We describe topological obstructions (involving periodic points, topological entropy and rotation sets) for a homeomorphism on a compact manifold to embed in a continuous flow. We prove that homeomorphisms in a $C^{0}$-open and dense set of homeomorphisms isotopic to the identity in compact manifolds of dimension at least two are not the time-1 map of a continuous flow. Such property is also true for volume-preserving homeomorphisms in compact manifolds of dimension at least five. In the case of conservative homeomorphisms of the torus $\mathbb {T}^{d} (d\ge 2)$ isotopic to identity, we describe necessary conditions for a homeomorphism to be flowable in terms of the rotation sets.

We prove that the homeomorphism relation between compact spaces can be continuously reduced to the homeomorphism equivalence relation between absolute retracts, which strengthens and simplifies recent results of Chang and Gao, and Cieśla. It follows then that the homeomorphism relation of absolute retracts is Borel bireducible with the universal orbit equivalence relation. We also prove that the homeomorphism relation between regular continua is classifiable by countable structures and hence it is Borel bireducible with the universal orbit equivalence relation of the permutation group on a countable set. On the other hand we prove that the homeomorphism relation between rim-finite metrizable compacta is not classifiable by countable structures.

For $G$ a Polish group, we consider $G$ -flows which either contain a comeager orbit or have all orbits meager. We single out a class of flows, the maximally highly proximal (MHP) flows, for which this analysis is particularly nice. In the former case, we provide a complete structure theorem for flows containing comeager orbits, generalizing theorems of Melleray, Nguyen Van Thé, and Tsankov and of Ben Yaacov, Melleray, and Tsankov. In the latter, we show that any minimal MHP flow with all orbits meager has a metrizable factor with all orbits meager, thus ‘reflecting’ complicated dynamical behavior to metrizable flows. We then apply this to obtain a structure theorem for Polish groups whose universal minimal flow is distal.

Mauldin [15] proved that there is an analytic set, which cannot be represented by $B\cup X$ for some Borel set B and a subset X of a $\boldsymbol{\Sigma }^0_2$-null set, answering a question by Johnson [10]. We reprove Mauldin’s answer by a recursion-theoretical method. We also give a characterization of the Borel generated $\sigma $-ideals having approximation property under the assumption that every real is constructible, answering Mauldin’s question raised in [15].

Furstenberg has associated to every topological group $G$ a universal boundary $\unicode[STIX]{x2202}(G)$ . If we consider in addition a subgroup $H<G$ , the relative notion of $(G,H)$ -boundaries admits again a maximal object $\unicode[STIX]{x2202}(G,H)$ . In the case of discrete groups, an equivalent notion was introduced by Bearden and Kalantar (Topological boundaries of unitary representations. Preprint, 2019, arXiv:1901.10937v1) as a very special instance of their constructions. However, the analogous universality does not always hold, even for discrete groups. On the other hand, it does hold in the affine reformulation in terms of convex compact sets, which admits a universal simplex $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E5}(G,H)$ , namely the simplex of measures on $\unicode[STIX]{x2202}(G,H)$ . We determine the boundary $\unicode[STIX]{x2202}(G,H)$ in a number of cases, highlighting properties that might appear unexpected.

In this paper we study topological properties of the right action by translation of the Weyl chamber flow on the space of Weyl chambers. We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for topological mixing.

We introduce the notions ‘virtual automorphism group’ of a minimal flow and ‘semiregular flow’ and investigate the relationship between the virtual and actual group of automorphisms.

In this article, we calculate the Ellis semigroup of a certain class of constant-length substitutions. This generalizes a result of Haddad and Johnson [IP cluster points, idempotents, and recurrent sequences. Topology Proc.22 (1997) 213–226] from the binary case to substitutions over arbitrarily large finite alphabets. Moreover, we provide a class of counterexamples to one of the propositions in their paper, which is central to the proof of their main theorem. We give an alternative approach to their result, which centers on the properties of the Ellis semigroup. To do this, we also show a new way to construct an almost automorphic–isometric tower to the maximal equicontinuous factor of these systems, which gives a more particular approach than the one given by Dekking [The spectrum of dynamical systems arising from substitutions of constant length. Z. Wahrscheinlichkeitstheor. Verw. Geb.41(3) (1977/78) 221–239].

