A note on roots of Markov shifts

Abstract

Let Tv be the two-sided shift operator associated with a finite Markov chain of period v; Using results of Krengel and Michel and Adler, Shields and Smorodinsky, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an rth root of Tv are obtained. In particular, if the Markov chain is irreducible, then Tv has an rth root when and only when (r, v) = 1.