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# Actions of ℤ^𝑘 associated to higher rank graphs

## 1. Introduction

The shift map defines a homeomorphism on the space of two-sided infinite paths in a finite directed graph, a compact zero dimensional space when endowed with the natural topology. Such dynamical systems, called topological Markov shifts or shifts of finite type, form a key class of examples in symbolic dynamics. Higher dimensional analogs which exhibit many of the same dynamical properties include axiom A diffeomorphisms studied by Smale \[Sm\]. The local hyperbolic nature of the homeomorphisms in many of the examples has led to the axiomatization of Smale spaces (see \[Ru1\]). In \[Ru2, Pt1\] (see also \[KPS\] for a short survey and \[Pt2\] for extended notes) certain $`C^{}`$-algebras were associated to a Smale space making use of the asymptotic, stable and unstable equivalence relations engendered by the homeomorphism. The Ruelle algebras, crossed products of the stable and unstable algebras by the canonical automorphism may be regarded as higher-dimensional generalisations of Cuntz-Krieger algebras (see \[CK, Pt2, PtS\]). If the graph is irreducible, the stable Ruelle algebra associated to the Markov shift is strongly Morita equivalent to the Cuntz-Krieger algebra associated to the incidence matrix of the graph (cf. \[CK, Theorem 3.8\] and \[KPS, Proposition 3.7\] for similar results).

Following \[KP\] a $`k`$-graph is defined to be a higher rank analog of a directed graph. The definition of a $`k`$ graph is motivated by the geometrical examples of Robertson and Steger arising from group actions on buildings (see \[RSt1, RSt2\]). Given a $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, we define a universal $`C^{}`$-algebra, $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$, the Cuntz-Krieger algebra of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Under a mild assumption we form the “two-sided path space” of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, a natural zero dimensional space associated with a $`k`$-graph on which there is a $`^k`$ action by an analog of the shift. We establish that the key dynamical properties identified by Ruelle (see \[Ru1\]), when properly interpreted, hold for this action. Our program then follows the one set out by Putnam. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and has finitely many vertices, then as in \[Pt1, Pt2\], we construct $`C^{}`$-algebras from the stable and unstable equivalence relations on which there are natural $`^k`$ actions. We then form the resulting crossed products, the Ruelle algebras, $`R_s`$ and $`R_u`$. Furthermore, we show that the Ruelle algebra $`R_s`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. Then, if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ satisfies the aperiodicity condition, the Ruelle algebra $`R_s`$ is a Kirchberg algebra, that is, $`R_s`$ is simple, nuclear and purely infinite (a similar result holds for $`R_u`$). See \[PtS\] for general results on the Ruelle algebras of Smale spaces.

The paper is organised as follows. In section 2 we establish our notation and collect facts for later use. We define a $`k`$-graph $`(\mathrm{\Lambda },d)`$ to be a small category $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ equipped with a degree map $`d`$ satisfying a certain factorisation property. When $`(\mathrm{\Lambda },d)`$ satisfies the standing assumption, every vertex of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ receives and emits a finite but non-zero number of edges of any given degree, we form $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ the one-sided infinite path space of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Pairs of shift-tail equivalent paths in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ give rise to elements in the path groupoid $`𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The groupoid $`C^{}`$-algebra $`C^{}(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is naturally isomorphic to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ (see \[KP, Corollary 3.5\]). There is a canonical gauge action $`\alpha `$ of $`𝕋^k`$ on $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ whose fixed point algebra $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ is an AF algebra which coincides with the $`C^{}`$-algebra of a subgroupoid $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ of $`𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ under this identification. We conclude the section by stating some facts about principal proper groupoids.

In section 3 we build a topological dynamical system from a $`k`$-graph which is generated by $`k`$ commuting homeomorphisms. We show that it satisfies analogs of the two conditions (SS1) and (SS2) for a Smale space defined in \[Ru1, §7.1\]. The two-sided path space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has a zero dimensional topology generated by cylinder sets which is also given by a metric $`\rho `$; it is compact if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. For $`n^k`$ the shift $`\sigma ^n:\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ gives rise to an expansive $`^k`$-action which is topologically mixing if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive. We show that condition (SS1) is satisfied, in particular there is a map $`(x,y)[x,y]`$, defined for $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with $`\rho (x,y)<1`$ taking values in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$, which endows the space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with a local product structure. For $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ there are subsets $`E_x`$ and $`F_x`$ of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ such that $`E_x\times F_x`$ is homeomorphic to a neighbourhood of $`x`$ (under this bracket map). Moreover, if $`e=(1,\mathrm{},1)^k`$ then the shift $`\sigma ^e`$ contracts the distance between points in $`E_x`$ and expands them on $`F_x`$. This is our analog of condition (SS2) for a single homeomorphism. As in \[Pt1\] we define the stable and unstable relations which may be characterised in terms of tail equivalences on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$, since the topology of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is generated by cylinder sets. The stable and unstable relations give rise to the stable and unstable groupoids, $`G_s`$ and $`G_u`$. Since the unstable relation for $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is exactly the stable relation for the opposite $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$ (the $`k`$-graph formed by reversing all the arrows of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$), we focus our attention on the stable case. Finally, we examine the internal structure of the stable groupoid $`G_s`$; it is the inductive limit of a sequence of mutually isomorphic principal proper groupoids $`G_{s,m}`$, for $`m^k`$.

In section 4 we associate certain $`C^{}`$-algebras to an irreducible $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite. First we state a suitable version of the Perron-Frobenius theorem, which gives rise to a shift-invariant measure $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$. The measure $`\mu `$ decomposes in a manner which respects the local product structure; this in turn gives rise to Haar systems for $`G_s`$ and $`G_u`$. The stable and unstable $`C^{}`$-algebras may then be defined: $`S=C^{}(G_s)`$ and $`U=C^{}(G_u)`$. The $`^k`$-action on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ induces actions $`\beta _s`$ on $`S`$ and $`\beta _u`$ on $`U`$ which scale the canonical densely-defined traces. The Ruelle algebras are defined to be the corresponding crossed products, $`R_s=S\times _{\beta _s}^k`$ and $`R_u=U\times _{\beta _u}^k`$.

In the last section we prove our main results: Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an irreducible $`k`$-graph which has finitely many vertices. Then

* $`S`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ (see Theorem 5.3),
* $`R_s`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ (see Theorem 5.6).

Similar assertions hold for $`U`$ and $`R_u`$ when $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is replaced by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$. We establish our main results using the notion of equivalence of groupoids (in the sense of \[MRW\]). From established properties of $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ flow many important consequences: The stable algebra $`S`$ is an AF algebra and if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive then $`S`$ is simple. The Ruelle algebra $`R_s`$ is nuclear and in the bootstrap class $`𝒩`$ for which the UCT holds. Further, if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ satisfies the aperiodicity condition then $`R_s`$ is simple, stable and purely infinite. The Kirchberg-Phillips theorem therefore applies, so the isomorphism class of $`R_s`$ is completely determined by its $`K`$-theory (see \[Ki, Ph\]).

Acknowledgments: The first author wishes to thank Valentin Deaconu for some useful discussions at an early stage of this work. He also wishes to thank the second author and his colleagues at the School of Mathematics and Physical Sciences of the University of Newcastle for their warm hospitality.

## 2. Preliminaries

In this section we first give a little background, then we establish our notation and conventions about a $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and its path groupoid $`𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ which are taken from \[KP\]. We define the $`C^{}`$-algebra of a $`k`$-graph, $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$, which may be realised as $`C^{}(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. Finally, we state some results concerning principal proper groupoids and their Haar systems which are taken from \[Rn2, MW1, KMRW\].

We shall use $``$ to denote the set of natural numbers $`\{0,1,2,\mathrm{}\}`$; $``$, $``$, $`𝕋`$ denote the sets of integers, real numbers and complex numbers with unit modulus, respectively. For $`k>0`$ we endow $`^k`$ and $`^k`$ with the coordinatewise ordering.

A category is said to be small if its morphisms form a set; the objects are often identified with a subset of morphisms ($`x1_x`$). A groupoid is a small category $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in which every morphism is invertible. For $`\gamma G`$ we have $`r(\gamma )=\gamma \gamma ^1`$ and $`s(\gamma )=\gamma ^1\gamma `$, then $`r,s:\mathrm{\Gamma }\mathrm{\Gamma }^0`$ where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^0`$ is the unit space (or space of objects) of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. If the groupoid $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is furnished with a topology for which the groupoid operations are continuous then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is called a topological groupoid. We shall assume that our groupoids are equipped with a locally compact, Hausdorff, second countable topology. If the groupoid $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ has a left Haar system $`\mu =\{\mu ^x:x\mathrm{\Gamma }^0\}`$, an equivariant system of measures on the fibres $`r^1(x)`$, then we may form the full and reduced $`C^{}`$-algebras, $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$ and $`C_r^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma })`$. Since we shall only be dealing with left Haar systems we shall henceforth omit the qualifier left. If $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is amenable then its full and reduced $`C^{}`$-algebras coincide. The groupoid $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ is called $`r`$-discrete if $`r`$ is a local homeomorphism; in this case the counting measures form a Haar system. For more definitions and properties of groupoids and their $`C^{}`$-algebras, consult \[Rn1, M\]. For the most part we have followed the conventions of \[Rn1\], with the exception that $`s`$ replaces $`d`$ for the source map. A good reference for amenable groupoids may be found in \[AR\]. We shall frequently invoke the notion of equivalence of groupoids (\[MRW, Definition 2.1\]) which (in the presence of Haar systems) gives rise to the strong Morita equivalence of their $`C^{}`$-algebras (\[MRW, Theorem 2.8\]). A good reference for $`C^{}`$-algebras and their crossed products is \[Pd\].

Let $`k`$ be a positive integer. Recall the notion of $`k`$-graph (see \[KP\]).

###### Definition 2.1.

A $`k`$-graph is a pair $`(\mathrm{\Lambda },d)`$, where $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a countable small category and $`d:\mathrm{\Lambda }^k`$ is a morphism, called the degree map, such that the factorisation property holds: for every $`n_1,n_2^k`$ and $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`d(\lambda )=n_1+n_2`$, there exist unique elements $`\nu _1,\nu _2\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with

$$\lambda =\nu _1\nu _2,n_1=d(\nu _1),n_2=d(\nu _2).$$

For $`n^k`$ write $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^n=\{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }:d(\lambda )=n\}`$. It will be convenient to identify $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ with the objects of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Let $`r,s:\mathrm{\Lambda }\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ denote the range and source maps.

Let $`E=(E^0,E^1)`$ be a (countable) directed graph. Then the set of finite paths $`E^{}`$ together with the length map defines a $`1`$-graph (the roles of $`r`$ and $`s`$ must be switched).

If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a $`k`$-graph then the opposite category $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$ can also be made into a $`k`$-graph by setting $`d(\lambda ^{\text{op}})=d(\lambda )`$.

The $`k`$-graph which gives us the prototype for a (one-sided) infinite path is

$$\mathrm{\Omega }=\mathrm{\Omega }_k=\{(m,n):m,n^k:mn\}.$$

The structure maps are given by

(1)
$$r(m,n)=m,s(m,n)=n,(\mathrm{},n)=(\mathrm{},m)(m,n),d(m,n)=nm$$

where the object space is identified with $`^k`$ (see \[KP, Example 1.7ii\]). For other examples of $`k`$-graphs consult \[KP\].

###### Definition 2.2.

A $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is said to be irreducible (or strongly connected) if for every $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$, there is $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`d(\lambda )0`$ such that $`u=r(\lambda )`$ and $`v=s(\lambda )`$. We say that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive if there is a nonzero $`p^k`$ so that for every $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ there is $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^p`$ with $`r(\lambda )=u`$ and $`s(\lambda )=v`$.

Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive; then there is an $`N`$ such that for all $`pN`$ and every $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ there is $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^p`$ with $`r(\lambda )=u`$ and $`s(\lambda )=v`$. Moreover, under the following standing assumption 2.3, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ must be finite.

