Delone Dynamical Systems Research Articles

Amorphic complexity of group actions with applications to quasicrystals

In this article, we define amorphic complexity for actions of locally compact σ \sigma -compact amenable groups on compact metric spaces. Amorphic complexity, originally introduced for Z \mathbb {Z} -actions, is a topological invariant which measures the complexity of dynamical systems in the regime of zero entropy. We show that it is tailor-made to study strictly ergodic group actions with discrete spectrum and continuous eigenfunctions. This class of actions includes, in particular, Delone dynamical systems related to regular model sets obtained via Meyer’s cut and project method. We provide sharp upper bounds on amorphic complexity of such systems. In doing so, we observe an intimate relationship between amorphic complexity and fractal geometry.

Model sets with positive entropy in Euclidean cut and project schemes

We construct model sets arising from cut and project schemes in Euclidean spaces whose associated Delone dynamical systems have positive toplogical entropy. The construction works both with windows that are proper and with windows that have empty interior. In a probabilistic construction, the entropy almost surely turns out to be proportional to the measure of the boundary of the window.

Toeplitz flows and model sets

We show that binary Toeplitz flows can be interpreted as Delone dynamical systems induced by model sets and analyse the quantitative relations between the respective system parameters. This has a number of immediate consequences for the theory of model sets. In particular, we use our results in combination with special examples of irregular Toeplitz flows from the literature to demonstrate that irregular proper model sets may be uniquely ergodic and do not need to have positive entropy. This answers questions by Schlottmann and Moody.

Ergodicity and dynamical localization for Delone–Anderson operators

We study the ergodic properties of Delone–Anderson operators, using the framework of randomly colored Delone sets and Delone dynamical systems. In particular, we show the existence of the integrated density of states and, under some assumptions on the geometric complexity of the underlying Delone sets, we obtain information on the almost-sure spectrum of the family of random operators. We then exploit these results to study the Lifshitz-tail behavior of the integrated density of states of a Delone–Anderson operator at the bottom of the spectrum. Furthermore, we use Lifshitz-tail estimates as an input for the multi-scale analysis to prove dynamical localization.

Dynamical versus diffraction spectrum for structures with finite local complexity

It is well known that the dynamical spectrum of an ergodic measure dynamical system is related to the diffraction measure of a typical element of the system. This situation includes ergodic subshifts from symbolic dynamics as well as ergodic Delone dynamical systems, both via suitable embeddings. The connection is rather well understood when the spectrum is pure point, where the two spectral notions are essentially equivalent. In general, however, the dynamical spectrum is richer. Here, we consider (uniquely) ergodic systems of finite local complexity and establish the equivalence of the dynamical spectrum with a collection of diffraction spectra of the system and certain factors. This equivalence gives access to the dynamical spectrum via these diffraction spectra. It is particularly useful as the diffraction spectra are often simpler to determine and, in many cases, only very few of them need to be calculated.

Equicontinuous Delone Dynamical Systems

AbstractWe characterize equicontinuous Delone dynamical systems as those coming from Delone sets with strongly almost periodic Dirac combs. Within the class of systems with finite local complexity, the only equicontinuous systems are then shown to be the crystallographic ones. On the other hand, within the class without finite local complexity, we exhibit examples of equicontinuous minimal Delone dynamical systems that are not crystallographic. Our results solve the problem posed by Lagarias as to whether a Delone set whose Dirac comb is strongly almost periodic must be crystallographic.

An ergodic theorem for Delone dynamical systems and existence of the integrated density of states

We study strictly ergodic Delone dynamical systems and prove an ergodic theorem for Banach space valued functions on the associated set of pattern classes. As an application, we prove existence of the integrated density of states in the sense of uniform convergence in distribution for the associated random operators.

Deformation of Delone Dynamical Systems and Pure Point Diffraction

This article deals with certain dynamical systems built from point sets and, more generally, measures on locally compact Abelian groups. These systems arise in the study of quasicrystals and aperiodic order, and important subclasses of them exhibit pure point diffraction spectra. We discuss the relevant framework and recall fundamental results and examples. In particular, we show that pure point diffraction is stable under “equivariant” local perturbations and discuss various examples, including deformed model sets. A key step in the proof of stability consists in transforming the problem into a question on factors of dynamical systems.

Algebras of Random Operators Associated to Delone Dynamical Systems

We carry out a careful study of operator algebras associated with Delone dynamical systems. A von Neumann algebra is defined using noncommutative integration theory. Features of these algebras and the operators they contain are discussed. We restrict our attention to a certain C*-subalgebra to discuss a Shubin trace formula.