Ergodic optimization is the study of problems relating to maximizing orbits and invariant measures, and maximum ergodic averages. An orbit of a dynamical system is called $f$-maximizing if the time average of the real-valued function $f$ along the orbit is larger than along all other orbits, and an invariant probability measure is called $f$-maximizing if it gives $f$ a larger space average than any other invariant probability measure. In this paper, we consider the main strands of ergodic optimization, beginning with an influential model problem, and the interpretation of ergodic optimization as the zero temperature limit of thermodynamic formalism. We describe typical properties of maximizing measures for various spaces of functions, the key tool of adding a coboundary so as to reveal properties of these measures, as well as certain classes of functions where the maximizing measure is known to be Sturmian.

We prove that for a wide family of non-uniformly hyperbolic maps and hyperbolic potentials we have equilibrium stability, i.e. the equilibrium states depend continuously on the dynamics and the potential. For this we deduce that the topological pressure is continuous as a function of the dynamics and the potential. We also prove the existence of finitely many ergodic equilibrium states for non-uniformly hyperbolic skew products and hyperbolic Hölder continuous potentials. Finally, we show that these equilibrium states vary continuously in the $\text{weak}^{\ast }$ topology within such systems.

In this article we demonstrate a way to extend the AbC (approximation by conjugation) method invented by Anosov and Katok from the smooth category to the category of real-analytic diffeomorphisms on the torus. We present a general framework for such constructions and prove several results. In particular, we construct minimal but not uniquely ergodic diffeomorphisms and non-standard real-analytic realizations of toral translations.

We establish pointwise ergodic theorems for a large class of natural averages on simple Lie groups of real rank one, going well beyond the radial case considered previously. The proof is based on a new approach to pointwise ergodic theorems, which is independent of spectral theory. Instead, the main new ingredient is the use of direct geometric arguments in hyperbolic space.

In this paper, we make partial progress on a function field version of the dynamical uniform boundedness conjecture for certain one-dimensional families ${\mathcal{F}}$ of polynomial maps, such as the family $f_{c}(x)=x^{m}+c$, where $m\geq 2$. We do this by making use of the dynatomic modular curves $Y_{1}(n)$ (respectively $Y_{0}(n)$) which parametrize maps $f$ in ${\mathcal{F}}$ together with a point (respectively orbit) of period $n$ for $f$. The key point in our strategy is to study the set of primes $p$ for which the reduction of $Y_{1}(n)$ modulo $p$ fails to be smooth or irreducible. Morton gave an algorithm to construct, for each $n$, a discriminant $D_{n}$ whose list of prime factors contains all the primes of bad reduction for $Y_{1}(n)$. In this paper, we refine and strengthen Morton’s results. Specifically, we exhibit two criteria on a prime $p$ dividing $D_{n}$: one guarantees that $p$ is in fact a prime of bad reduction for $Y_{1}(n)$, yet this same criterion implies that $Y_{0}(n)$ is geometrically irreducible. The other guarantees that the reduction of $Y_{1}(n)$ modulo $p$ is actually smooth. As an application of the second criterion, we extend results of Morton, Flynn, Poonen, Schaefer, and Stoll by giving new examples of good reduction of $Y_{1}(n)$ for several primes dividing $D_{n}$ when $n=7,8,11$, and $f_{c}(x)=x^{2}+c$. The proofs involve a blend of arithmetic and complex dynamics, reduction theory for curves, ramification theory, and the combinatorics of the Mandelbrot set.

The paper by Froyland, González-Tokman and Quas [Stability and approximation of random invariant densities for Lasota–Yorke map cocycles. Nonlinearity27(4) (2014), 647] established fibrewise stability of random absolutely continuous invariant measures (acims) for cocycles of random Lasota–Yorke maps under a variety of perturbations, including ‘Ulam’s method’, a popular numerical method for approximating acims. The expansivity requirements of Froyland et al were that the cocycle (or powers of the cocycle) should be ‘expanding on average’ before applying a perturbation, such as Ulam’s method. In the present work, we make a significant theoretical and computational weakening of the expansivity hypotheses of Froyland et al, requiring only that the cocycle be eventually expanding on average, and importantly, allowing the perturbation to be applied after each single step of the cocycle. The family of random maps that generate our cocycle need not be close to a fixed map and our results can handle very general driving mechanisms. We provide a detailed numerical example of a random Lasota–Yorke map cocycle with expanding and contracting behaviour and illustrate the extra information carried by our fibred random acims, when compared to annealed acims or ‘physical’ random acims.

We show that there is an irrational rotation $Tx=x+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ on the circle $\mathbb{T}$ and a continuous $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}:\mathbb{T}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ such that for each (continuous) uniquely ergodic flow ${\mathcal{S}}=(S_{t})_{t\in \mathbb{R}}$ acting on a compact metric space $Y$, the automorphism $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711},{\mathcal{S}}}$ acting on $(X\times Y,\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}\otimes \unicode[STIX]{x1D708})$ by the formula $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711},{\mathcal{S}}}(x,y)=(Tx,S_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}(x)}(y))$, where $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ stands for the Lebesgue measure on $\mathbb{T}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D708}$ denotes the unique ${\mathcal{S}}$-invariant measure, has the property of asymptotically orthogonal powers. This gives a class of relatively weakly mixing extensions of irrational rotations for which Sarnak’s conjecture on the Möbius disjointness holds for all uniquely ergodic models of $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711},{\mathcal{S}}}$. Moreover, we obtain a class of ‘random’ ergodic sequences $(c_{n})\subset \mathbb{Z}$ such that if $\boldsymbol{\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}}$ denotes the Möbius function, then

$$\begin{eqnarray}\lim _{N\rightarrow \infty }\frac{1}{N}\mathop{\sum }_{n\leq N}g(S_{c_{n}}y)\boldsymbol{\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}}(n)=0\end{eqnarray}$$

${\mathcal{S}}$

$g\in C(Y)$

$y\in Y$

Over a finite alphabet $A$ of real numbers, unique expansions in base $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ are considered. A real number $G_{A}$ called the generalized golden ratio is a critical point of a situation of unique expansions. If $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}<G_{A}$, then there are only trivial unique expansions in base $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$, while there are non-trivial unique expansions in base $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ whenever $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}>G_{A}$. Komornik, Lai and Pedicini [Generalized golden ratios of ternary alphabets. J. Eur. Math. Soc.13(4) (2011), 1113–1146] investigated the case where $A$ consists of three real numbers, and demonstrated that Sturmian words curiously emerge out of the generalized golden ratio. The present paper focuses on Sturmian words under this context. For a given alphabet $A=\{a_{1},a_{2},a_{3}\}$ with $a_{1}<a_{2}<a_{3}$, we give a complete characterization of the corresponding Sturmian words effectively and algorithmically, which reveals interesting structures behind the generalized golden ratios.

We obtain a unique, canonical one-to-one correspondence between the space of marked postcritically finite Newton maps of polynomials and the space of postcritically minimal Newton maps of entire maps that take the form $p(z)\exp (q(z))$ for $p(z)$, $q(z)$ polynomials and $\exp (z)$, the complex exponential function. This bijection preserves the dynamics and embedding of Julia sets and is induced by a surgery tool developed by Haïssinsky.