To ensure that the analog of the two-sided infinite path space (to be discussed in the next section) is nonempty and locally compact we shall need the following standing hypothesis.

###### Standing Assumption 2.3.

For each $`p^k`$ the restrictions of $`r`$ and $`s`$ to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^p`$ are surjective and finite to one.

The standing hypothesis used here is equivalent to the requirement that both $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$ satisfy the condition of \[KP, §1\]. Recall from \[KP\] the definition of the universal $`C^{}`$-algebra of a $`k`$-graph.

###### Definition 2.4.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a $`k`$-graph. Then $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is defined to be the universal $`C^{}`$-algebra generated by a family $`\{s_\lambda :\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }\}`$ of partial isometries satisfying:

* $`\{s_v:v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0\}`$ is a family of mutually orthogonal projections,
* $`s_{\lambda \mu }=s_\lambda s_\mu `$ for all $`\lambda ,\mu \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ such that $`s(\lambda )=r(\mu )`$,
* $`s_\lambda ^{}s_\lambda =s_{s(\lambda )}`$ for all $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$,
* for all $`v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ and $`n𝐍^k`$ we have $`s_v={\displaystyle \underset{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^n(v)}{}}s_\lambda s_\lambda ^{}`$.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a $`k`$-graph and set

(2)
$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }=\{x:\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Lambda }:x\text{ is a }k\text{-graph homomorphism }\};$$

note that a $`k`$-graph morphism must preserve degree, so that for $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$, we have $`d(x(m,n))=nm`$. In \[KP\] the set $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ was denoted $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\mathrm{}}`$. By 2.3, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{}`$. For each $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ we put

(3)
$$Z(\lambda )=\{x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }:x(0,d(\lambda ))=\lambda \}$$

then again by 2.3, $`Z(\lambda )\mathrm{}`$. The collection of all such cylinder sets forms a basis for a topology on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ under which each such subset is compact. For $`p^k`$ define a map $`\sigma ^p:\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ by

(4)
$$(\sigma ^px)(m,n)=x(m+p,n+p)$$

note that $`\sigma ^p`$ is a local homeomorphism. Now we form the path groupoid (for more details see \[KP\])

$$𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\{(x,n,y):x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega },n^k,\sigma ^{\mathrm{}}x=\sigma ^my,n=\mathrm{}m\text{ for some }\mathrm{},m^k\},$$

with structure maps

$$r(x,n,y)=x,s(x,n,y)=y,\text{and}(x,m,y)(y,n,z)=(x,m+n,z),$$

where we have identified $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with the unit space by $`x(x,0,x)`$.

By \[KP, Corollary 3.5(i)\] $`C^{}(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. There is a canonical gauge action $`\alpha :𝕋^k\mathrm{Aut}(C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }))`$ which is realised on the dense subalgebra $`C_c(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ by

$$\alpha _t(f)(x,n,y)=t^nf(x,n,y)$$

where $`t^n=_it_i^{n_i}`$. The fixed point algebra for this action $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ is the closure of the subalgebra of $`C_c(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ consisting of functions which vanish at points of the form $`(x,n,y)`$ with $`n0`$. Hence $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ is isomorphic to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is the open subgroupoid of $`𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ given by

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\{(x,0,y):x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega },\sigma ^mx=\sigma ^my\text{ for some }m^k\}.$$

Recall that

$$C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha =_\mathrm{\Lambda }=\underset{m\mathrm{}}{lim}_m$$

where

$$_m\underset{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}𝒦\left(\mathrm{}^2(\{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^m:s(\lambda )=v\})\right);$$

hence, $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ is an AF algebra (see \[KP, Lemmas 3.2, 3.3\]).

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i`$ be a $`k_i`$ graph for $`i=1,2`$, then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\times \mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$ is a $`(k_1+k_2)`$-graph in a natural way (see \[KP, Proposition 1.8\]). By \[KP, Corollary 3.5iv\] we have

$$C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\times \mathrm{\Lambda }_2)C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_1)C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_2).$$

If $`k_1=k_2=k`$ then we may form a $`k`$-graph

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\mathrm{\Lambda }_2=\{(\lambda _1,\lambda _2)\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\times \mathrm{\Lambda }_2:d(\lambda _1)=d(\lambda _2)\}$$

with $`d(\lambda _1,\lambda _2)=d(\lambda _1)`$ and the other structure maps inherited from $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\times \mathrm{\Lambda }_2`$. Note that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\mathrm{\Lambda }_2=f^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\times \mathrm{\Lambda }_2)`$ where $`f:^k^k\times ^k`$ is given by $`f(m)=(m,m)`$ (cf. \[KP, Example 1.10iii\]).

Let $`G`$ be a compact abelian group and for $`i=1,2`$ let $`\alpha ^i:G\mathrm{Aut}(A_i)`$ be a strongly continuous action of $`G`$ on the $`C^{}`$-algebra $`A_i`$. Let $`A_1_GA_2`$ denote the fixed-point algebra $`(A_1A_2)^\eta `$ where $`\eta :G\mathrm{Aut}(A_1A_2)`$ is given by $`\eta _g(ab)=\alpha _g^1(a)\alpha _{g^1}^2(b)`$. This is the natural notion of tensor product in the category of $`C^{}`$-algebras with a given $`G`$-action see \[OPT, §2\]. Now with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }_i`$ as above and taking $`\alpha ^i`$ to be the gauge action on $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_i)`$ for $`i=1,2`$ we have

(5)
$$C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_1\mathrm{\Lambda }_2)C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_1)_{𝕋^k}C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }_2).$$

This follows by an argument similar to the proof of \[Ku2, Proposition 2.7\].

In the remainder of this section we state some standard facts concerning principal proper groupoids in a convenient form. Recall that a groupoid $`G`$ is said to be principal, if it is isomorphic to an equivalence relation, that is, if $`r\times s:GG^0\times G^0`$ is an embedding. If, in addition, the image is a closed subset of $`G^0\times G^0`$, it is said to be proper (see \[MW1\]).

###### Lemma 2.5.

Let $`\pi :XY`$ be a continuous open surjection between two locally compact Hausdorff spaces. Then

$$X_\pi X=\{(x,y)X\times X:\pi (x)=\pi (y)\}$$

is a principal proper groupoid, with structure maps $`r(x,y)=x`$, $`s(x,y)=y`$ and $`(x,y)(y,z)=(x,z)`$. Moreover, $`X`$ is an $`(X_\pi X,Y)`$-equivalence.

###### Proof.

Evidently $`X_\pi X`$ is a principal groupoid; since $`X_\pi X`$ is a closed subset of $`X\times X`$ it is proper. By \[MRW, Example 2.5\] $`X`$ is a $`(X_\pi X,Y)`$-equivalence. ∎

The following definition is taken from \[Rn2, §1\] (see also \[M, Definition 5.42\]).

###### Definition 2.6.

With $`\pi `$ be as above, a $`\pi `$-system consists of a family

$$\mu =\{\mu ^y:yY\}$$

of positive Radon measures on $`X`$ such that the support of $`\mu ^y`$ is contained in $`\pi ^1(y)`$ for each $`yY`$ and the function

$$\mu (f)(y)=f(x)𝑑\mu ^y(x)$$

lies in $`C_c(Y)`$ for each $`fC_c(X)`$. If the support of each $`\mu ^y`$ is all of $`\pi ^1(y)`$ for all $`yY`$, then the $`\pi `$-system is said to be full.

Note that a Haar system on a groupoid is an equivariant $`r`$-system. A full $`\pi `$-system gives rise to a Haar system for $`X_\pi X`$.

###### Proposition 2.7.

Let $`\pi `$ be as above and $`\mu =\{\mu ^y:yY\}`$ be a full $`\pi `$-system. Then for $`xX`$

$$\stackrel{~}{\mu }^x=\delta _x\times \mu ^{\pi (x)}$$

defines a Haar system $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }=\{\stackrel{~}{\mu }^x:xX\}`$ for $`X_\pi X`$. Moreover, $`C^{}(X_\pi X)`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C_0(Y)`$. There is a densely defined $`C_0(Y)`$-valued trace on $`C^{}(X_\pi X)`$ given by

(6)
$$\tau _\mu (f)(y)=_Xf(x,x)𝑑\mu ^y(x)$$

for $`fC_c(X_\pi X)`$.

###### Proof.

The first assertion follows from \[KMRW, Proposition 5.2\] (see also \[M, Theorem 5.51\]). The Morita equivalence now follows from \[MRW, Theorem 2.8\] and Lemma 2.5 (see also \[MW1, Proposition 2.2\]). A routine computation shows that $`\tau _\mu (fg)=\tau _\mu (gf)`$ for $`f,gC_c(X_\pi X)`$. ∎

## 3. $`^k`$ actions

In this section we adapt the methods of \[Pt1\] for the $``$-action associated to shift of finite type to analyze an analogous $`^k`$ action on a topological space associated to a $`k`$-graph. Many of the constructions of \[Ru1, Pt1\] can be generalised to this setting. Following \[Pt1, Pt2\], we provide a description of the stable, unstable and asymptotic relations for our $`^k`$ action and the topology of the associated groupoids.

There is a natural $`^k`$ action on the analog of the two-sided path space of a $`k`$-graph satisfying the standing hypothesis 2.3. First, we form a $`k`$-graph which gives us the prototype of a two-sided infinite path: Set

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Delta }_k=\{(m,n):m,n^k,mn\};$$

with structure maps given as in (1), it is straightforward to check that $`(\mathrm{\Delta },d)`$ is a $`k`$-graph.

Next we use $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ to form the two-sided infinite path space (cf. (2)). Set

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }=\{x:\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Lambda }:x\text{ is a }k\text{-graph morphism}\};$$

then by 2.3, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{}`$. We endow $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ with a topology as follows (cf. (3)): for each $`n^k`$ and $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ set

$$Z(\lambda ,n)=\{x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:x(n,n+d(\lambda ))=\lambda \}.$$

Again by 2.3, $`Z(\lambda ,n)\mathrm{}`$. The collection of all such cylinder sets forms a basis for a topology on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ for which each such subset is compact. It follows that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a zero dimensional space and if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite, then $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is itself compact (since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }=_{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}Z(v,0)`$). Now for each $`n^k`$ we define a map $`\sigma ^n:\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ by

$$\sigma ^n(x)(\mathrm{},m)=x(\mathrm{}+n,m+n).$$

Note that $`\sigma ^n`$ is a homeomorphism for every $`n^k`$, $`\sigma ^{n+m}=\sigma ^n\sigma ^m`$ for $`n,m^k`$ and $`\sigma ^0`$ is the identity map.

We define a metric on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ as follows. We set $`e=(1,\mathrm{},1)^k`$ and for $`j`$, let $`\theta _j\mathrm{\Delta }`$ denote the element $`(je,je)`$; note that $`\theta _0=0`$. Given $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$, set

$$h(x,y)=\{\begin{array}{cc}0\hfill & x(0)y(0)\hfill \\ 1+sup\{j:x(\theta _j)=y(\theta _j)\}\hfill & \text{ otherwise.}\hfill \end{array}$$

Fix $`0<r<1`$; we may define a metric $`\rho `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ by the formula $`\rho (x,y)=r^{h(x,y)}`$ for $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (note that $`\rho (x,x)=r^{\mathrm{}}=0`$). The topology induced by this metric is the same as the one above.

###### Proposition 3.1.

The $`^k`$-action $`n\sigma ^n`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is expansive in the sense that there is an $`\epsilon >0`$ such that for all $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ if $`\rho (\sigma ^n(x),\sigma ^n(y))<\epsilon `$ for all $`n`$ then $`x=y`$. Moreover, if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive then $`\sigma `$ is topologically mixing in the sense that for any two nonempty open sets $`U`$ and $`V`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ there is a $`Q^k`$ so that $`U\sigma ^q(V)\mathrm{}`$ for all $`qQ`$.

