Hausdorff dimension in graph matchbox manifolds

In this paper, we study the Hausdorff and the box dimensions of closed invariant subsets of the space of pointed trees, equipped with a pseudogroup action. This pseudogroup dynamical system can be regarded as a generalization of a shift space. We show that the Hausdorff dimension of the space of pointed trees is infinite, and the union of closed invariant subsets with dense orbit and non-equal Hausdorff and box dimensions is dense in the space of pointed trees. We apply our results to the problem of embedding laminations into differentiable foliations of smooth manifolds. To admit such an embedding, a lamination must satisfy at least the following two conditions: first, it must admit a metric and a foliated atlas, such that the generators of the holonomy pseudogroup, associated to the atlas, are bi-Lipschitz maps relative to the metric. Second, it must admit an embedding into a manifold, which is a bi-Lipschitz map. A suspension of the pseudogroup action on the space of pointed graphs gives an example of a lamination where the first condition is satisfied, and the second one is not satisfied, with Hausdorff dimension of the space of pointed trees being the obstruction to the existence of a bi-Lipschitz embedding.Comment: Proof of Theorem 1.1 simplified as compared to the previous version; Sections 5 and 6 contain new result

Shape of matchbox manifolds

In this work, we develop shape expansions of minimal matchbox manifolds without holonomy, in terms of branched manifolds formed from their leaves. Our approach is based on the method of coding the holonomy groups for the foliated spaces, to define leafwise regions which are transversely stable and are adapted to the foliation dynamics. Approximations are obtained by collapsing appropriately chosen neighborhoods onto these regions along a "transverse Cantor foliation". The existence of the "transverse Cantor foliation" allows us to generalize standard techniques known for Euclidean and fibered cases to arbitrary matchbox manifolds with Riemannian leaf geometry and without holonomy. The transverse Cantor foliations used here are constructed by purely intrinsic and topological means, as we do not assume that our matchbox manifolds are embedded into a smooth foliated manifold, or a smooth manifold.Comment: 36 pages. Revision of the earlier version: introduction is rewritten. Accepted to a special issue of Indagationes Mathematica