Simple systems are disjoint from Gaussian systems
Volume 133 / 1999
Studia Mathematica 133 (1999), 249-256
DOI: 10.4064/sm-133-3-249-256
Abstract
We prove the theorem promised in the title. Gaussians can be distinguished from simple maps by their property of divisibility. Roughly speaking, a system is divisible if it has a rich supply of direct product splittings. Gaussians are divisible and weakly mixing simple maps have no splittings at all so they cannot be isomorphic. The proof that they are disjoint consists of an elaboration of this idea, which involves, among other things, the notion of virtual divisibility, which is, more or less, divisibility up to distal extensions. The theory of Kronecker Gaussians also plays a crucial role.