###### Proof.

To show that the action is expansive, observe that $`\epsilon =r`$ will suffice (if $`x(ne,n+e)=y(ne,n+e)`$ for all $`n^k`$, then $`x=y`$). If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive there is an $`M^k`$ such that for all $`mM`$ and every $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ there is $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^m`$ with $`r(\lambda )=u`$ and $`s(\lambda )=v`$. To show that for any two nonempty open sets $`U`$ and $`V`$ in $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ there is a $`Q^k`$ so that $`U\sigma ^q(V)\mathrm{}`$ for all $`qQ`$, it suffices to demonstrate this for cylinder sets. So let $`U=Z(\lambda ,\mathrm{})`$ and $`V=Z(\nu ,n)`$. Set $`Q=M+d(\nu )+n\mathrm{}`$; then given $`qQ`$, there is $`\lambda ^{}\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`d(\lambda ^{})=M+qQ`$ such that $`r(\lambda ^{})=s(\nu )`$ and $`s(\lambda ^{})=r(\lambda )`$. Observe that

$$Z(\nu \lambda ^{}\lambda ,nq)Z(\lambda ,\mathrm{})\sigma ^q(Z(\nu ,n)).$$

Therefore, $`U\sigma ^q(V)\mathrm{}`$ for all $`qQ`$, as required. ∎

###### Remark 3.2.

Consider the $`1`$-graph obtained by restricting consideration to powers of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^e`$; note that this $`1`$-graph may be regarded as the $`k`$-graph $`f^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ where $`f:^k`$ is given by $`f(j)=je`$ (see \[KP, Definition 1.9\]). By arguing as in \[KP, Proposition 2.9\] it follows that the restriction map $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }f^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a homeomorphism. Under this identification the generator of the action of $``$ on $`f^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is identified with $`\sigma ^e`$. Many attributes of this restricted dynamical system are reflected in the action of $`^k`$, as we shall see below.

The space $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ decomposes locally into contracting and expanding directions for the shift. For $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ set

$`E_x`$ $`=\{y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:x(m,n)=y(m,n),\text{ for all }0mn\}`$
$`F_x`$ $`=\{y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:x(m,n)=y(m,n),\text{ for all }mn0\}.`$
Observe that for $`j`$ we have (see \[Ru1, §7.1\], also \[Pt1\])

$`\rho (\sigma ^{je}(y),\sigma ^{je}(z))`$ $`r^j\rho (y,z)\text{ for }y,zE_x`$
$`\rho (\sigma ^{je}(y),\sigma ^{je}(z))`$ $`r^j\rho (y,z)\text{ for }y,zF_x.`$
For $`p0`$ a simple calculation shows that $`\sigma ^pE_xE_{\sigma ^px}`$ and $`\sigma ^pF_xF_{\sigma ^px}`$.

###### Proposition 3.3.

(cf. \[Ru1, Pt1\]) There exists a unique map

$$[,]:\{(x,y)\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:\rho (x,y)<1\}\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }$$

satisfying

(7) $`[x,y](m,n)`$ $`=x(m,n)\text{if }mn0`$
$`[x,y](m,n)`$ $`=y(m,n)\text{if }0mn.`$
Moreover, $`[,]`$ is continuous, $`F_xE_y=\{[x,y]\}`$ if $`\rho (x,y)<1`$ and the following hold

(8)
$$[x,x]=x,[[x,y],z]=[x,z],[x,[y,z]]=[x,z],[\sigma ^nx,\sigma ^ny]=\sigma ^n[x,y],$$

wherever both sides of each equation are defined. Furthermore, for $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ the restriction of $`[,]`$ to $`E_x\times F_x`$ induces a homeomorphism $`E_x\times F_xZ(x(0),0)`$.

###### Proof.

By the factorisation property, a consistent family of elements

$$\{x(p,p)\mathrm{\Lambda }^{2p}:p0\}\text{ with }x(q,q)=\lambda x(p,p)\mu $$

for some $`\lambda ,\mu `$ when $`qp`$, will determine a unique element $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ (cf. \[KP, Remarks 2.2\]). For $`p0`$ and $`x,y`$ with $`\rho (x,y)<1`$ (so that $`x(0)=y(0)`$) set

$$[x,y](p,p)=x(p,0)y(0,p).$$

It is straightforward to check that this results in the unique map satisfying (7); moreover it is continuous. If $`zF_xE_y`$, then $`z(m,n)=x(m,n)`$ for $`mn0`$ and $`z(m,n)=y(m,n)`$ for $`0mn`$; hence, $`z=[x,y]`$ by (7).

The properties (8) are straightforward to verify. For the last assertion, it is clear that the restriction of $`[,]`$ to $`E_x\times F_x`$ is one-to-one. To see that the image is $`Z(x(0),0)`$, let $`zZ(x(0),0)`$; then $`[z,x]E_x`$, $`[x,z]F_x`$ and $`z=[[z,x],[x,z]]`$. The restriction is clearly continuous as is its inverse $`z([z,x],[x,z])`$. ∎

Note that if $`\rho (x,y)<1`$, then $`yE_x`$ if and only if $`[x,y]=x`$ and similarly $`yF_x`$ if and only if $`[y,x]=x`$.

As in \[Pt1\] we define the stable and unstable equivalence relations on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ as follows. Given $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ define

$`x_sy`$ $`\text{ if }\underset{j\mathrm{}}{lim}\rho (\sigma ^{je}(x),\sigma ^{je}(y))=0`$
$`x_uy`$ $`\text{ if }\underset{j\mathrm{}}{lim}\rho (\sigma ^{je}(x),\sigma ^{je}(y))=0.`$
Note that $`x_sy`$ if and only if there is $`m^k`$ such that for all $`n^k`$ with $`mn`$ we have $`x(m,n)=y(m,n)`$. Similarly $`x_uy`$ if and only if there is $`n^k`$ such that for all $`m^k`$ with $`mn`$ we have $`x(m,n)=y(m,n)`$.

These equivalence relations give rise to two locally compact groupoids: the stable groupoid,

$$G_s=G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })=\{(x,y)\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:x_sy\}$$

and the unstable groupoid,

$$G_u=G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda })=\{(x,y)\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:x_uy\};$$

the unit space of each is identified with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and the structure maps are the natural ones. The topology on $`G_s`$ is given as follows: For $`m^k`$ set

$$G_{s,m}=\{(x,y)\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:x(m,n)=y(m,n)\text{ for all }nm\}.$$

Note that $`G_{s,m}`$ is a subgroupoid of $`G_s`$. We endow $`G_{s,m}`$ with the relative topology and $`G_s=_mG_{s,m}`$ with the inductive limit topology. The topology on $`G_u`$ is defined similarly. None of these groupoids are $`r`$-discrete in general.

There is an natural inclusion map $`\mathrm{\Omega }\mathrm{\Delta }`$ which gives rise to a surjective map $`\pi :\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ given by restriction: $`\pi (x)(m,n)=x(m,n)`$ for $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`(m,n)\mathrm{\Omega }`$. It is straightforward to verify that $`\pi `$ is continuous and open. Observe that for $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and $`p^k`$ we have

(9)
$$\pi \sigma ^p(x)=\sigma ^p\pi (x).$$

We now collect some facts about the topology of $`G_s`$ for future use:

###### Proposition 3.4.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a $`k`$-graph, and $`G_s`$ the groupoid defined above. Then for all $`m^k`$, $`G_{s,m}`$ is a closed subset of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$; indeed

$$G_{s,m}=\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }_{\pi \sigma ^m}\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }=\{(x,y)\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }:\pi (\sigma ^mx)=\pi (\sigma ^my)\}$$

and hence $`G_{s,m}`$ is a principal proper groupoid. For all $`m,n^k`$ we have that $`G_{s,m+n}=(\sigma ^m\times \sigma ^m)G_{s,n}`$; in particular, the $`G_{s,m}`$ are all isomorphic to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }_\pi \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Moreover, for $`mn`$, $`G_{s,m}`$ is an open subset of $`G_{s,n}`$.

###### Proof.

For the first part, observe that $`\pi (\sigma ^mx)=\pi (\sigma ^my)`$ if and only if $`x(m,n)=y(m,n)`$ for all $`nm`$; so $`G_{s,m}=\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }_{\pi \sigma ^m}\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ which is a principal proper groupoid by Lemma 2.5. For the second assertion, note that $`x(n+m,\mathrm{})=y(n+m,\mathrm{})`$ for all $`\mathrm{}n+m`$ if and only if $`\sigma ^mx(n,\mathrm{}^{})=\sigma ^my(n,\mathrm{}^{})`$ for all $`\mathrm{}^{}n`$ and that $`(\sigma ^m\times \sigma ^m)`$ is a homeomorphism of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$. To show that $`G_{s,m}`$ is an open subset of $`G_{s,n}`$ for $`mn`$, it suffices to consider the case when $`m=0`$. Suppose that $`(x,y)G_{s,0}`$, then we have $`x,yZ(\lambda ,0)`$ where $`\lambda =x(0,n)=y(0,n)`$. Put $`U=Z(\lambda ,0)\times Z(\lambda ,0)`$, then $`(x,y)G_{s,0}U`$. If $`(x^{},y^{})G_{s,n}U`$ then $`x^{}(0,n)=\lambda =y^{}(0,n)`$ and since $`(x^{},y^{})G_{s,n}`$, we have $`x^{}(n,\mathrm{})=y^{}(n,\mathrm{})`$ for $`\mathrm{}n`$ . Hence $`x^{}(0,\mathrm{})=y^{}(0,\mathrm{})`$ for all $`\mathrm{}0`$ and so $`(x^{},y^{})G_{s,0}U`$, which shows that $`G_{s,0}`$ is open in $`G_{s,n}`$ as required. ∎

###### Remark 3.5.

There is a homeomorphism $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ given by $`xx^{\text{op}}`$ where

$$x^{\text{op}}(m,n)=x(n,m)^{\text{op}}.$$

Note that for $`n^k`$ and $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ we have $`(\sigma ^{\text{op}})^n(x^{\text{op}})=\sigma ^n(x)^{\text{op}},`$ where $`\sigma ^{\text{op}}`$ is the shift action of $`^k`$ on $`(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^\mathrm{\Delta }`$. For every $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ we have $`x_sy`$ if and only if $`x^{\text{op}}_uy^{\text{op}}`$ and $`x_uy`$ if and only if $`x^{\text{op}}_sy^{\text{op}}`$. Hence $`G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda })=G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$ and $`G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})=G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$.

###### Remark 3.6.

As in \[Pt1\] (cf. \[Ru2\]) we define the asymptotic relation on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ as follows: For $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ we put $`x_ay`$ if $`x_sy`$ and $`x_uy`$. Observe that $`x_ay`$ if and only if there is $`m^k`$ so that for all $`nm`$ we have

(10)
$$x(m,n)=y(m,n)\text{and}x(n,m)=y(n,m).$$

Let $`G_a`$ denote the groupoid derived from this equivalence relation. We endow it with a topology that makes it an $`r`$-discrete groupoid. Given $`(x,y)G_a`$, there is an $`m^k`$ so that (10) holds; set $`\lambda =x(m,m)`$ and $`\nu =y(m,m)`$. There is a unique map $`\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }:Z(\lambda ,m)Z(\nu ,m)`$ such that $`\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }(x)=y`$ and

$$\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }(z)(m,n)=z(m,n)\text{and}\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }(z)(n,m)=z(n,m)$$

for all $`zZ(\lambda ,m)`$ and $`nm`$. Note that the map $`\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }`$ is a homeomorphism and $`z_a\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }(z)`$ for all $`zZ(\lambda ,m)`$. We let $`U_{\nu ,\lambda }G_a`$ be the graph of $`\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }`$

$$U_{\nu ,\lambda }=\{(\phi _{\nu ,\lambda }(z),z):zZ(\lambda ,m)\}.$$

The collection $`\{U_{\nu ,\lambda }\}_{\nu ,\lambda }`$ forms a basis for the topology of $`G_a`$ in which the $`U_{\nu ,\lambda }`$ are compact open sets. Evidently the restriction of the range map to each $`U_{\nu ,\lambda }`$ is a homeomorphism onto $`Z(\nu ,m)`$; hence $`G_a`$ is $`r`$-discrete.

