Reflection in a strictly convex bounded planar billiard acts on the space of oriented lines and preserves a standard area form. A caustic is a curve C whose tangent lines are reflected by the billiard to lines tangent to C. The famous Birkhoff conjecture states that the only strictly convex billiards with a foliation by closed caustics near the boundary are ellipses. By Lazutkin’s theorem, there always exists a Cantor family of closed caustics approaching the boundary. In the present paper, we deal with an open billiard, whose boundary is a strictly convex embedded (non-closed) curve $\gamma $. We prove that there exists a domain U adjacent to $\gamma $ from the convex side and a $C^\infty $-smooth foliation of $U\cup \gamma $ whose leaves are $\gamma $ and (non-closed) caustics of the billiard. This generalizes a previous result by Melrose on the existence of a germ of foliation as above. We show that there exists a continuum of above foliations by caustics whose germs at each point in $\gamma $ are pairwise different. We prove a more general version of this statement for $\gamma $ being an (immersed) arc. It also applies to a billiard bounded by a closed strictly convex curve $\gamma $ and yields infinitely many ‘immersed’ foliations by immersed caustics. For the proof of the above results, we state and prove their analogue for a special class of area-preserving maps generalizing billiard reflections: the so-called $C^{\infty }$-lifted strongly billiard-like maps. We also prove a series of results on conjugacy of billiard maps near the boundary for open curves of the above type.

A left orderable monster is a finitely generated left orderable group all of whose fixed point-free actions on the line are proximal: the action is semiconjugate to a minimal action so that for every bounded interval I and open interval J, there is a group element that sends I into J. In his 2018 ICM address, Navas asked about the existence of left orderable monsters. By now there are several examples, all of which are finitely generated but not finitely presentable. We provide the first examples of left orderable monsters that are finitely presentable, and even of type $F_\infty $. These groups satisfy several additional properties separating them from the previous examples: they are not simple, they act minimally on the circle, and they have an infinite-dimensional space of homogeneous quasimorphisms. Our construction is flexible enough that it produces infinitely many isomorphism classes of finitely presented (and type $F_{\infty }$) left orderable monsters.

Let $S=\{p_1, \ldots , p_r,\infty \}$ for prime integers $p_1, \ldots , p_r.$ Let X be an S-adic compact nilmanifold, equipped with the unique translation-invariant probability measure $\mu .$ We characterize the countable groups $\Gamma $ of automorphisms of X for which the Koopman representation $\kappa $ on $L^2(X,\mu )$ has a spectral gap. More specifically, let Y be the maximal quotient solenoid of X (thus, Y is a finite-dimensional, connected, compact abelian group). We show that $\kappa $ does not have a spectral gap if and only if there exists a $\Gamma $-invariant proper subsolenoid of Y on which $\Gamma $ acts as a virtually abelian group,

Given a locally finite graph $\Gamma $, an amenable subgroup G of graph automorphisms acting freely and almost transitively on its vertices, and a G-invariant activity function $\unicode{x3bb} $, consider the free energy $f_G(\Gamma ,\unicode{x3bb} )$ of the hardcore model defined on the set of independent sets in $\Gamma $ weighted by $\unicode{x3bb} $. Under the assumption that G is finitely generated and its word problem can be solved in exponential time, we define suitable ensembles of hardcore models and prove the following: if $\|\unicode{x3bb} \|_\infty < \unicode{x3bb} _c(\Delta )$, there exists a randomized $\epsilon $-additive approximation scheme for $f_G(\Gamma ,\unicode{x3bb} )$ that runs in time $\mathrm {poly}((1+\epsilon ^{-1})\lvert \Gamma /G \rvert )$, where $\unicode{x3bb} _c(\Delta )$ denotes the critical activity on the $\Delta $-regular tree. In addition, if G has a finite index linearly ordered subgroup such that its algebraic past can be decided in exponential time, we show that the algorithm can be chosen to be deterministic. However, we observe that if $\|\unicode{x3bb} \|_\infty> \unicode{x3bb} _c(\Delta )$, there is no efficient approximation scheme, unless $\mathrm {NP} = \mathrm {RP}$. This recovers the computational phase transition for the partition function of the hardcore model on finite graphs and provides an extension to the infinite setting. As an application in symbolic dynamics, we use these results to develop efficient approximation algorithms for the topological entropy of subshifts of finite type with enough safe symbols, we obtain a representation formula of pressure in terms of random trees of self-avoiding walks, and we provide new conditions for the uniqueness of the measure of maximal entropy based on the connective constant of a particular associated graph.

