Let $l\in \mathbb{N}_{\geq 1}$ and $α: \mathbb{Z}^l\rightarrow \text{Aut}(\mathscr{N})$ be an action of $\mathbb{Z}^l$ by automorphisms on a compact nilmanifold $\mathscr{N}$. We assume the action of every $α(z)$ is ergodic for $z\in \mathbb{Z}^l\smallsetminus\{0\}$ and show that $α$ satisfies exponential $n$-mixing for any integer $n\geq 2$. This extends results of Gorodnik and Spatzier [Acta Math., 215 (2015)].
We study mixing properties of commutative groups of automorphisms acting on compact nilmanifolds. Assuming that every nontrivial element acts ergodically, we prove that such actions are mixing of all orders. We further show exponential 2-mixing and 3-mixing. As an application we prove smooth cocycle rigidity for higher-rank abelian groups of nilmanifold automorphisms.
We study dynamical properties of automorphisms of compact nilmanifolds and prove that every ergodic automorphism is exponentially mixing and exponentially mixing of higher orders. This allows to establish probabilistic limit theorems and regularity of solutions of the cohomological equation for such automorphisms. Our method is based on the quantitative equidistribution results for polynomial maps combined with Diophantine estimates.
We give a necessary and sufficient condition for $k$-step nilmanifolds associated with graphs $(k \geq 3)$ to admit Anosov automorphisms. We also prove nonexistence of Anosov automorphisms on certain classes of 2-step and 3-step nilmanifolds.
Suppose $X_{1}, X_{2}$ are nilmanifolds and $ρ, σ$ are automorphism actions of a discrete group $Γ$ on $X_{1}$ and $X_{2}$ respectively. We show that if $(X_{1},ρ)$ and $(X_{2}, σ)$ satisfy certain additional conditions then every $Γ$-equivariant continuous map from $(X_{1},ρ)$ to $(X_{2},σ)$ is an affine map.
We study the regularity of a conjugacy between an Anosov automorphism $L$ of a nilmanifold $N/Γ$ and a volume-preserving, $C^1$-small perturbation $f$. We say that $L$ is locally Lyapunov spectrum rigid if this conjugacy is $C^{1+}$ whenever $f$ is $C^{1+}$ and has the same volume Lyapunov spectrum as $L$. For $L$ with simple spectrum, we show that local Lyapunov spectrum rigidity is equivalent to $L$ satisfying both an irreducibility condition and an ordering condition on its Lyapunov exponents.
We discuss conditions under which an affine automorphism of a compact nilmanifold is almost automorphic, and the structure of such automorphisms from a dynamical point of view.
We show that genuinely higher rank expanding actions of abelian semi-groups on compact manifolds are $C^{\infty}$-conjugate to affine actions on infra-nilmanifolds. This is based on the classification of expanding diffeomorphisms up to \holder conjugacy by Gromov and Shub, and is similar to recent work on smooth classification of higher rank Anosov actions on tori and nilmanifolds. To prove regularity of the conjugacy in the higher rank setting, we establish exponential mixing of solenoid actions induced from semi-group actions by nilmanifold endomorphisms, a result of independent interest. We…
We study 9 and 10-dimensional Anosov Lie algebras, by using the properties of very special algebraic numbers. We classify k-step complex Anosov Lie algebras for $k>2$ and in the two step case, we give an example in each possible type, or we give a non-existence result.
Let $S=\{p_1, \dots, p_r,\infty\}$ for prime integers $p_1, \dots, p_r.$ Let $X$ be an $S$-adic compact nilmanifold, equipped with the unique translation invariant probability measure $μ.$ We characterize the countable groups $Γ$ of automorphisms of $X$ for which the Koopman representation $κ$ on $L^2(X,μ)$ has a spectral gap. More specifically, we show that $κ$ does not have a spectral gap if and only if there exists a non-trivial $Γ$-invariant quotient solenoid (that is, a finite-dimensional, connected, compact abelian group) on which $Γ$ acts as a virtually abelian group.
Given a $\mathbb Z^r$-action $α$ on a nilmanifold $X$ by automorphisms and an ergodic $α$-invariant probability measure $μ$, we show that $μ$ is the uniform measure on $X$, unless modulo finite index modification, one of the following obstructions occurs for an algebraic factor action: 1. The factor measure has zero entropy under every element of the action; 2. The factor action is virtually cyclic. We also deduce a rigidity property for invariant closed subsets.