## 4. Ruelle algebras

As in \[Pt1\] the stable and unstable $`C^{}`$-algebras are given by $`S:=C^{}(G_s)`$ and $`U:=C^{}(G_u)`$. The Ruelle algebras, $`R_s`$ and $`R_u`$, are defined as the crossed products of $`S`$ and $`U`$ by the natural $`^k`$ actions (see \[PtS\]). We shall need to show that $`G_s`$ and $`G_u`$ have Haar systems; for this it will be necessary to invoke a suitable version of the Perron-Frobenius Theorem, for an irreducible $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite (cf. \[Pt2\]). As in \[Pt1\] we show that there is a densely-defined trace on $`S`$ and $`U`$ which is scaled by the $`^k`$ action. Finally, we discuss the corresponding facts in the asymptotic case.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a $`k`$-graph. For $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$, $`p^k`$ set

$$\mathrm{\Lambda }^p(u,v)=\{\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^p:u=r(\lambda )\text{ and }v=s(\lambda )\};$$

then for each $`p^k`$ we obtain a nonnegative integer valued matrix $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p|`$ indexed by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ given by $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p|(u,v)=|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p(u,v)|`$ for $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$. For $`p,q^k`$, we have $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^{p+q}|=|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p||\mathrm{\Lambda }^q|`$. Let $`_+`$ denote the collection of positive real numbers.

###### Lemma 4.1.

(cf. \[Pt2\]) Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. Then there exist $`t_+^k`$, $`a:\mathrm{\Lambda }^0_+`$ and $`b:\mathrm{\Lambda }^0_+`$ with $`_{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}a(v)b(v)=1`$ such that for all $`p^k`$ we have

(11) $`{\displaystyle \underset{u\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}}a(u)|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p|(u,v)`$ $`=t^pa(v)\text{for all }v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$
(12) $`{\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}}|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p|(u,v)b(v)`$ $`=t^pb(u)\text{for all }u\mathrm{\Lambda }^0.`$
###### Proof.

Since $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible, there is an integer matrix $`A`$ with all positive entries which may be written as a sum of matrices of the form $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^p|`$ for various $`p^k`$. By the Perron-Frobenius theorem (see \[Se, Theorem 1.5\] for example) there are functions $`a,b:\mathrm{\Lambda }^0_+`$ satisfying $`_{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}a(v)b(v)=1`$ and a number $`T_+`$ such that

$`{\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}}a(u)A(u,v)`$ $`=Ta(v)\text{ for all }v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$
$`{\displaystyle \underset{u\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}}A(u,v)b(v)`$ $`=Tb(u)\text{ for all }u\mathrm{\Lambda }^0.`$
For $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$ let $`e_i`$ denote the canonical generators of $`^k`$, then since $`A`$ commutes with $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^{e_i}|`$ for each $`i`$ there exist nonnegative $`t_i`$ such that the same formulas hold with $`A`$ replaced by $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^{e_i}|`$ and $`T`$ replaced by $`t_i`$; formulas (12) and (11) now follow with $`t=(t_1,\mathrm{},t_k)`$.

It remains to show that $`t_i>0`$ for each $`i`$. Let $`u\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$, then by the standing assumption $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^e|(u,v)>0`$ for some $`v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$; applying (12) we have

$$\underset{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}|\mathrm{\Lambda }^e|(u,v)b(v)=t_1\mathrm{}t_kb(u).$$

Since the left hand side is evidently positive, $`t_1\mathrm{}t_k>0`$; hence $`t_i>0`$ for all $`i`$ as required. ∎

We construct the analog of the Parry measure $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ as follows (cf. \[Pt2\]).

###### Proposition 4.2.

Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. Then there is a shift invariant probability measure $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ such that

$$\mu (Z(\lambda ,n))=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda ))b(s(\lambda )),$$

for all $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`n^k`$.

###### Proof.

We must show that $`\mu `$ is well-defined on cylinder sets. Given $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and $`n^k`$, observe that for $`m0`$ we may write $`Z(\lambda ,n)`$ as a disjoint union by expanding on the right:

$$Z(\lambda ,n)=\underset{\begin{array}{c}\nu \mathrm{\Lambda }^m\\ r(\nu )=s(\lambda )\end{array}}{}Z(\lambda \nu ,n).$$

Then we compute $`\mu `$ of the right-hand side (using (12))

$`{\displaystyle \underset{\begin{array}{c}\nu \mathrm{\Lambda }^m\\ r(\nu )=s(\lambda )\end{array}}{}}\mu (Z(\lambda \nu ,n))`$ $`={\displaystyle \underset{\begin{array}{c}\nu \mathrm{\Lambda }^m\\ r(\nu )=s(\lambda )\end{array}}{}}t^{d(\lambda \nu )}a(r(\lambda ))b(s(\nu ))`$
$`=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda )){\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}}t^m{\displaystyle \underset{\nu \mathrm{\Lambda }^m(s(\lambda ),v)}{}}b(s(\nu ))`$
$`=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda )){\displaystyle \underset{v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0}{}}t^m|\mathrm{\Lambda }^m|(s(\lambda ),v)b(v)`$
$`=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda ))b(s(\lambda ))=\mu (Z(\lambda ,n)).`$
If we write $`Z(\lambda ,n)`$ as a disjoint union by expanding on the left:

$$Z(\lambda ,n)=\underset{\begin{array}{c}\nu \mathrm{\Lambda }^m\\ s(\nu )=r(\lambda )\end{array}}{}Z(\nu \lambda ,nm),$$

then a similar calculation (using (11)) shows that $`\mu `$ of each side is the same and completes the demonstration that $`\mu `$ is well-defined. Thus $`\mu `$ extends to a probability measure which is invariant under the action of $`^k`$. ∎

Our next task is to decompose $`\mu `$ locally into measures which give rise to Haar systems for $`G_s`$ and $`G_u`$ .

Fix $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$; then for $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`s(\lambda )=x(0)`$ we define

$$Z^{}(\lambda ,x)=E_xZ(\lambda ,d(\lambda )).$$

Likewise for $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`r(\lambda )=x(0)`$ we define

$$Z^+(\lambda ,x)=F_xZ(\lambda ,0).$$

###### Proposition 4.3.

(cf. \[Pt2\]) Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. Then for each $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ there is a measure $`\mu _s^x`$ on $`E_x`$ and a measure $`\mu _u^x`$ on $`F_x`$ such that

$$\mu _s^x(Z^{}(\lambda ,x))=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda ))\text{and}\mu _u^x(Z^+(\lambda ,x))=t^{d(\lambda )}b(s(\lambda ))$$

for all $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$. The restriction of $`\mu `$ to $`Z(x(0),0)`$ is $`\mu _s^x\times \mu _u^x`$ after identifying $`E_x\times F_x`$ with $`Z(x(0),0)`$ as in Proposition 3.3. Moreover for $`p^k`$ we have

(13)
$$\mu _s^x=t^p\mu _s^{\sigma ^px}\sigma ^p\text{and}\mu _u^x=t^p\mu _u^{\sigma ^px}\sigma ^p$$

on $`E_x`$ and $`F_x`$ respectively.

###### Proof.

The first assertion is clear. For the next part it suffices to consider cylinder sets of the form $`Z(\lambda ,n)`$ where $`\lambda =\lambda ^{}\lambda ^+\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`r(\lambda ^+)=x(0)`$ and $`n=d(\lambda ^{})`$. After identifying $`Z^+(\lambda ^+,x)\times Z^{}(\lambda ^{},x)`$ with $`Z(\lambda ,d(\lambda ^{}))`$ (as in Proposition 3.3) we have

$`\mu _s^x\times \mu _u^x(Z(\lambda ,d(\lambda ^{})))`$ $`=\mu _s^x(Z^{}(\lambda ^{},x))\mu _u^x(Z^+(\lambda ^+,x))`$
$`=t^{d(\lambda ^{})}a(r(\lambda ^{}))t^{d(\lambda ^+)}b(s(\lambda ^+))`$
$`=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda ))b(s(\lambda ))`$
$`=\mu (Z(\lambda ,d(\lambda ^{})));`$
hence the restriction of $`\mu `$ to $`Z(x(0),0)`$ is $`\mu _s^x\times \mu _u^x`$ as required. From the definitions it is straightforward to verify that for $`p^k`$

$$\sigma ^pZ^{}(\lambda ,x)=Z^{}(\lambda x(0,p),\sigma ^px)\text{and}\sigma ^pZ^+(\lambda ,x)=Z^+(x(p,0)\lambda ,\sigma ^px).$$

Hence

$`\mu _s^{\sigma ^px}(\sigma ^pZ^{}(\lambda ,x))`$ $`=t^p\mu _s^x(Z^{}(\lambda ,x))`$
$`\mu _u^{\sigma ^px}(\sigma ^pZ^+(\lambda ,x))`$ $`=t^p\mu _u^x(Z^+(\lambda ,x));`$
equations (13) then follow on $`E_x`$ and $`F_x`$ respectively. ∎

Note that for $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ we have that $`E_x=\{y:\pi (y)=\pi (x)\}`$; evidently if $`\pi (y)=\pi (x)`$ then $`E_y=E_x`$ and $`\mu _s^y=\mu _s^x`$. For $`z=\pi (x)`$ let $`\mu _{s,0}^z`$ denote the extension of $`\mu _s^x`$ to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ ($`\mu _{u,0}^z`$ is defined similarly). Observe that $`\mu _{s,0}=\{\mu _{s,0}^z:z\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }\}`$ is a full $`\pi `$-system: The continuity of the system follows from the fact that

$$\mu _{s,0}\left(\chi _{Z(\lambda ,n)}\right)(z)=t^{d(\lambda )}a(r(\lambda ))$$

is locally constant. By Propositions 2.7 and 3.4 we obtain a Haar system

$$\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,0}=\{\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,0}^x:x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\}$$

for $`G_{s,0}`$. Recall from Proposition 3.4 that for $`p0`$ we have $`G_{s,p}=\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }_{\pi \sigma ^p}\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$.

###### Proposition 4.4.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be an irreducible $`k`$-graph with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite. For $`p0`$ and $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ if $`\pi \sigma ^px=\pi \sigma ^py`$ then

(14)
$$\sigma ^pE_{\sigma ^px}=\sigma ^pE_{\sigma ^py}\text{and}\mu _s^{\sigma ^px}\sigma ^p=\mu _s^{\sigma ^py}\sigma ^p.$$

For $`z=\pi \sigma ^p(x)`$ let $`\mu _{s,p}^z`$ denote the extension of the measure $`t^p\mu _s^{\sigma ^px}\sigma ^p`$ from $`\sigma ^pE_{\sigma ^px}`$ to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$. Then $`\mu _{s,p}=\{\mu _{s,p}^z:z\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }\}`$ is a full $`\pi \sigma ^p`$-system and we obtain a Haar system $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,p}=\{\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,p}^x:x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\}`$ for $`G_{s,p}`$. If $`0pq`$, the restriction of $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,q}^x`$ to $`G_{s,p}`$ agrees with $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,p}^x`$ for all $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$. We obtain thereby a Haar system for $`G_s`$, $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s=\{\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s^x:x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\}`$. A Haar system for $`G_u`$ is obtained in a similar way.

