Subword complexity of profinite words and subgroups of free profinite semigroups

摘要

We study free profinite subgroups of free profinite semigroups of the same rank using, as main tools, iterated continuous endomorphisms, subword complexity, and the associated entropy. Main results include a general scheme to produce such subgroups and a proof that the complement of the minimal ideal in a free profinite semigroup on more than one generator is closed under all implicit operations that do not lie in the minimal ideal and even under their infinite iteration.