Groups generated by automata

Texas A&M Research Foundation, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

Abstract The purpose of the project is support of the US participants of the conference "Groups generated by automata", which will take place at the conference center Centro Stefano Franscini of the Swiss Technical University (ETH) in Ascona, Switzerland from February 10 to February 14, 2008. The conference is devoted to an active branch of modern Algebra: groups generated by automata(transducers). The conference will focus on applications of groups generated by automata to other topics of Mathematics: automatic sequences, Galois Theory, dynamical systems, etc. It will bring together specialists of different areas, will be a venue for sharing ideas between them and provide a comprehensive introduction to the subject to all interested in it. Groups generated by automata where discovered in 1970's, as interesting examples of groups with exotic properties. An important recent development is a strong link with dynamical systems, which has made them an important tool in holomorphic dynamics and analysis on fractals. A thorough introduction to these topics will be provided at the conference, so that experts from different fields (in particular from Holomorphic and Symbolic Dynamics) may get quick in-depth knowledge of groups generated by automata.