Zero-temperature phase diagram for double-well type potentials in the summable variation class

We study the zero-temperature limit of the Gibbs measures of a class of long-range potentials on a full shift of two symbols $\{0,1\}$. These potentials were introduced by Walters as a natural space for the transfer operator. In our case, they are constant on a countable infinity of cylinders and are Lipschitz continuous or, more generally, of summable variation. We assume that there exist exactly two ground states: the fixed points $0^{\infty }$ and $1^{\infty }$. We fully characterize, in terms of the Peierls barrier between the two ground states, the zero-temperature phase diagram of such potentials, that is, the regions of convergence or divergence of the Gibbs measures as the temperature goes to zero.

Compensation functions for factors of shifts of finite type

Let ${\it\pi}:X\rightarrow Y$ be an infinite-to-one factor map, where $X$ is a shift of finite type. A compensation function relates equilibrium states on $X$ to equilibrium states on $Y$. The $p$-Dini condition is given as a way of measuring the smoothness of a continuous function, with $1$-Dini corresponding to functions with summable variation. Two types of compensation functions are defined in terms of this condition. Given a fully supported invariant measure ${\it\nu}$ on $Y$, we show that the relative equilibrium states of a $1$-Dini function $f$ over ${\it\nu}$ are themselves fully supported, and have positive relative entropy. We then show that there exists a compensation function which is $p$-Dini for all $p>1$ which has relative equilibrium states supported by a subshift on which ${\it\pi}$ is a finite-to-one map onto $Y$.

Gibbs and equilibrium measures for some families of subshifts

For subshifts of finite type (SFTs), any equilibrium measure is Gibbs, as long as $f$ has $d$-summable variation. This is a theorem of Lanford and Ruelle. Conversely, a theorem of Dobrušin states that for strongly irreducible subshifts, shift-invariant Gibbs measures are equilibrium measures. Here we prove a generalization of the Lanford–Ruelle theorem: for all subshifts, any equilibrium measure for a function with $d$-summable variation is ‘topologically Gibbs’. This is a relaxed notion which coincides with the usual notion of a Gibbs measure for SFTs. In the second part of the paper, we study Gibbs and equilibrium measures for some interesting families of subshifts: $\beta $-shifts, Dyck shifts and Kalikow-type shifts (defined below). In all of these cases, a Lanford–Ruelle-type theorem holds. For each of these families, we provide a specific proof of the result.