Spatial realisations of KMS states on the C⁎C⁎-algebras of higher-rank graphs

Several authors have recently been studying the equilibrium or KMS states on the Toeplitz algebras of finite higher-rank graphs. For graphs of rank one (that is, for ordinary directed graphs), there is a natural dynamics obtained by lifting the gauge action of the circle to an action of the real line. The algebras of higher-rank graphs carry a gauge action of a higher-dimensional torus, and there are many potential dynamics arising from different embeddings of the real line in the torus. Previous results show that there is nonetheless a “preferred dynamics” for which the system exhibits a particularly satisfactory phase transition, and that the unique KMS state at the critical inverse temperature can then be implemented by integrating vector states against a measure on the infinite path space of the graph. Here we obtain a similar description of the KMS state at the critical inverse temperature for other dynamics. Our spatial implementation is given by integrating against a measure on a space of paths which are infinite in some directions but finite in others. Our results are sharpest for the algebras of rank-two graphs.