Michael Whittaker

• PhD (University of Victoria)
• Professor (Full) at University of Glasgow

The K-theoretic analog of Spanier-Whitehead duality for noncommutative C*-algebras is shown to hold for the Ruelle algebras associated to irreducible Smale spaces. This had previously been proved only for shifts of finite type. Implications of this result as well as relations to the Baum-Connes conjecture and other topics are also considered.

We consider a family of Cuntz-Pimsner algebras associated to self-similar group actions, and their Toeplitz analogues. Both families carry natural dynamics implemented by automorphic actions of the real line, and we investigate the equilibrium states (the KMS states) for these dynamical systems. We find that for all inverse temperatures above a cri...

We introduce the notion of orbit equivalence of directed graphs, following Matsumoto's notion of continuous orbit equivalence for topological Markov shifts. We show that two graphs in which every cycle has an exit are orbit equivalent if and only if there is a diagonal-preserving isomorphism between their $C^*$-algebras. We show that it is necessar...

We consider self-similar actions of groupoids on the path spaces of finite directed graphs, and construct examples of such self-similar actions using a suitable notion of graph automaton. Self-similar groupoid actions have a Cuntz-Pimsner algebra and a Toeplitz algebra, both of which carry natural dynamics lifted from the gauge actions. We study th...

We present a single, connected tile which can tile the plane but only non-periodically. The tile is hexagonal with edge markings, which impose simple rules as to how adjacent tiles are allowed to meet across edges. The first of these rules is a standard matching rule, that certain decorations match across edges. The second condition is a new type o...

We show that Kellendonk’s tiling semigroup of a finite local complexity substitution tiling is self-similar, in the sense of Bartholdi, Grigorchuk and Nekrashevych. We extend the notion of the limit space of a self-similar group to the setting of self-similar semigroups, and show that it is homeomorphic to the Anderson–Putnam complex for such subst...

We show that the dynamical system associated by Putnam to a pair of graph embeddings is identical to the shift map on the limit space of a self-similar groupoid action on a graph. Moreover, performing a certain out-split on said graph gives rise to a Katsura groupoid action on the out-split graph whose associated limit space dynamical system is con...

We extend Nekrashevych’s K K KK -duality for C ∗ C^* -algebras of regular, recurrent, contracting self-similar group actions to regular, contracting self-similar groupoid actions on a graph, removing the recurrence condition entirely and generalising from a finite alphabet to a finite graph. More precisely, given a regular and contracting self-simi...

We extend Nekrashevych's $KK$-duality for $C^*$-algebras of regular, recurrent, contracting self-similar group actions to regular, contracting self-similar groupoid actions on a graph, removing the recurrence condition entirely and generalising from a finite alphabet to a finite graph. More precisely, given a regular and contracting self-similar gr...

A fundamental ingredient in the noncommutative geometry program is the notion of KK-duality, often called K-theoretic Poincar\'{e} duality, that generalises Spanier-Whitehead duality. In this paper we construct a $\theta$-summable Fredholm module that represents the fundamental class in KK-duality between the stable and unstable Ruelle algebras of...

We show that Kellendonk's tiling semigroup of an FLC substitution tiling is self-similar, in the sense of Bartholdi, Grigorchuk and Nekrashevych. We extend the notion of the limit space of a self-similar group to the setting of self-similar semigroups, and show that it is homeomorphic to the Anderson--Putnam complex for such substitution tilings, w...

We present a single, connected tile which can tile the plane but only nonperiodically. The tile is hexagonal with edge markings, which impose simple rules as to how adjacent tiles are allowed to meet across edges. The first of these rules is a standard matching rule, that certain decorations match across edges. The second condition is a new type of...

We prove that unital extensions of Kirchberg algebras by separable stable AF algebras have nuclear dimension one. The title follows.

We prove that unital extensions of Kirchberg algebras by separable stable AF algebras have nuclear dimension one. The title follows.

We introduce the notion of a self-similar action of a groupoid G on a finite higher-rank graph. To these actions we associate a compactly aligned product system of Hilbert bimodules, and we show that the corresponding Nica-Toeplitz and Cuntz-Pimsner algebras are universal for generators and relations. We consider natural actions of the real numbers...

We prove that Kellendonk's $C^*$-algebra of an aperiodic and repetitive tiling with finite local complexity is classifiable by the Elliott invariant. Our result follows from showing that Kellendonk's tiling $C^*$-algebras are $\mathcal{Z}$-stable, and hence have finite nuclear dimension. To prove $\mathcal{Z}$-stability, we extend Matui's notion of...