###### Proof.

Note that for $`p0`$ and $`x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$, $`y\sigma ^pE_{\sigma ^px}`$ if and only if $`\pi \sigma ^px=\pi \sigma ^py`$; hence, formulas (14) hold. By arguments similar to those given immediately prior to the statement of this proposition, $`\mu _{s,p}`$ is a full $`\pi \sigma ^p`$-system and $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_{s,p}`$ is a Haar system for $`G_{s,p}`$. The compatibility of the Haar systems now follows from a short calculation involving (13). The Haar systems $`\mu _{s,p}`$ for $`p0`$ may therefore be patched together to give a Haar system for $`G_s`$: $`\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s=\{\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s^x:x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\}`$. ∎

Now we may define the stable and unstable algebras associated to an irreducible $`k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with finitely many vertices

$$S=S(\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }))\text{and}U=U(\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda })).$$

For $`n^k`$ the map $`\sigma ^n\times \sigma ^n`$ yields an automorphism of the stable and unstable equivalence relations but it rescales the Haar systems by (13); indeed

(15)
$$\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s^x(\sigma ^n\times \sigma ^n)=t^n\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s^{\sigma ^nx}\text{and}\stackrel{~}{\mu }_u^x(\sigma ^n\times \sigma ^n)=t^n\stackrel{~}{\mu }_u^{\sigma ^nx}.$$

This induces actions $`\beta _s,\beta _u`$ of $`^k`$ on both $`S`$ and $`U`$ given for $`n^k`$ by

$`\beta _s^n(f)(x,y)`$ $`=t^nf(\sigma ^n(x),\sigma ^n(y))\text{ where }fC_c(G_s),`$
$`\beta _u^n(f)(x,y)`$ $`=t^nf(\sigma ^n(x),\sigma ^n(y))\text{ where }fC_c(G_u),`$
and extending by continuity to the completions.

The measure $`\mu `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ gives rise to a densely-defined trace on $`S`$ as follows:

###### Proposition 4.5.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be an irreducible $`k`$-graph with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite, $`\mu `$ the Parry measure, and $`G_s`$ the stable groupoid. For $`fC_c(G_s)`$ set

$$\tau _s(f)=_{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }}f(x,x)𝑑\mu (x).$$

Then $`\tau _s`$ is a densely-defined trace on $`C^{}(G_s)`$. A densely-defined trace $`\tau _u`$ on $`C^{}(G_u)`$ is defined similarly. Moreover, for $`n^k`$ we have

(16)
$$\tau _s\beta _s^n=t^n\tau _s\text{and}\tau _s\beta _u^n=t^n\tau _u.$$

###### Proof.

The formulas (16) follow from (15). We show that $`\tau _s`$ is a densely-defined trace; the case of $`\tau _u`$ is similar. It suffices to show that $`\tau _s`$ satisfies the trace property ($`\tau _s`$ is clearly densely-defined, linear and positive). For $`f,gC_c(G_s)`$ there is $`p0`$ such that the supports of $`f`$ and $`g`$ are contained in $`G_{s,p}`$ (by Proposition 3.4, $`\{G_{s,p}:p0\}`$ forms an open cover of $`G_s`$). Since $`\mu `$ decomposes locally as a product measure as in Proposition 4.3 with $`t^p\mu _s^{\sigma ^px}\sigma ^p`$ in place of $`\mu _s^x`$, there is a measure $`\nu _{s,p}`$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ such that

$$_{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }}h(x)𝑑\mu (x)=_{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }}\mu _{s,p}(h)𝑑\nu _{s,p}$$

for all $`hC(\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta })`$. It follows that

$`\tau _s(fg)`$ $`={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }}}(fg)(x,x)𝑑\mu (x)={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }}}{\displaystyle (fg)(y,y)𝑑\mu _{s,p}^z(y)𝑑\nu _{s,p}(z)}`$
$`={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }}}\tau _{\mu _{s,p}}(fg)𝑑\nu _{s,p}={\displaystyle _{\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }}}\tau _{\mu _{s,p}}(gf)𝑑\nu _{s,p}=\tau _s(gf),`$
where the penultimate equality follows from Proposition 2.7. ∎

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be an irreducible $`k`$-graph with finitely many vertices. The Ruelle algebras associated to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ are defined to be the corresponding crossed products (cf. \[PtS, Pt2\])

$$R_s=R_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })=S(\mathrm{\Lambda })\times _{\beta _s}^k\text{ and }R_u=R_u(\mathrm{\Lambda })=U(\mathrm{\Lambda })\times _{\beta _u}^k.$$

We express the Ruelle algebras as $`C^{}`$-algebras of the semidirect product groupoids $`G_s\times ^k`$ and $`G_u\times ^k`$. The unit space is identified with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ via the map $`x((x,x),0)`$. The structure maps are given by

$$r((x,y),n)=x,s((x,y),n)=\sigma ^ny,((x,y),n)((\sigma ^ny,\sigma ^nz),m)=((x,z),n+m).$$

The structure maps of $`G_u\times ^k`$ are defined similarly.

###### Lemma 4.6.

If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an irreducible $`k`$-graph with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite, then both $`G_s\times ^k`$ and $`G_u\times ^k`$ have Haar systems. Moreover, we have $`R_sC^{}(G_s\times ^k)`$ and $`R_uC^{}(G_u\times ^k)`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\vartheta `$ be the measure on $`^k`$ given by $`\vartheta (\{n\})=t^n`$; then a direct computation using (15) shows that $`\{\stackrel{~}{\mu }_s^x\times \vartheta :x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\}`$ is a Haar system for $`G_s\times ^k`$. ∎

###### Remark 4.7.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be an irreducible $`k`$-graph with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite, then by Remark 3.5 we have $`G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda })=G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$ and $`G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })=G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$. Note that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$ is also irreducible and $`(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^0=\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. We have $`U(\mathrm{\Lambda })=S(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$ and $`S(\mathrm{\Lambda })=U(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$, similarly $`R_u(\mathrm{\Lambda })=R_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$ and $`R_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })=R_u(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$. Henceforth we shall focus our attention on the stable case.

###### Remark 4.8.

The asymptotic $`C^{}`$-algebra may also be defined:

$$A=A(\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(G_a(\mathrm{\Lambda })).$$

Note that since $`G_a`$ is $`r`$-discrete, it has a Haar system consisting of counting measures. The asymptotic Ruelle algebra is defined as the crossed product

$$R_a=R_a(\mathrm{\Lambda })=A(\mathrm{\Lambda })\times _{\beta _a}^k=C^{}(G_a(\mathrm{\Lambda })\times ^k).$$

Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. With notation as in Remark 3.6,

$$\mu (Z(\lambda ,m))=t^{2m}a(r(\lambda ))b(s(\lambda ))=t^{2m}a(r(\nu ))b(s(\nu ))=\mu (Z(\nu ,m));$$

hence $`\mu `$ is invariant under $`G_a`$. Thus we may define a unital trace on $`A`$ by

$$\tau _a(f)=f(x,x)𝑑\mu (x)$$

for $`fC_c(G_a)`$. The $`^k`$ action $`\sigma `$ on $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ induces an action $`\sigma \times \sigma `$ on $`G_a`$ and hence we get an action $`\beta _a:^k\mathrm{Aut}A`$. Since $`\tau _a`$ is invariant under $`\beta _a`$, we also obtain a trace on $`R_a`$.

## 5. Morita Equivalence

In this section we prove our main results. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite we show that the stable algebra $`S`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ and that $`R_s`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. Hence, if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ satisfies the aperiodicity condition, then $`R_s`$ is a stable Kirchberg algebra.

We begin by stating a groupoid equivalence result that will be useful in both cases. This result is no doubt well known to the experts but, as we are unable to find an explicit reference, we provide a proof.

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ be a locally compact Hausdorff groupoid. Given a right principal $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-space $`Y`$, one may construct the imprimitivity groupoid $`Y_\mathrm{\Gamma }Y^{\text{op}}`$ where $`Y^{\text{op}}`$ is the corresponding left principal $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-space. By \[MW2, Theorem 3.5\] (see also \[M, Theorem 5.31\]) $`Y`$ implements an equivalence between the imprimitivity groupoid and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ in the sense of \[MRW, Definition 2.1\].

Let $`X`$ be a locally compact Hausdorff space and let $`\psi :X\mathrm{\Gamma }^0`$ be a continuous open surjection. Set

(17)
$$Z=X\mathrm{\Gamma }=\{(x,\gamma ):xX,\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma },\psi (x)=r(\gamma )\};$$

we define a right action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ on $`Z`$ as follows: $`s:Z\mathrm{\Gamma }^0`$ is given by $`s(x,\gamma )=s(\gamma )`$ and the map $`Z\mathrm{\Gamma }Z`$ by $`((x,\gamma _1),\gamma _2)=(x,\gamma _1\gamma _2)`$. There is a corresponding left action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ on $`Z^{\text{op}}=\mathrm{\Gamma }X`$.

###### Lemma 5.1.

With the above structure maps $`Z`$ is a right principal $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-space. Moreover the imprimitivity groupoid $`Z_\mathrm{\Gamma }Z^{\text{op}}`$ is isomorphic to

$$\mathrm{\Gamma }^\psi :=\{(x,\gamma ,y):x,yX,\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma },\psi (x)=r(\gamma ),\psi (y)=s(\gamma )\},$$

equipped with the relative topology. Therefore $`Z`$ implements an equivalence between the groupoids $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\psi `$.

###### Proof.

To show that $`Z`$ is a right principal $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$-space we must show that the action is free and proper. The action is clearly free (because the action of a groupoid on itself is free). It suffices to show that the map $`Z\mathrm{\Gamma }Z\times Z`$ given by

$$((x,\gamma _1),\gamma _2)((x,\gamma _1\gamma _2),(x,\gamma _1))$$

is a homeomorphism onto a closed set (see \[MW2, Lemma 2.2\]). This follows from a similar fact for the right action of a groupoid on itself. By \[MW2, Theorem 3.5\] $`Z`$ is a groupoid equivalence between the imprimitivity groupoid $`Z_\mathrm{\Gamma }Z^{\text{op}}`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }`$. The isomorphism from $`Z_\mathrm{\Gamma }Z^{\text{op}}`$ to $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\psi `$ is given by the map

$$((x,\gamma _1),(\gamma _2,y))(x,\gamma _1\gamma _2,y).$$

The result now follows from this identification. ∎

The construction of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }^\psi `$ above appears in \[Ku1, Proposition 5.7\] (though in a more specialized setting). Recall the the restriction map $`\pi :\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is a continuous open surjection.

###### Lemma 5.2.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a $`k`$-graph and $`G_s`$ be the stable groupoid associated to $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$. Then the map $`(x,y)(x,(\pi (x),0,\pi (y)),y)`$ gives an isomorphism $`G_s\left(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)^\pi `$.

###### Proof.

Recall that $`(x,y)G_{s,m}`$ precisely when $`\pi (\sigma ^mx)=\pi (\sigma ^my)`$. For $`m0`$ the given map restricts to a homeomorphism from $`G_{s,m}`$ to $`(\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{\Lambda },m})^\pi `$ where $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{\mathrm{\Lambda },m}`$ is the subgroupoid of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ formed by those $`(x,0,y)`$ where $`\sigma ^m(x)=\sigma ^m(y)`$. Since the topology on $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is equivalent to the inductive limit topology from these subgroupoids, the given map is a homeomorphism. It is routine to check that the map is a groupoid morphism. ∎

The groupoid equivalence (in the sense of \[MRW\]) between $`G_s`$ and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ now follows.

###### Theorem 5.3.

The space $`Z=\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a $`(G_s,\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$-equivalence. In particular $`G_s`$ is amenable in the sense of \[AR\]. Moreover if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite then the stable algebra $`S`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$, and therefore is an AF-algebra.

###### Proof.

The first part follows from Lemmas 5.1, 5.2. That $`G_s`$ is amenable now follows from \[AR, Theorem 2.2.17\]. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite then by Proposition 4.4, $`G_s`$ has a Haar system ($`\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has a Haar system consisting of counting measures) so that by \[MRW, Theorem 2.8\] $`S`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Gamma }_\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$. The final assertion then follows from \[KP, Lemma 3.2\]. ∎

We could have deduced that $`S=C^{}(G_s)`$ is AF more directly: It follows from the fact that

$$C^{}(G_s)=\underset{m}{lim}C^{}(G_{s,m})$$

and that $`C^{}(G_{s,m})`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to the abelian AF algebra $`C(\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega })`$ for each $`m`$ (see Propositions 2.7 and 3.4). If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive then we can say more.

