Cantor Minimal Systems

Book excerpt: Within the subject of topological dynamics, there has been considerable recent interest in systems where the underlying topological space is a Cantor set. Such systems have an inherently combinatorial nature, and seminal ideas of Anatoly Vershik allowed for a combinatorial model, called the Bratteli-Vershik model, for such systems with no non-trivial closed invariant subsets. This model led to a construction of an ordered abelian group which is an algebraic invariant of the system providing a complete classification of such systems up to orbit equivalence. The goal of this book is to give a statement of this classification result and to develop ideas and techniques leading to it. Rather than being a comprehensive treatment of the area, this book is aimed at students and researchers trying to learn about some surprising connections between dynamics and algebra. The only background material needed is a basic course in group theory and a basic course in general topology.