We show that the maximal subgroup of the free profinite semigroup associated by Almeida to an irreducible sofic shift is a free profinite group, generalizing an earlier result of the second author for the case of the full shift (whose corresponding maximal subgroup is the maximal subgroup of the minimal ideal). A corresponding result is proved for certain relatively free profinite semigroups. W...

We initiate the study of the class of profinite graphs Γ defined by the following geometric property: for any two vertices v and w of Γ, there is a (unique) smallest connected profinite subgraph of Γ containing them; such graphs are called tree-like. Profinite trees in the sense of Gildenhuys and Ribes are tree-like, but the converse is not true. A profinite group is then said to be dendral if ...

It is well known that clopen subgroups of finitely generated free profinite groups are again finitely generated free profinite groups. Clopen submonoids of free profinite monoids need not be finitely generated nor free. Margolis, Sapir and Weil proved that the closed submonoid generated by a finite code (which is in fact clopen) is a free profinite monoid generated by that code. In this note we...

Our aim is to transfer several foundational results from the modular representation theory of finite groups to the wider context of profinite groups. We are thus interested in profinite modules over the completed group algebra k[[G]] of a profinite group G, where k is a finite field of characteristic p. We define the concept of relative projectivity for a profinite k[[G]]-module. We prove a cha...

We investigate the structure of locally finite profinite rings. We classify (Jacobson-) semisimple locally finite profinite rings as products of complete matrix rings of bounded cardinality over finite fields, and we prove that the Jacobson radical of any locally finite profinite ring is nil of finite nilexponent. Our results apply to the context of small compact G-rings, where we also obtain a...

We study free profinite subgroups of free profinite semigroups of the same rank using, as main tools, iterated implicit operators, subword complexity and the associated entropy.

The set of all closed subgroups of a profinite carries a natural profinite topology. This space of subgroups can be classified up to homeomorphism in many cases, and tight bounds placed on its complexity as expressed by its scattered height.

A uniformly recurrent pseudoword is an element of a free profinite semigroup in which every finite factor appears in every sufficiently long finite factor. An alternative characterization is as a pseudoword which is a factor of all its infinite factors, that is one which lies in a J -class with only finite words strictly J -above it. Such a J -class is regular and therefore it has an associated...

I concentrate on logic and number theory, and the evolution of this interaction. The period under review is 1929-2003, beginning with Presburger’s work [89]) on the metamathematics of addition and order on Z. Presburger’s work was published two years before the dramatic discoveries of Gödel, which revealed the ubiquity of undecidability and incompleteness in global arithmetic. Presburger showed...

The duality between “regular” and “topological” as convergence space properties extends in a natural way to the more general properties “p-regular” and “p-topological.” Since earlier papers have investigated regular,p-regular, and topological Cauchy completions, we hereby initiate a study of p-topological Cauchy completions. A p-topological Cauchy space has a p-topological completion if and onl...