###### Corollary 5.4.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a primitive $`k`$-graph, then $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha `$ is a simple AF algebra and hence so is $`S`$.

###### Proof.

Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive; then by 2.3, $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite. Moreover, there is an $`n>0`$ (i.e. all coordinates are positive) such that for every $`u,v\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ there is $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }^n`$ with $`u=s(\lambda )`$ and $`v=r(\lambda )`$. It follows that all the entries of the matrix $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^n|`$ are positive. Since the sequence $`\{jn:j\}`$ is cofinal in $`^k`$, we have that $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })^\alpha =lim_j_{jn}`$. The multiplicity matrix of the inclusions may be identified with $`|\mathrm{\Lambda }^n|`$ and the result now follows from \[B, Corollary 3.5\]. ∎

Analogous assertions hold for $`U`$ when $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is replaced by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$ (see Remark 4.7).

###### Lemma 5.5.

Let $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be a $`k`$-graph, $`G_s`$ be the associated stable groupoid and $`G_s\times ^k`$ be the semidirect product groupoid (see Lemma 4.6). Then the map

$$\phi :((x,y),n)(x,(\pi (x),n,\pi (\sigma ^ny)),\sigma ^ny)$$

gives an isomorphism $`G_s\times ^k\left(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }\right)^\pi `$.

###### Proof.

That $`(\pi (x),n,\pi (\sigma ^ny))𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ follows from (9); so $`\phi `$ is well-defined and evidently injective. Given $`(x,(\pi (x),n,\pi (z)),z)(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })^\pi `$ we have

$$(x,(\pi (x),n,\pi (z)),z)=\phi ((x,\sigma ^nz),n);$$

hence $`\phi `$ is surjective. Recall that $`G_s\times ^k`$ is given the product topology and observe that the restriction of $`\phi `$ to $`G_s\times \{0\}`$ agrees with the homeomorphism defined in Lemma 5.2. Similarly the restriction to $`G_s\times \{n\}`$ is a homeomorphism onto the set

$$\{(x,(\pi (x),n,\pi (y)),y):x,y\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta },\sigma ^{\mathrm{}}\pi (x)=\sigma ^m\pi (y),n=\mathrm{}m\}.$$

The reader is invited to check that the map is a groupoid morphism. ∎

Recall that a $`k`$-graph is said to satisfy the aperiodicity condition if for every vertex $`v`$ there is $`x\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Omega }`$ with $`x(0)=v`$ which is not eventually periodic (see \[KP, Definition 4.1\]). Let $`𝒩`$ denote the bootstrap class of $`C^{}`$-algebras to which the UCT applies (see \[RSc\]).

###### Theorem 5.6.

The space $`Z=\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is a $`(G_s\times ^k,𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })`$-equivalence. Therefore if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite, then the stable Ruelle algebra $`R_s`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ and hence is nuclear and lies in the bootstrap class $`𝒩`$. If in addition $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ satisfies the aperiodicity condition, then $`R_s`$ is simple, stable and purely infinite. Hence the isomorphism class of $`R_s`$ is completely determined by $`K_{}(R_s)=K_{}(C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda }))`$.

###### Proof.

The first part follows from Lemmas 5.1, 5.5. If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible and $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ is finite, then by Lemma 4.6, $`G_s\times ^k`$ has a Haar system ($`𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ has a Haar system consisting of counting measures) so that by \[MRW, Theorem 2.8\] $`R_s`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`C^{}(𝒢_\mathrm{\Lambda })=C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$. By \[KP, Theorem 5.5\] $`R_s`$ is nuclear and lies in the bootstrap class $`𝒩`$ (since strong Morita equivalence preserves these properties). If $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is irreducible then it is clearly cofinal and if in addition $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ satisfies the aperiodicity condition, it follows from \[KP, Proposition 4.8\] that $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is simple. For every vertex $`v\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ there is a morphism $`\lambda \mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with $`d(\lambda )0`$ such that $`r(\lambda )=s(\lambda )=v`$ and so $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is purely infinite by \[KP, Proposition 4.9\]. By Zhang’s dichotomy a simple purely infinite $`C^{}`$-algebra is either unital or stable (see \[Z, Theorem 1.2\]); since $`R_s`$ is not unital it must be stable. The Kirchberg-Phillips Theorem applies and the isomorphism class of $`R_s`$ is completely determined by $`K_{}(R_s)`$ (see \[Ki, Theorem C\], \[Ph, Corollary 4.2.2\]). ∎

An analogous assertion holds for $`R_u`$ when $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is replaced by $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$. The aperiodicity condition is necessary in the statement of the above theorem. There is an irreducible $`2`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ with one vertex which is not aperiodic — every path has period $`(1,1)`$. Furthermore, $`C^{}(\mathrm{\Lambda })𝒪_2C(𝕋)`$ is neither simple nor purely infinite (see \[KP, Example 6.1\]).

The restriction of Theorem 5.6 to the case $`k=1`$ is certainly well known, but we have been unable to find a reference.

###### Corollary 5.7.

Let $`AM_n()`$ be irreducible and $`R_s`$ be the stable Ruelle algebra of the associated Markov shift. Then $`R_s`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`𝒪_A`$.

###### Remark 5.8.

Suppose that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is an irreducible $`k`$-graph with $`\mathrm{\Lambda }^0`$ finite. Then the $`2k`$-graph $`\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}}`$ is irreducible and $`(\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^0=\mathrm{\Lambda }^0\times (\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^0`$ is finite. We have $`(\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^\mathrm{\Delta }=\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times (\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ and

$$G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})=G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })\times G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda })\times G_u(\mathrm{\Lambda });$$

hence

$$S(\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})S(\mathrm{\Lambda })U(\mathrm{\Lambda }).$$

Moreover $`A(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is strongly Morita equivalent to $`S(\mathrm{\Lambda })U(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ as in \[Pt1, Theorem 3.1\]. The “same” argument applies: Define a map $`\varphi :\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta }\times (\mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})^\mathrm{\Delta }`$ by $`x(x,x^{\text{op}})`$, then $`N=\varphi (\mathrm{\Lambda }^\mathrm{\Delta })`$ is an abstract transversal of the groupoid $`G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})`$ in the sense of \[MRW, Example 2.7\]. Furthermore, $`G_a(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is isomorphic to the reduction $`G_s(\mathrm{\Lambda }\times \mathrm{\Lambda }^{\text{op}})_N^N`$ (for $`x_ay`$ if and only if $`x_sy`$ and $`x^{\text{op}}_sy^{\text{op}}`$, that is, $`(x,x^{\text{op}})_s(y,y^{\text{op}})`$). It follows that $`A(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is an AF algebra and if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is primitive then $`A(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is simple. However, $`R_a(\mathrm{\Lambda })`$ is not purely infinite since it has a trace (see Remark 4.8).


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# Quest for HI Turbulence Statistics: New Techniques

## 1. Introduction

Atomic hydrogen is an important component of the interstellar media of spiral galaxies (McKee & Ostriker 1977) and much efforts have been devoted to its studies (see this volume). From the point of view of fluid mechanics, HI, as well as other components of interstellar medium, is characterised by huge Reynolds numbers, $`Re`$, which is the ratio of the eddy turnover time of a parcel of gas to the time required for viscous forces to slow it appreciably. For $`Re100`$ we expect gas to be turbulent and this is exactly what we observe in HI (for HI $`Re10^8`$).

Statistical description is a nearly indispensable strategy when dealing with turbulence. The big advantage of statistical techniques is that they extract underlying regularities of the flow and reject incidental details. Attempts to study interstellar turbulence with statistical tools date as far back as the 1950s (see Horner 1951, Kampe de Feriet 1955, Munch 1958, Wilson et al. 1959) and various directions of research achieved various degree of success (see reviews by Kaplan & Pickelner 1970, Dickman 1985, Lazarian 1992, Armstrong, Rickett & Spangler 1995). Studies of turbulence statistics of ionized media were successful (see Spangler & Gwinn 1990) and provided the information of the statistics of plasma density at scales $`10^8`$-$`10^{15}`$ cm. This research profited a lot from clear understanding of processes of scintillations and scattering achieved by theorists (see Narayan & Goodman 1989). At the same time the intrinsic limitations of the scincillations technique are due to the limited number of sampling directions, relevance only to ionized gas at extremely small scales, and impossibility of getting velocity (the most important!) statistics directly.

“Seeing through dust” at 21 cm potentially provides an enormous leap for turbulence studies. First of all, statistics of HI line carries the velocity information. Secondly, the statistical samples are extremely rich and not limited to discrete directions. Thirdly, HI emission allows to study turbulence at large scales which have direct relation to the scales of star formation and energy injection.

Deficiencies in the theoretical description has been, to our mind, the major impediment to studies of turbulence using 21-cm data cubes. In particular, Crovisier & Dickey (1983) Green (1993) measured the spectrum of 21-cm intensity fluctuations, but it was unclear what those spectra mean.

Sally Oey (this volume) identifies several known problems of studying HI turbulence. They are (a) integration of fluctuations along lines of sight, (b) contribution of velocity and density to the emissivity statistics and (c) effects of absorption. The problems related to (a) were dealt in Lazarian (1995), while the issues (b) and (c) happen to be more formidable and have been dealt with only recently (Lazarian & Pogosyan 2000, 2002). Earlier reviews dealing with HI studies include Lazarian (1999a,b). In this volume one can read more about turbulence in Cho, Lazarian & Yan and Vazquez-Semadeni papers.

## 2. Statistics of HI Data Cubes and Velocity Channel Analysis

Doppler shifted spectral lines carry information about turbulent velocity, but until very recently there was no way of extracting this information. The problem is that both velocity and density fluctuations contribute to the fluctuations of the intensity at a given velocity. In other words: We know the statistics of spectral lines, i.e. the statistics in velocity space, while we want to determine the actual 3D statistics.

Statistics in 3D
Turbulence theory deals with the statistics of turbulence in real space that can be described by 3D correlation and structure functions (see Monin & Yaglom 1975). For instance, if density correlation function (CF) is isotropic in $`xyz`$-space then

$$\xi (r)=\xi (𝐫)=\rho (𝐱)\rho (𝐱+𝐫).$$
(1)
The power spectrum provides an alternative description and is related to the correlation function as

$$P(𝐤)=𝑑𝐫e^{i\mathrm{𝐤𝐫}}\xi (𝐫),$$
(2)
where integration is performed over the 3D space. For power-law statistics, the $`N`$ dimensional power spectrum $`P_Nk^n`$ and correlation function $`\xi _Nr^\gamma `$ have indexes related as $`n=N+\gamma `$. In other words,

$$(spectralindex)=(dimensionsofspace+CFindex)$$
(3)
Statistics in Position Position Velocity (PPV) Space
One does not observe the gas distribution in the real space galactic coordinates $`𝐱`$. Rather, intensity of the emission in a given spectral line is measured towards some direction on the sky and at a given line-of-sight velocity $`v`$. In the plane parallel approximation the direction on the sky can be identified with the 2D spatial vector $`𝐗`$ perpendicular to the line of sight, so that the coordinates of experimental PPV cubes are $`(𝐗,v)`$. If we chose galactic coordinates so that $`x,y`$ specify the direction of observation and $`z`$ is the coordinate along the line of sight $`𝐱=(𝐗,z)`$, then the relation between the real space and the PPV descriptions is that of a map $`(𝐗,z)(𝐗,v)`$.