We study the asymptotic behavior of the family of holomorphic correspondences $\lbrace \mathcal {F}_a\rbrace _{a\in \mathcal {K}}$, given by

$$ \begin{align*}\bigg(\frac{az+1}{z+1}\bigg)^2+\bigg(\frac{az+1}{z+1}\bigg)\bigg(\frac{aw-1}{w-1}\bigg)+\bigg(\frac{aw-1}{w-1}\bigg)^2=3.\end{align*} $$

$\mathcal {F}_a$

$\operatorname {PSL}_2(\mathbb {Z})$

$a\in \mathcal {K}$

$\mathcal {F}_a$

$\mathcal {F}_a$

We show that, under finitely many ergodicity assumptions, any multicorrelation sequence defined by invertible measure-preserving $\mathbb {Z}^d$-actions with multivariable integer polynomial iterates is the sum of a nilsequence and a nullsequence, extending a recent result of the second author. To this end, we develop a new seminorm bound estimate for multiple averages by improving the results in a previous work of the first, third, and fourth authors. We also use this approach to obtain new criteria for joint ergodicity of multiple averages with multivariable polynomial iterates on ${\mathbb Z}^{d}$-systems.

We study the behavior of the co-spectral radius of a subgroup H of a discrete group $\Gamma $ under taking intersections. Our main result is that the co-spectral radius of an invariant random subgroup does not drop upon intersecting with a deterministic co-amenable subgroup. As an application, we find that the intersection of independent co-amenable invariant random subgroups is co-amenable.

Recently, Benini et al showed that, in simply connected wandering domains of entire functions, all pairs of orbits behave in the same way relative to the hyperbolic metric, thus giving us our first insight into the general internal dynamics of such domains. The author proved in a recent paper [G. R. Ferreira. Multiply connected wandering domains of meromorphic functions: internal dynamics andconnectivity. J. Lond. Math. Soc. (2) 106 (2022), 1897–1919] that the same is not true for multiply connected wandering domains, a natural question is how inhomogeneous multiply connected wandering domains can be. We give an answer to this question, in that we show that uniform dynamics inside an open subset of the domain generalizes to the whole wandering domain. As an application of this result, we construct the first example of a meromorphic function with a semi-contracting infinitely connected wandering domain.

In this paper we show how to apply classical probabilistic tools for partial sums $\sum _{j=0}^{n-1}\varphi \circ \tau ^j$ generated by a skew product $\tau $, built over a sufficiently well-mixing base map and a random expanding dynamical system. Under certain regularity assumptions on the observable $\varphi $, we obtain a central limit theorem (CLT) with rates, a functional CLT, an almost sure invariance principle (ASIP), a moderate-deviations principle, several exponential concentration inequalities and Rosenthal-type moment estimates for skew products with $\alpha $-, $\phi $- or $\psi $-mixing base maps and expanding-on-average random fiber maps. All of the results are new even in the uniformly expanding case. The main novelty here (in contrast to [2]) is that the random maps are not independent, they do not preserve the same measure and the observable $\varphi $ depends also on the base space. For stretched exponentially ${\alpha }$-mixing base maps our proofs are based on multiple correlation estimates, which make the classical method of cumulants applicable. For $\phi $- or $\psi $-mixing base maps, we obtain an ASIP and maximal and concentration inequalities by establishing an $L^\infty $ convergence of the iterates ${\mathcal K}^{\,n}$ of a certain transfer operator ${\mathcal K}$ with respect to a certain sub-${\sigma }$-algebra, which yields an appropriate (reverse) martingale-coboundary decomposition.

Inspired by the phase transition results for non-singular Gaussian actions introduced in [AIM19], we prove several phase transition results for non-singular Bernoulli actions. For generalized Bernoulli actions arising from groups acting on trees, we are able to give a very precise description of their ergodic-theoretical properties in terms of the Poincaré exponent of the group.

We establish analogues for trees of results relating the density of a set ${E \subset \mathbb {N}}$, the density of its set of popular differences and the structure of E. To obtain our results, we formalize a correspondence principle of Furstenberg and Weiss which relates combinatorial data on a tree to the dynamics of a Markov process. Our main tools are Kneser-type inverse theorems for sets of return times in measure-preserving systems. In the ergodic setting, we use a recent result of the first author with Björklund and Shkredov and a stability-type extension (proved jointly with Shkredov); we also prove a new result for non-ergodic systems.

We consider metrizable ergodic topological dynamical systems over locally compact, $\sigma $-compact abelian groups. We study pure point spectrum via suitable notions of almost periodicity for the points of the dynamical system. More specifically, we characterize pure point spectrum via mean almost periodicity of generic points. We then go on and show how Besicovitch almost periodic points determine both eigenfunctions and the measure in this case. After this, we characterize those systems arising from Weyl almost periodic points and use this to characterize weak and Bohr almost periodic systems. Finally, we consider applications to aperiodic order.

A probability measure-preserving action of a discrete amenable group G is said to be dominant if it is isomorphic to a generic extension of itself. Recently, it was shown that for $G = \mathbb {Z}$, an action is dominant if and only if it has positive entropy and that for any G, positive entropy implies dominance. In this paper, we show that the converse also holds for any G, that is, that zero entropy implies non-dominance.