We introduce a new type of aperiodic hexagonal monotile; a prototile that admits infinitely many tilings of the plane, but any such tiling lacks any translational symmetry. Adding a copy of our monotile to a patch of tiles must satisfy two rules that apply only to adjacent tiles. The first is inspired by the Socolar--Taylor monotile, but can be rea...

We introduce a new class of noncommutative spectral triples on Kellendonk's $C^*$-algebra associated with a nonperiodic substitution tiling. These spectral triples are constructed from fractal trees on tilings, which define a geodesic distance between tiles in the tiling. We show that each spectral triple is $\theta$-summable and respects the hiera...

We consider self-similar actions of groupoids on the path spaces of finite directed graphs, and construct examples of such self-similar actions using a suitable notion of graph automaton. Self-similar groupoid actions have a Cuntz-Pimsner algebra and a Toeplitz algebra, both of which carry natural dynamics lifted from the gauge actions. We study th...

We investigate which topological spaces can be constructed as topological realisations of higher-rank graphs. We describe equivalence relations on higher-rank graphs for which the quotient is again a higher-rank graph, and show that identifying isomorphic co-hereditary subgraphs in a disjoint union of two rank-$k$ graphs gives rise to pullbacks of...

We investigate functorial properties of Putnam's homology theory for Smale spaces. Our analysis shows that the addition of a conjugacy condition is necessary to ensure functoriality. Several examples are discussed that elucidate the need for our additional hypotheses. Our second main result is a natural generalization of Putnam's Pullback Lemma fro...

Starting with a substitution tiling, we demonstrate a method for constructing infinitely many new substitution tilings. Each of these new tilings is derived from a graph iterated function system and the tiles have fractal boundary. We show that each of the new tilings is mutually locally derivable to the original tiling. Thus, at the tiling space l...

We initiate the study of correspondences for Smale spaces. Correspondences are shown to provide a notion of a generalized morphism between Smale spaces and are a special case of finite equivalences. Furthermore, for shifts of finite type, a correspondence is related to a matrix which intertwines the adjacency matrices of the shifts. This observatio...

We study irreducible Smale spaces with totally disconnected stable sets and their associated $K$-theoretic invariants. Such Smale spaces arise as Wieler solenoids, and we restrict to those arising from open surjections. The paper follows three converging tracks: one dynamical, one operator algebraic and one $K$-theoretic. Using Wieler's Theorem, we...

We study irreducible Smale spaces with totally disconnected stable sets and their associated $K$-theoretic invariants. Such Smale spaces arise as Wieler solenoids, and we restrict to those arising from open surjections. The paper follows three converging tracks: one dynamical, one operator algebraic and one $K$-theoretic. Using Wieler's Theorem, we...

We study the external and internal Zappa-Sz\'ep product of topological groupoids. We show that under natural continuity assumptions the Zappa-Sz\'ep product groupoid is \'etale if and only if the individual groupoids are \'etale. In our main result we show that the C*-algebra of a locally compact Hausdorff \'etale Zappa-Sz\'ep product groupoid is a...

We provide a computation of the cohomology of the Pinwheel tiling using the Anderson-Putnam complex. A border forcing version of the Pinwheel tiling is constructed that allows an explicit construction of the complex for the quotient of the continuous hull by the circle. The final result is given using a spectral sequence argument of Barge, Diamond,...

We introduce twisted relative Cuntz-Krieger algebras associated to finitely aligned higher-rank graphs and give a comprehensive treatment of their fundamental structural properties. We establish versions of the usual uniqueness theorems and the classification of gauge-invariant ideals. We show that all twisted relative Cuntz-Krieger algebras associ...

Zappa–Szép products of semigroups provide a rich class of examples of semigroups that include the self-similar group actions of Nekrashevych. We use Li's construction of semigroup C*-algebras to associate a C*-algebra to Zappa–Szép products and give an explicit presentation of the algebra. We then define a quotient C*-algebra that generalises the C...

Spectral triples are defined for C*-algebras associated with hyperbolic dynamical systems known as Smale spaces. The spectral dimension of one of these spectral triples is shown to recover the topological entropy of the Smale space.

A tiling with infinite rotational symmetry, such as the Conway-Radin Pinwheel Tiling, gives rise to a topological dynamical system to which an \'etale equivalence relation is associated. A groupoid C*-algebra for a tiling is produced and a separating dense set is exhibited in the C*-algebra which encodes the structure of the topological dynamical s...

We introduce a fractal version of the pinwheel substitution tiling. There are thirteen basic prototiles, all of which have fractal boundaries. These tiles, along with their reflections and rotations, create a tiling space which is mutually locally derivable from the pinwheel tiling space. Interesting rotational properties, symmetries, and relative...

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Victoria, 2005. Includes bibliographical references.