The line-of-sight component of velocity $`v`$ at the position $`𝐱`$ is a sum of the regular gas flow (e.g., due to galactic rotation) $`v_{gal}(𝐱)`$, the turbulent velocity $`u(𝐱)`$ and the residual component due to thermal motions. The thermal velocity $`v_{thermal}=vv_{gal}(𝐱)u(𝐱)`$ has Maxwellian distribution

$$\varphi _v(𝐱)\mathrm{d}v=\frac{1}{(2\pi \beta )^{1/2}}\mathrm{exp}\left[\frac{(vv_{reg}(𝐱)u(𝐱))^2}{2\beta }\right]\mathrm{d}v,$$
(4)
where $`\beta =\kappa _BT/m`$, $`m`$ is the atomic mass and $`T`$ is the gas temperature.

The density of emitters in the PPV space $`\rho _s(𝐗,v)`$ can then be written as

$$\rho _s(𝐗,v)\mathrm{d}𝐗dv=\left[dz\rho (𝐱)\varphi _v(𝐱)\right]\mathrm{d}𝐗dv$$
(5)
where $`\rho (𝐱)`$ is the density of gas in the galactic coordinates. This expression just counts the number of atoms along the line-of-sight X which have z-component of velocity in the interval $`[v,v+dv]`$ The limits of integration are defined by the extend of spatial distribution of emitting gas.

The statistics available in PPV are the correlation functions
$`\xi _s=\rho _s(𝐗_1,v_1)\rho _s(𝐗_2,v_2)`$ and the power spectra of the emissivity fluctuations. The latter may be 3D, 2D and 1D. The relation between those spectra and the underlying velocity and density spectra were established in Lazarian & Pogosyan (2000). In practical terms, the most frequently used is the 2D spectrum of velocity slices. This spectrum can be directly obtained with radiointerferometric observations (see Lazarian 1995).

Velocity-Channel Analysis (VCA)
The VCA technique has been developed in Lazarian & Pogosyan (2000, henceforth LP00) for analyzing line profile formation in the presence of turbulence. We have predicted analytically that the relative contribution of the velocity and density fluctuations to the total fluctuations of intensity changes in a regular fashion with the width of the velocity slice. This is easy to understand qualitatively, as it is clear that the line integration should decrease the influence of velocity fluctuations. We have shown that if the 3-D density spectrum is $`P_nk^n`$ (where $`k`$ is the wavenumber), two distinct regimes are present when: (a) $`n>3`$, and (b) $`n<3`$.

Our results are summarized in Table 1.

It is easy to see that both in cases (a) and (b) the power law index gradually steepens with the increase of velocity slice thickness. In the thickest velocity slices the velocity information is averaged out and it is natural that we get the density spectral index $`n`$. The velocity fluctuations dominate in thin slices, and if the 3-D velocity power spectrum is $`P_vk^{3m}`$, then the index $`m`$ can be found from thin slices (see Table 1). Note, that the notion of thin and thick slices depends on a turbulence scale under study and the same slice can be thick for small scale turbulent fluctuations and thin for large scale ones. The formal criterion for the slice to be thick is that the dispertion of turbulent velocities on the scale studied should be less than the velocity slice thickness. Otherwise the slice is thin.

Predictions of LP00 were tested in Lazarian et al. (2001) using numerical MHD simulations of compressible intersterllar gas. Simulated data cubes allowed both density and velocity statistics to be measured directly. Then these data cubes were used to produce synthetic spectra which were analysed using the VCA. As the result, the velocity and density statistics were successfully recovered. Thus one can confidently apply the technique to HI observations. Note, that the VCA is only sensitive to velocity111For Kolmogorov turbulence the velocity gradient scales as $`l^{2/3}`$. and density gradients on the scale under study, so the regular Galactic rotation curve or large scale distribution of emitting gas does not interfere with the analysis.

Further research in Lazarian & Pogosyan (2002) incorporated the effects of absorption into the VCA. Namely, we have shown that in the presence of strong absorption a universal spectrum with index $`3`$ is being produced in very thick slices, provided that the density is steep. The universality means that the emissivity spectral index does not depend on the underlying statistics of velocity and density. For shallow density, its spectral index determines the emissivity statistics. To get velocity information thin slices must be used.

## 3. Applications of the VCA: SMC and Galactic HI

In the case of SMC the VCA reveals the Kolmogorov-type spectrum, $`E(k)4\pi k^2P(k)k^{5/3}`$ (where $`E(k)`$ is the energy contained in eddies with $`k`$ (eddy size)-1) for velocity fluctuations and a slightly more shallow spectrum of density fluctuations over the range of scales from 4 kpc to 40 pc.

A spectral index similar to the one for SMC has been inferred from the 21 cm Galactic data in Green (1993). However, that index shows more variability, which can stem from a number of causes. First of all, LP00 predicts, and the analysis of Fig. 1 confirms, that the emissivity index depends on whether or not the velocity dispersion on the scale under study is larger or smaller than the thickness of the channel map. In Green (1993) the physical scales and therefore the associated velocity dispersion vary considerably for close and distant slices of HI. Moreover, for the close slices the geometry of parallel lines of sight adopted in LP00 does not provide a good approximation and the convergence of the lines of sight must be accounted for.

The situation is even more complicated for the inner parts of the Galaxy, where (a) two distinct regions at different distances from the observer contribute to the emissivity for a given velocity and (b) effects of the absorption are important. However, the analysis in Dickey et al. (2001) showed that some progress may be made even in those unfavorable circumstances. Dickey et al. (2001) found the steepening of the spectral index with the increase of the velocity slice thickness. They also observed the spectral index for strongly absorbing direction approached $`3`$ in accordance with the conclusions in Lazarian & Pogosyan (2002).

21-cm absorption provides another way of probing turbulence on small scales. The absorption depends on the density to temperature ratio $`\rho /T`$, rather than to $`\rho `$ as in the case of emission. However, in terms of the VCA this change is not important and we still expect to see emissivity index steepening as velocity slice thickness increases, provided that velocity effects are present. In view of this, results of Deshpande et al. (2001), who did not see such steepening, can be interpreted as the evidence of the viscous suppression of turbulence on the scales less than 1 pc. The fluctuations in this case should be due to density and their shallow spectrum $`k^{2.8}`$ may be related to the damped magnetic structures below the viscous cutoff (see Cho, Lazarian, Yan, this volume).

Clearly, more VCA studies of Galactic HI are required. As the VCA can be used for other emission lines (e.g. CO, Hα), cross-correlation of turbulence properties in HI, molecular and ionized gas is necessary to obtain an insight into the dynamic coupling of different interstellar phases.

## 4. Complementary Statistical Tools

Genus Analysis
Velocity and density power spectra do not provide the complete description of turbulence. Intermittency of turbulence (its variations in time and space) and its topology in the presence of different phases are not described by the power spectrum.

“Genus analysis” is a good tool for studying the topology of turbulence (see review by Lazarian 1999), receiving well-deserved recognition for cosmological studies (Gott et al. 1989). Consider an area on the sky with contours of projected density. The 2D genus, $`G(\nu )`$, is the difference between the number of regions with a projected density higher than $`\nu `$ and those with densities lower than $`\nu `$. Fig. 4 shows the 2D genus as the function of $`\nu `$ for a Gaussian distribution of densities (completely symmetric curve), for MHD isothermal simulations with Mach number 2.5, and for HI in SMC (Fig. 4b).

Isothermal MHD simulations exhibit more or less symmetric density distributions, but the SMC data reflect a prominent Swiss cheese topology, which also can be suggested from the visual inspection of the image (see Fig. 3). However, unlike visual inspection, the genus quantifies the topology and allows us to compare numerical results with observations. Note, that the MHD simulations in Fig 4a are not so different from the SMC in terms of the power spectrum.

Anisotropy Analysis
In isotropic turbulence, correlations depend only on the distance between the points. Contours of equal correlation are circular in this case. Presence of magnetic field introduces anisotropy and these contours become elongated with a symmetry axis given by the magnetic field. To study turbulence anisotropy, we can measure contours of equal correlation corresponding to the data within various velocity bins. The results obtained with simulated data are shown in Fig. 3.

Since the anisotropy is related to the magnetic field, the studies of anisotropy can provide means to analyze magnetic fields. It is important to study different data sets and channel maps for the anisotropy. Optical and infrared polarimetry can benchmark the anisotropies in correlation functions. We hope that the anisotropies will reveal magnetic field within dark clouds where grain alignment and therefore polarimetry fails (see Lazarian 2000, astro-ph/0003314 for a review of grain alignment).

## 5. Summary

For the first time ever we have an adequate theoretical description of spectral line statistics in the presence of both velocity and density fluctuations. This must be exploited to get adequate description of interstellar turbulence. HI data cubes present a great opportunity for such a study. To get a better understading of interstellar dynamics we propose using complementary tools like genus and anisotropy analysis and correlating the statistics of HI with that of molecular species and ions.

Acknowledgement. AL acknowledges the support by the grant NSF AST-0125544.

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text:
# Massive Binary WR112 and Properties of Wolf-Rayet Dust

## 1 Introduction

Classes of objects known to produce significant quantities of dust include asymptotic giant-branch stars, red giants, novae, supernovae (each of which contributes about equal rates, $`10^3M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$, of dust in the whole Galaxy), along with planetary nebulae and proto-stars (each of which yields $``$10 times less; Dwek 1985). Surprisingly, some hot, massive, population I WR stars also form dust (van der Hucht, Williams, & Thé et al., 1987). WR stars are the evolved descendants of massive O-type stars. They consist mainly of He-burning cores surrounded by hot envelopes that drive fast, dense winds with average mass-loss rates $`10^5M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ and terminal velocities $`v_{\mathrm{}}10004000kms^1`$. There are three successive WR phases, WN, WC and WO, characterized by the dominant emission lines of N, C, and O, respectively, in their optical spectra. All dust-making WR stars belong to the carbon-rich, hydrogen-poor WC subclass (Williams, 1995). The WR dust-makers are remarkable for two main reasons: (1) the absolute rate of formation is very high, up to $`10^6M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ in dust alone, and occurring in either a periodic (due to enhanced wind-wind compression at or near periastron passage in long-period WC + O binaries with eccentirc orbits) or sustained fashion (in single late-type WC stars or moderately short-period WC + O binaries with circular orbits); and (2) the dust is formed in a hot, extremely hostile environment, where the formation process is still unknown.

Here we report on near and mid-infrared imaging observations of the dust envelope surrounding the star WR 112 (spectral class WC9). The morphology of this envelope provides clues to the nature of the stellar system, while the photometry allows us to estimate the properties of the dust and the total dust mass.

## 2 Observations

WR112 belongs to the group of 5 WC stars with the densest known dust envelopes (van der Hucht et al., 1996). We observed WR112 along with WR104 and WR118 with the University of Florida mid-IR imager ”OSCIR” at the Gemini-North 8m telescope using the medium-band 7.9$`\mu m`$, 12.5$`\mu m`$ and 18.2$`\mu m`$ filters on 7 May, 2001. For WR112 we supplemented the mid-IR data with near-IR narrow-band $`h`$ and $`k`$ images taken at the CFHT on 27 June 1999 with the adaptive optics bonnette and KIR camera, and broad-band L images obtained at the IRTF on 28 May 2000 in the ‘movie burst’ ($`2\times 8192`$ 0.01-sec exposures) mode of the NSFCAM imager. We also acquired images of point sources (PSF reference stars), usually immediately before and after the principal target, for image restoration. The original data cubes were split into individual frames, quickly checked and selected for image quality using basic image statistics for the OSCIR and CFHT data (initially compensated for atmospheric turbulence), or carefully selected using a specifically designed statistical procedure for the NSFCAM images (taken without compensation). The individual images were then appropriately shifted to form a final image for each wavelength/target/instrument. The final images were then restored using the images of the PSF reference stars and a maximum entropy algorithm (the ‘stsdas.analysis.restore.mem’ task of IRAF111IRAF is distributed by the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation. for the CFHT data, enabling us to reach $`\frac{1}{2}`$ pixel ($`0.018^{\prime \prime }`$) resolution, or the ‘stsdas.analysis.restore.lucy’ task of IRAF for the OSCIR and NSFCAM images, thus reaching 1-pixel resolution of $`0.089^{\prime \prime }`$ and $`0.055^{\prime \prime }`$, respectively).

