a wide range of behaviour. Using Heath-Brown's work on the Artin conjecture, we exhibit examples in which S is infinite but the upper growth rate of periodic points is positive.