Compact Group Automorphisms, Addition Formulas and Fuglede-kadison Determinants

For a countable amenable group Γ and an element f in the integral group ring ZΓ being invertible in the group von Neumann algebra of Γ, we show that the entropy of the shift action of Γ on the Pontryagin dual of the quotient of ZΓ by its left ideal generated by f is the logarithm of the Fuglede-Kadison determinant of f . For the proof, we establish an `-version of Rufus Bowen’s definition of topological entropy, addition formulas for group extensions of countable amenable group actions, and an approximation formula for the Fuglede-Kadison determinant of f in terms of the determinants of perturbations of the compressions of f .