## 3 Dust properties

While WR104 and WR118 show only modest extensions on scales of several 0.1′′, combination of the original mid-IR images of WR112 reveals three sets of regularly spaced arc-like structures extending out $`3^{\prime \prime }`$ from the central star (Fig. 1a). It is apparent that the dust temperature gradually falls off outwards. The central source and two closest arcs form a W-like configuration, the middle part of which is also seen in the near-IR (Fig. 1b). The near-IR size of the central source, FWHM=$`0.089^{\prime \prime }\pm 0.004^{\prime \prime }`$, is consistent with earlier measurements (Ragland & Richichi, 1998; Monnier et al., 2002): FWHM=$`0.059^{\prime \prime }0.073^{\prime \prime }`$. The near-IR SW elongation probably corresponds to the previously detected (Ragland & Richichi, 1998) small-scale asymmetry in the dust envelope.

WR112 is the fourth case in which dust around a WR star has been mapped in some detail, with all the previous examples occurring in WC+O binaries (Marchenko, Moffat, & Grosdidier, 1999; Monnier, Tuthill, & Danchi, 1999; Tuthill, Monnier & Danchi, 1999). Note that 6 other WR stars have been shown to posess an extended (presumably spherically-symmetric) envelope (Yudin et al., 2001; Monnier et al., 2002). WR112 is also known to be a variable non-thermal radio emission source (Chapman et al., 1999; Monnier et al., 2002), which might indicate binarity (Dougherty & Williams, 2000). There are few viable scenarios for dust production in WR112. For example, the primordial circumstellar envelope would not have survived in the hard UV radiation-field of the WR progenitor. Periodic outbursts driven by stellar oscillations cannot explain the observed dust envelope-shape without invoking a factor of two azimuthal variation in the terminal-wind velocity along with an extreme latitudinal dependence of the mass-loss. Therefore, we assume that the dust is formed in the wind-wind collision zone of a massive binary system (thus resembling a collimated but rotating ‘beam’ for a distant observer) and expelled radially outward at a constant, terminal-wind velocity $`v_{\mathrm{}}=1200kms^1`$ (Rochowicz & Niedzielski, 1995). We then calculate the resulting locus of maximum dust density and fit it to the observed dust distribution in the restored mid-IR images, taking the necessary orbital elements, $`P,e,i,\omega ,\mathrm{\Omega }`$ as free parameters. We find a family of minimum-$`\chi ^2`$ solutions for counter-clockwise orbits, in which coupling of $`e`$-$`i`$ and $`\omega `$-$`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ leads to some degree of degeneracy. Instead of relying solely on the single formal best fit, we therefore construct a synthetic solution by averaging all the possible combinations of solutions for which the $`\chi ^2`$ values lie within 5% of the absolute minimum. This average solution has period $`P=24.8\pm 1.5\mathrm{yr}`$, eccentricity $`e=0.11\pm 0.11`$, orbital inclination $`i=38.0^\mathrm{°}\pm 3.8^\mathrm{°}`$, periastron angle $`\omega =269.6^\mathrm{°}\pm 18.5^\mathrm{°}`$ and orbital orientation $`\mathrm{\Omega }=33.5^\mathrm{°}\pm 7.9^\mathrm{°}`$ (1-$`\sigma `$ errors). In Fig. 2 we plot the solution with the highest possible, but still plausible, eccentricity: $`e=0.40`$. This particular model yields a dust locus that is actually very close to that derived from the synthetic solution. In general, the model provides fairly good fits to the SW arms, although it fails to explain the pronounced NE excursions, as well as the bright SW protuberance. The latter extends in the direction toward a stellar visual companion $`1^{\prime \prime }`$ from WR112 (Wallace, Moffat & Shara 2002, and our Fig.2), which is not seen at near-IR, and is therefore probably also invisible at mid-IR wavelengths. Clearly the dust-production rate depends on orbital phase, diminishing as expected around apastron but surprisingly also absent around periastron, contrary to the situation in the eccentric, long-period colliding-wind WR+O binaries WR137 and WR140 (van der Hucht, Williams, & Morris, 2001; Marchenko, Moffat, & Grosdidier, 1999). The average thickness, $`\delta r`$, of the dust arcs in the deconvolved images relative to the separation between the successive arcs, $`\mathrm{\Delta }r`$ (measured at the same orbital phase), gives an estimate of the shock-cone opening angle: $`\mathrm{\Theta }2\pi \times \delta r/\mathrm{\Delta }r60^\mathrm{°}110^\mathrm{°}`$, similar to that found in other colliding-wind WR+O systems (Marchenko et al., 1997; Bartzakos, Moffat, & Niemela, 2001). In Table 1 we list the calculated orbital elements along with the main characteristics of the dust envelope and the assumed parameters.

To derive the basic dust properties, which fortunately do not depend sensitively on the adopted orbital parameters, we first deproject all apparent distances by applying the synthetic average orbit-solution. We calibrate the restored images using all available IR-flux measurements of WR112 (Williams, van der Hucht, & Thé, 1987; van der Hucht et al., 1996), assuming that the system has not experienced any large-amplitude IR outbursts. In the mid-IR range, the relatively large apertures used in previous ground- and space-based observations will tend to smooth out the variability by averaging over the output of many dust-formation cycles. We deredden the near-IR data by applying a Galactic interstellar-extinction model (Arenou, Grenon, & Gomez, 1992), then calculate the net dust fluxes after subtracting the stellar component, approximated as $`F_\lambda \lambda ^\alpha `$, with $`\alpha =2.97`$ (Morris et al., 1993). Then we use the relation (Hildebrand, 1983):

$$M_d(r)=\frac{4\rho F(\lambda ,r)d^2a}{3B(\lambda ,T(r))Q_e(\lambda ,a)},$$
(1)
where $`M_d`$ is the dust mass, $`F(\lambda ,r)`$ is the measured flux at a given position $`r`$, $`\rho `$ is the grain density, $`d`$=4.15 kpc is the distance to WR112 (van der Hucht, 2001), $`a`$ is the grain size, $`B(\lambda ,T(r))`$ is the black-body emissivity, and $`Q_e(\lambda ,a)`$ is the grain emission coefficient. We adopt the general relation $`Q_e(\lambda ,a)/a=k\lambda ^s`$ along with a $`T=T_0r^\beta `$ temperature profile (Williams, van der Hucht, & Thé, 1987) and measure the fluxes $`F(\lambda ,r)`$ over regions of fixed $`7\times 7`$ pixel size ($`0.623^{\prime \prime }\times 0.623^{\prime \prime }`$), assigning 15% /30% errors to $`F(\lambda ,r)`$ in the inner/outer-most arcs. Taking the ratios of fluxes at every given position in the envelope (except the very central part, where the spectral distribution cannot be represented by a single temperature) in order to reduce the number of free parameters and to be impervious to large positional fluctuations in $`F(\lambda ,r)`$, we obtain via $`\chi ^2`$-minimization the following estimates: $`s=0.90_{0.21}^{+0.22}`$, $`T_0=320_{13}^{+12}`$ K, $`\beta =0.40_{0.05}^{+0.05}`$ ($`T_0`$ at $`1^{\prime \prime }`$; 95% confidence intervals). The dust emissivity index $`s`$, though loosely constrained, is close to the range expected for amorphous carbon in the near-mid-IR domain (Borghesi, Bussoletti, & Colangeli, 1985; Suh, 2000). On the other hand, the absence of the telltale 9.7$`\mu m`$ silicate emission feature in the WR112 spectrum (van der Hucht et al., 1996) rules out the presence of any silicate-based mixture. The derived temperature profile follows the $`\beta =0.4`$ dependence expected in the case of thermal equilibrium. Adopting $`\rho =2.0gcm^3`$ for the amorphous carbon dust, we estimate the dust mass separately for each $`7\times 7`$ pixel2 area of each of the 3 mid-IR images, then average the results (Fig. 3). We find a total $`M_d=5.5\times 10^{28}g`$, integrated over the observed envelope. To compare our result with an earlier theoretical estimate of the mass we (a) account for the difference in the adopted distances to WR112 and (b) assume that the observed dust is created for 15 yrs (see Fig. 2) during each 25-yr orbital cycle, with 3 complete cycles accounted for. A model (Zubko, 1998) with the assumption of a spherically-symmetric envelope gives $`\dot{M}_d=3.8\times 10^7M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$ (converted to d=4.15 kpc), while our estimate is $`\dot{M}_d=6.1\times 10^7M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. Calculation of the integrated mass-ratios, M(innermost region+arcs) : M(middle arcs) : M(outer-most arcs)=1.0 : 0.6 : 0.2, shows that the dust is gradually destroyed while leaving the system. Both the intense UV radiation field and sputtering caused by the high drift-velocities of the dust grains (Zubko, 1998) may be responsible for the dust destruction. Nevertheless, the flattening of the trend at large radii in Fig. 3 suggests that some dust does reach the ISM.

Finally, we use eq. 1 to evaluate the characteristic size of the dust grains, by comparing via least-square minimization, the observed fluxes to the prediction of a simple model assuming that the envelope is populated by similar-sized spherical particles. We calculate the Mie absorption coefficients (Bohren & Huffman, 1998), $`Q_{abs}(\lambda ,a)=Q_e(\lambda ,a)`$, using the optical constants for amorphous carbon (Zubko et al., 1996). As a second free parameter we take the integrated (innermost region+arcs) dust mass, allowing it to follow the general trend seen in Fig. 3. This gives an estimate of $`M_d`$ within 25% of the previously calculated value, thus providing a good consistency check. We find a characteristic grain-size $`a=0.49_{0.11}^{+0.11}\mu m`$ (95% confidence interval), in line with the estimates obtained for WR112 from ISO spectroscopy, $`a1\mu m`$ (Chair & Tielens, 2001). The large grain size poses a serious problem for the theory of grain growth, which calls for $`a0.01\mu m`$ (Zubko, 1998).

## 4 Conclusions

The recently acquired high-resolution, high signal-to-noise near-mid-IR images of the WR star WR112 have enabled us to resolve and, for the first time, study in detail the extended dust envelope thought to be formed in the wind-wind collision zone of the long-period, $`P25\mathrm{yr}`$, binary. A simple approach involving a minimum of assumptions has allowed us to derive the basic dust properties: We find that the dust emissivity approximately follows the trend expected for amorphous carbon. The radial temperature-distribution shows the dust envelope to be in thermal equilibrium. The dust production-rate corresponds to $`6\%`$ of the total mass-loss rate, if for the latter we assume a typical value of $`10^5M_{}\mathrm{yr}^1`$. The characteristic size of the dust particles, $`a1\mu m`$, turns out to be much larger than expected from state-of-the-art models of dust growth. We also show that, despite the harsh conditions, $`20\%`$ of the newly formed dust can survive and escape the system, thus enriching the interstellar medium. This may have a direct implication for the process of heavy-element enrichment in the early Universe, when massive stars completely dominated the stellar scene.

We thank V. Zubko and P. Williams for helpful discussions, and J.-R. Roy and D. Toomey for assistance in observations. S.V.M., A.F.J.M. and R.D. gratefully acknowledge financial support from NSERC (Canada) and FCAR (Québec). This paper is based on observations obtained at the Gemini Observatory, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the NSF on behalf of the Gemini partnership: NSF (United States), PPARC (United Kingdom), NRC (Canada), CONICYT (Chile), ARC (Australia), CNPq (Brazil) and CONICET (Argentina). The observations were made with the mid-infrared camera OSCIR, developed by the University of Florida with support from NASA, and operated jointly by the Gemini Observatory and the University of Florida Infrared Astrophysics Group.