We begin by defining a homoclinic class for homeomorphisms. Then we prove that if a topological homoclinic class Λ associated with an area-preserving homeomorphism f on a surface M is topologically hyperbolic (i.e. has the shadowing and expansiveness properties), then Λ = M and f is an Anosov homeomorphism.

We introduce the notions of directional dynamical cubes and directional regionally proximal relation defined via these cubes for a minimal $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$-system $(X,T_{1},\ldots ,T_{d})$. We study the structural properties of systems that satisfy the so-called unique closing parallelepiped property and we characterize them in several ways. In the distal case, we build the maximal factor of a $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$-system $(X,T_{1},\ldots ,T_{d})$ that satisfies this property by taking the quotient with respect to the directional regionally proximal relation. Finally, we completely describe distal $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$-systems that enjoy the unique closing parallelepiped property and provide explicit examples.

In this paper, it is shown that if a dynamical system is null and distal, then it is equicontinuous. It turns out that a null system with closed proximal relation is mean equicontinuous. As a direct application, it follows that a null dynamical system with dense minimal points is also mean equicontinuous. Meanwhile, a distal system with trivial $\text{Ind}_{\text{fip}}$-pairs and a non-trivial regionally proximal relation of order $\infty$ are constructed.

We construct a multiply Xiong chaotic set with full Hausdorff dimension everywhere that is contained in some multiply proximal cell for the full shift over finite symbols and the Gauss system, respectively.

In this paper we give an answer to Furstenberg’s problem on topological disjointness. Namely, we show that a transitive system $(X,T)$ is disjoint from all minimal systems if and only if $(X,T)$ is weakly mixing and there is some countable dense subset $D$ of $X$ such that for any minimal system $(Y,S)$, any point $y\in Y$ and any open neighbourhood $V$ of $y$, and for any non-empty open subset $U\subset X$, there is $x\in D\cap U$ such that $\{n\in \mathbb{Z}_{+}:T^{n}x\in U,S^{n}y\in V\}$ is syndetic. Some characterization for the general case is also given. By way of application we show that if a transitive system $(X,T)$ is disjoint from all minimal systems, then so are $(X^{n},T^{(n)})$ and $(X,T^{n})$ for any $n\in \mathbb{N}$. It turns out that a transitive system $(X,T)$ is disjoint from all minimal systems if and only if the hyperspace system $(K(X),T_{K})$ is disjoint from all minimal systems.

A nilspace system is a generalization of a nilsystem, consisting of a compact nilspace $\text{X}$ equipped with a group of nilspace translations acting on $\text{X}$ . Nilspace systems appear in different guises in several recent works and this motivates the study of these systems per se as well as their relation to more classical types of systems. In this paper we study morphisms of nilspace systems, i.e., nilspace morphisms with the additional property of being consistent with the actions of the given translations. A nilspace morphism does not necessarily have this property, but one of our main results shows that it factors through some other morphism which does have the property. As an application we obtain a strengthening of the inverse limit theorem for compact nilspaces, valid for nilspace systems. This is used in work of the first- and third-named authors to generalize the celebrated structure theorem of Host and Kra on characteristic factors.

We investigate continuous transitive actions of semitopological groups on spaces, as well as separately continuous transitive actions of topological groups.

Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}:(X,T)\rightarrow (Y,S)$ be an extension between minimal systems; we consider its relative sensitivity. We obtain that $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$ is relatively $n$-sensitive if and only if the relative $n$-regionally proximal relation contains a point whose coordinates are distinct; and the structure of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$ which is relatively $n$-sensitive but not relatively $(n+1)$-sensitive is determined. Let ${\mathcal{F}}_{t}$ be the families consisting of thick sets. We introduce notions of relative block ${\mathcal{F}}_{t}$-sensitivity and relatively strong ${\mathcal{F}}_{t}$-sensitivity. Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}:(X,T)\rightarrow (Y,S)$ be an extension between minimal systems. Then the following Auslander–Yorke type dichotomy theorems are obtained: (1) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$ is either relatively block ${\mathcal{F}}_{t}$-sensitive or $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}:(X,T)\rightarrow (X_{\text{eq}}^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}},T_{\text{eq}})$ is a proximal extension where $(X_{\text{eq}}^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}},T_{\text{eq}})\rightarrow (Y,S)$ is the maximal equicontinuous factor of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$. (2) $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$ is either relatively strongly ${\mathcal{F}}_{t}$-sensitive or $\unicode[STIX]{x1D719}:(X,T)\rightarrow (X_{d}^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}},T_{d})$ is a proximal extension where $(X_{d}^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}},T_{d})\rightarrow (Y,S)$ is the maximal distal factor of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70B}$.

We study best proximity points in the framework of metric spaces with $w$-distances. The results extend, generalise and unify several well-known fixed point results in the literature.

We study the automorphism groups of countable homogeneous directed graphs (and some additional homogeneous structures) from the point of view of topological dynamics. We determine precisely which of these automorphism groups are amenable (in their natural topologies). For those which are amenable, we determine whether they are uniquely ergodic, leaving unsettled precisely one case (the ‘semi-generic’ complete multipartite directed graph). We also consider the Hrushovski property. For most of our results we use the various techniques of Angel et al [Random orderings and unique ergodicity of automorphism groups. J. Eur. Math. Soc., 16 (2014), 2059–2095], suitably generalized to a context in which the universal minimal flow is not necessarily the space of all orders. Negative results concerning amenability rely on constructions of the type considered in Zucker [Amenability and unique ergodicity of automorphism groups of Fraïssé structures. Fund. Math., 226 (2014), 41–61]. An additional class of structures (compositions) may be handled directly on the basis of very general principles. The starting point in all cases is the determination of the universal minimal flow for the automorphism group, which in the context of countable homogeneous directed graphs is given in Jasiński et al [Ramsey precompact expansions of homogeneous directed graphs. Electron. J. Combin., 21(4), (2014), 31] and the papers cited therein.

We consider generalised metrisability and cardinal invariants in quasitopological groups. We construct examples to show that some equalities of cardinal invariants in topological groups cannot be extended to quasitopological groups.

We first improve an old result of McMahon and show that a metric minimal flow whose enveloping semigroup contains less than $2^{\mathfrak{c}}$ (where $\mathfrak{c}=2^{\aleph _{0}}$) minimal left ideals is proximal isometric (PI). Then we show the existence of various minimal PI-flows with many minimal left ideals, as follows. For the acting group $G=\text{SL}_{2}(\mathbb{R})^{\mathbb{N}}$, we construct a metric minimal PI $G$-flow with $\mathfrak{c}$ minimal left ideals. We then use this example and results established in Glasner and Weiss. [On the construction of minimal skew-products. Israel J. Math.34 (1979), 321–336] to construct a metric minimal PI cascade $(X,T)$ with $\mathfrak{c}$ minimal left ideals. We go on to construct an example of a minimal PI-flow $(Y,{\mathcal{G}})$ on a compact manifold $Y$ and a suitable path-wise connected group ${\mathcal{G}}$ of a homeomorphism of $Y$, such that the flow $(Y,{\mathcal{G}})$ is PI and has $2^{\mathfrak{c}}$ minimal left ideals. Finally, we use this latter example and a theorem of Dirbák to construct a cascade $(X,T)$ that is PI (of order three) and has $2^{\mathfrak{c}}$ minimal left ideals. Thus this final result shows that, even for cascades, the converse of the implication ‘less than $2^{\mathfrak{c}}$ minimal left ideals implies PI’, fails.