We establish (some directions of) a Ledrappier correspondence between Hölder cocycles, Patterson–Sullivan measures, etc for word-hyperbolic groups with metric-Anosov Mineyev flow. We then study Patterson–Sullivan measures for $\vartheta $-Anosov representations over a local field and show that these are parameterized by the $\vartheta $-critical hypersurface of the representation. We use these Patterson–Sullivan measures to establish a dichotomy concerning directions in the interior of the $\vartheta $-limit cone of the representation in question: if ${\mathsf {u}}$ is such a half-line, then the subset of ${\mathsf {u}}$-conical limit points has either total mass if $|\vartheta |\leq 2$ or zero mass if $|\vartheta |\geq 4.$ The case $|\vartheta |=3$ remains unsettled.

We show that a fibre-preserving self-diffeomorphism which has hyperbolic splittings along the fibres on a compact principal torus bundle is topologically conjugate to a map that is linear in the fibres.

We examine multiple ergodic averages of commuting transformations with polynomial iterates in which the polynomials may be pairwise dependent. In particular, we show that such averages are controlled by the Gowers–Host–Kra seminorms whenever the system satisfies some mild ergodicity assumptions. Combining this result with the general criteria for joint ergodicity established in our earlier work, we determine a necessary and sufficient condition under which such averages are jointly ergodic, in the sense that they converge in the mean to the product of integrals, or weakly jointly ergodic, in that they converge to the product of conditional expectations. As a corollary, we deduce a special case of a conjecture by Donoso, Koutsogiannis, and Sun in a stronger form.

We give a characterization of inter-model sets with Euclidean internal space. This characterization is similar to previous results for general inter-model sets obtained independently by Baake, Lenz and Moody, and Aujogue. The new ingredients are two additional conditions. The first condition is on the rank of the abelian group generated by the set of internal differences. The second condition is on a flow on a torus defined via the address map introduced by Lagarias. This flow plays the role of the maximal equicontinuous factor in the previous characterizations.

The manifold M is a Riemannian, boundaryless, and compact manifold with $\dim M\geq 2$, and f is a $C^{1+\beta }$ ($\kern0.3pt\beta>0$) diffeomorphism of M. $\varphi $ is a Hölder continuous potential on M. We construct an invariant and absolutely continuous family of measures (with transformation relations defined by $\varphi $), which sit on local unstable leaves. We present two main applications. First, given an ergodic homoclinic class $H_\chi (p)$, we prove that $\varphi $ admits a local equilibrium state on $H_\chi (p)$ if and only if $\varphi $ is ‘recurrent on $H_\chi (p)$’ (a condition tested by counting periodic points), and one of the leaf measures gives a positive measure to a set of positively recurrent hyperbolic points; and if an equilibrium measure exists, the said invariant and absolutely continuous family of measures constitute as its conditional measures. An immediate corollary is the local product structure of hyperbolic equilibrium states. Second, we prove a Ledrappier–Young property for hyperbolic equilibrium states: if $\varphi $ admits a conformal family of leaf measures and a hyperbolic local equilibrium state, then the leaf measures of the invariant family (respective to $\varphi $) are equivalent to the conformal measures (on a full measure set). This extends the celebrated result by Ledrappier and Young for hyperbolic Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen measures, which states that a hyperbolic equilibrium state of the geometric potential (with pressure zero) has conditional measures on local unstable leaves which are absolutely continuous with respect to the Riemannian volume of these leaves.

We prove the first orbit equivalence superrigidity results for actions of type III$_\unicode{x3bb} $ when $\unicode{x3bb} \neq 1$. These actions arise as skew products of actions of dense subgroups of $\operatorname {SL}(n,\mathbb {R})$ on the sphere $S^{n-1}$ and they can have any prescribed associated flow.

We use Gaussian measure-preserving systems to prove the existence and genericity of Lebesgue measure-preserving transformations $T:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ which exhibit both mixing and rigidity behavior along families of asymptotically linearly independent sequences. Let $\unicode{x3bb} _1,\ldots ,\unicode{x3bb} _N\in [0,1]$ and let $\phi _1,\ldots ,\phi _N:\mathbb N\rightarrow \mathbb Z$ be asymptotically linearly independent (that is, for any $(a_1,\ldots ,a_N)\in \mathbb Z^N\setminus \{\vec 0\}$, $\lim _{k\rightarrow \infty }|\sum _{j=1}^Na_j\phi _j(k)|=\infty $). Then the class of invertible Lebesgue measure-preserving transformations $T:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ for which there exists a sequence $(n_k)_{k\in \mathbb {N}}$ in $\mathbb {N}$ with for any measurable $A,B\subseteq [0,1]$ and any $j\in \{1,\ldots ,N\}$, is generic. This result is a refinement of a result due to Stëpin (Theorem 2 in [Spectral properties of generic dynamical systems. Math. USSR-Izv. 29(1) (1987), 159–192]) and a generalization of a result due to Bergelson, Kasjan, and Lemańczyk (Corollary F in [Polynomial actions of unitary operators and idempotent ultrafilters. Preprint, 2014, arXiv:1401.7869]).