# Integrality of matrices, finiteness of matrix semigroups, and dynamics of linear and additive cellular automata

## TL;DR

This paper characterizes when matrix powers are finite over finite rings and applies this to classify the dynamical behavior of linear cellular automata, providing new integrality criteria and extending results to additive automata.

## Contribution

It establishes a new criterion linking matrix integrality over rings to the finiteness of their generated semigroups, and applies this to classify cellular automata dynamics.

## Key findings

- Finiteness of matrix powers is characterized by characteristic polynomial coefficients.
- Complete classification of sensitivity and equicontinuity for linear CA over finite rings.
- Decidability of properties like injectivity, surjectivity, and transitivity for additive CA.

## Abstract

Let $\mathbb{K}$ be a finite commutative ring, and let $\mathbb{L}$ be a commutative $\mathbb{K}$-algebra. Let $A$ and $B$ be two $n \times n$-matrices over $\mathbb{L}$ that have the same characteristic polynomial. The main result of this paper states that the set $\left\{ A^0,A^1,A^2,\ldots\right\}$ is finite if and only if the set $\left\{ B^0,B^1,B^2,\ldots\right\}$ is finite. We apply this result to Cellular Automata (CA). Indeed, it gives a complete and easy-to-check characterization of sensitivity to initial conditions and equicontinuity for linear CA over the alphabet $\mathbb{K}^n$ for $\mathbb{K} = \mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}$ i.e., CA in which the local rule is defined by $n\times n$-matrices with elements in $\mathbb{Z}/m\mathbb{Z}$. To prove our main result, we derive an integrality criterion for matrices that is likely of independent interest. Namely, let $\mathbb{K}$ be any commutative ring (not necessarily finite), and let $\mathbb{L}$ be a commutative $\mathbb{K}$-algebra. Consider any $n \times n$-matrix $A$ over $\mathbb{L}$. Then, $A \in \mathbb{L}^{n \times n}$ is integral over $\mathbb{K}$ (that is, there exists a monic polynomial $f \in \mathbb{K}\left[t\right]$ satisfying $f\left(A\right) = 0$) if and only if all coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of $A$ are integral over $\mathbb{K}$. The proof of this fact relies on a strategic use of exterior powers (a trick pioneered by Gert Almkvist). Furthermore, we extend the decidability result concerning sensitivity and equicontinuity to the wider class of additive CA over a finite abelian group. For such CA, we also prove the decidability of injectivity, surjectivity, topological transitivity and all the properties (as, for instance, ergodicity) that are equivalent to the latter.