After more than thirty years, the only known examples of Anosov diffeomorphisms are hyperbolic automorphisms of infranilmanifolds. It is also important to note that the existence of an Anosov automorphism is a really strong condition on an infranilmanifold. Any Anosov automorphism determines an automorphism of the (rational) Lie algebra of the Mal'cev completion of the corresponding lattice which is hyperbolic and unimodular. These two conditions together are strong enough to make of such rational nilpotent Lie algebras (called Anosov Lie algebras) very distinguished objects. In this paper, we…
Assuming positive entropy we prove a measure rigidity theorem for higher rank actions on tori and solenoids by commuting automorphisms. We also apply this result to obtain a complete classification of disjointness and measurable factors for these actions.
We show that if $S,T$ are two commuting automorphisms of standard Borel space such that they generate a free Borel $\Z^2$-action then $S$ and $T$ do not have same sets of real valued bounded coboundaries. We also prove a weaker form of Rokhlin Lemma for Borel $\Z^d$-actions.
We consider asymptotic orbit-counting problems for certain expansive actions by commuting automorphisms of compact groups. A dichotomy is found between systems with asymptotically more periodic orbits than the topological entropy predicts, and those for which there is no excess of periodic orbits.
Let $d > 1$, and let $(X,α)$ and $(Y,β)$ be two zero-entropy ${\mathbb{Z}}^d$-actions on compact abelian groups by $d$ commuting automorphisms. We show that if all lower rank subactions of $α$ and $β$ have completely positive entropy, then any measurable equivariant map from $X$ to $Y$ is an affine map. In particular, two such actions are measurably conjugate if and only if they are algebraically conjugate.
We prove a multiple recurrence result for arbitrary measure-preserving transformations along polynomials in two variables of the form $m+p_i(n)$, with rationally independent $p_i$'s with zero constant term. This is in contrast to the single variable case, in which even double recurrence fails unless the transformations generate a virtually nilpotent group. The proof involves reduction to nilfactors and an equidistribution result on nilmanifolds.
For a $\mathbb{Z}^d$-action $α$ by commuting homeomorphisms of a compact metric space, Lind introduced a dynamical zeta function that generalizes the dynamical zeta function of a single transformation. In this article, we investigate this function when $α$ is generated by continuous automorphisms of a compact abelian zero-dimensional group. We address Lind's conjecture concerning the existence of a natural boundary for the zeta function and prove this for two significant classes of actions, including both zero entropy and positive entropy examples. The finer structure of the periodic point cou…
We show that all $C^\infty$ Anosov $Z^r$-actions on tori and nilmanifolds without rank-one factor actions are, up to $C^\infty$ conjugacy, actions by automorphisms.
We establish a Primitive Element Theorem for fields equipped with several commuting operators such that each of the operators is either a derivation or an automorphism. More precisely, we show that for every extension $F \subset E$ of such fields of zero characteristic such that $\bullet$ $E$ is generated over $F$ by finitely many elements using the field operations and the operators, $\bullet$ every element of $E$ satisfies a nontrivial equation with coefficient in $F$ involving the field operations and the operators, $\bullet$ the action of the operators on $E$ is irredundant there exists an…
We prove mean convergence, as $N\to\infty$, for the multiple ergodic averages $\frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^N f_1(T_1^{p_1(n)}x)... f_\ell(T_\ell^{p_\ell(n)}x)$, where $p_1,...,p_\ell$ are integer polynomials with distinct degrees, and $T_1,...,T_\ell$ are commuting, invertible measure preserving transformations, acting on the same probability space. This establishes several cases of a conjecture of Bergelson and Leibman, that complement the case of linear polynomials, recently established by Tao. Furthermore, we show that, unlike the case of linear polynomials, for polynomials of distinct degrees, t…
We study nilmanifolds admitting Anosov automorphisms by applying elementary properties of algebraic units in number fields to the associated Anosov Lie algebras. We identify obstructions to the existence of Anosov Lie algebras. The case of 13-dimensional Anosov Lie algebras is worked out as an illustration of the technique. Also, we recapture the following known results: (i) Every 7-dimensional Anosov nilmanifold is toral, and (ii) every 8-dimensional Anosov Lie algebra with 3 or 5-dimensional derived algebra contains an abelian factor.
We show in prime dimension that for two non-commuting totally irreducible toral automorphisms the set of points that equidistribute under the first map but have non-dense orbit under the second has full Hausdorff dimension. In non-prime dimension the argument fails only if the automorphisms have strong algebraic relations.
We show that, for two commuting automorphisms of the torus and for two elements of the Cartan action on compact higher rank homogeneous spaces, many points have drastically different orbit structures for the two maps. Specifically, using measure rigidity, we show that the set of points that have dense orbit under one map and nondense orbit under the second has full Hausdorff dimension.
