Equivariant embedding of finite-dimensional dynamical systems

Abstract

We prove an equivariant version of the classical Menger-Nöbeling theorem regarding topological embeddings: Whenever a group G acts on a finite-dimensional compact metric space X, a generic continuous equivariant function from X into $$([0,1]^r)^G$$ ( [ 0 , 1 ] r ) G is a topological embedding, provided that for every positive integer N the space of points in X with orbit size at most N has topological dimension strictly less than $$\frac{rN}{2}$$ rN 2 . We emphasize that the result imposes no restrictions whatsoever on the acting group G (beyond the existence of an action on a finite-dimensional space). Moreover if G is finitely generated then there exists a finite subset $$F\subset G$$ F ⊂ G so that for a generic continuous map $$h:X\rightarrow [0,1]^{r}$$ h : X → [ 0 , 1 ] r , the map $$ h^{F}:X\rightarrow ([0,1]^{r})^{F}$$ h F : X → ( [ 0 , 1 ] r ) F given by $$x\mapsto (f(gx))_{g\in F}$$ x ↦ ( f ( g x ) ) g ∈ F is an embedding. This constitutes a generalization of the Takens delay embedding theorem into the topological category.