Pure Discrete Spectrum for One-dimensional Substitution Systems of Pisot Type

http://dx.doi.org/10.4153/CMB-2002-062-3
Canad. Math. Bull. 45(2002), 697-710

  Published:2002-12-01
 Printed: Dec 2002

We consider two dynamical systems associated with a substitution of Pisot type: the usual $\mathbb{Z}$-action on a sequence space, and the $\mathbb{R}$-action, which can be defined as a tiling dynamical system or as a suspension flow. We describe procedures for checking when these systems have pure discrete spectrum (the ``balanced pairs algorithm'' and the ``overlap algorithm'') and study the relation between them. In particular, we show that pure discrete spectrum for the $\mathbb{R}$-action implies pure discrete spectrum for the $\mathbb{Z}$-action, and obtain a partial result in the other direction. As a corollary, we prove pure discrete spectrum for every $\mathbb{R}$-action associated with a two-symbol substitution of Pisot type (this is conjectured for an arbitrary number of symbols).