For mixing~$\mathbb Z^d$-actions generated by commuting automorphisms of a compact abelian group, we investigate the directional uniformity of the rate of periodic point distribution and mixing. When each of these automorphisms has finite entropy, it is shown that directional mixing and directional convergence of the uniform measure supported on periodic points to Haar measure occurs at a uniform rate independent of the direction.
We prove that a finite family of commuting holomorphic self-maps of the unit ball $\mathbb{B}^q\subset \mathbb{C}^q$ admits a simultaneous holomorphic conjugacy to a family of commuting automorphisms of a possibly lower dimensional ball, and that such conjugacy satisfies a universal property. As an application we describe when a hyperbolic and a parabolic holomorphic self-map of $\mathbb{B}^q$ can commute.
Consider actions of $\Z ^r$ by ergodic automorphisms on a compact nilmanifolds for $r \geq 2$. We show that small $C^k$ perturbations of such higher rank partially hyperbolic actions are smoothly conjugate to the original action, using a KAM scheme. The driving force for convergence of this iteration is the exponential mixing of the original action.
Let $K$ be a compact metrizable group and $\Ga$ be a finitely generated group of commuting automorphisms of $K$. We show that ergodicity of $\Ga$ implies $\Ga$ contains ergodic automorphisms if center of the action, $Z(\Ga) = \{\ap \in {\rm Aut}(K) \mid \ap {\rm commutes with elements of \rm} \Ga \}$ has DCC. To explain that the condition on the center of the action is not restrictive, we discuss certain abelian groups which in particular, retrieves Theorems of Berend \cite{Be} and Schmidt \cite{Sc1} proved in this context.
Mixing for measure-preserving group actions is a fundamental notion in ergodic theory, with different phenomena arising for different acting groups. In 1993, Klaus Schmidt and Tom Ward proved that 2-mixing implies mixing of all orders for actions by commuting automorphisms of connected groups. Tom Ward explains how he became interested in this problem, and describes how a chance encounter with a paper on a seemingly unrelated problem in number theory played a key role.
Let $X$ be a compact metrizable group and $Γ$ a countable group acting on $X$ by continuous group automorphisms. We give sufficient conditions under which the dynamical system $(X,Γ)$ is surjunctive, i.e., every injective continuous map $τ\colon X \to X$ commuting with the action of $Γ$ is surjective.
Let $(X, \cal B, ν)$ be a probability space and let $Γ$ be a countable group of $ν$-preserving invertible maps of $X$ into itself. To a probability measure $μ$ on $Γ$ corresponds a random walk on $X$ with Markov operator $P$ given by $Pψ(x) = \sum_{a} ψ(ax) \, μ(a)$. A powerful tool is the spectral gap property for the operator $P$ when it holds. We consider various examples of ergodic $Γ$-actions and random walks and their extensions by a vector space: groups of automorphisms or affine transformations on compact nilmanifolds, random walk in random scenery on non amenable groups, translations …
Let $\Cal S$ be an abelian finitely generated semigroup of endomorphisms of a probability space $(Ω, {\Cal A}, μ)$, with $(T_1, ..., T_d)$ a system of generators in ${\Cal S}$. Given an increasing sequence of domains $(D_n) \subset \N^d$, a question is the convergence in distribution of the normalized sequence $|D_n|^{-\frac12} \sum_{{\k} \, \in D_n} \, f \circ T^{\,{\k}}$, for $f \in L^2_0(μ)$, where $T^{\k}= T_1^{k_1} ... T_d^{k_d}$, ${\k}= (k_1, ..., k_d) \in {\N}^d$. After a preliminary spectral study when the action of $\Cal S$ has a Lebesgue spectrum, we consider $\N^d$- or $\Z^d$-action…
Let $X$ be a compact metrizable group and $Γ$ a countable group acting on $X$ by continuous group automorphisms. We give sufficient conditions under which the dynamical system $(X,Γ)$ is surjunctive, i.e., every injective continuous map $τ\colon X \to X$ commuting with the action of $Γ$ is surjective.
For minimal $\mathbb{Z}^{2}$-topological dynamical systems, we introduce a cube structure and a variation of the regionally proximal relation for $\mathbb{Z}^2$ actions, which allow us to characterize product systems and their factors. We also introduce the concept of topological magic systems, which is the topological counterpart of measure theoretic magic systems introduced by Host in his study of multiple averages for commuting transformations. Roughly speaking, magic systems have a less intricate dynamic and we show that every minimal $\mathbb{Z}^2$ dynamical system has a magic extension. …
