We consider the system of $N$ ($\ge2$) hard balls with masses $m_1,...,m_N$ and radius $r$ in the flat torus $\Bbb T_L^ν=\Bbb R^ν/L\cdot\Bbb Z^ν$ of size $L$, $ν\ge3$. We prove the ergodicity (actually, the Bernoulli mixing property) of such systems for almost every selection $(m_1,...,m_N; L)$ of the outer geometric parameters. This theorem complements my earlier result that proved the same, almost sure ergodicity for the case $ν=2$. The method of that proof was primarily dynamical-geometric, whereas the present approach is inherently algebraic.
We prove the hyperbolicity, ergodicity and thus the Bernoulli property of two hard balls in one of the following four polygons: the square, the equilateral triangle, the $45-45-90^\circ$ triangle or the $30-60-90^\circ$ triangle.
In this paper we study the ergodic properties of mathematical billiards describing the uniform motion of a point in a flat torus from which finitely many, pairwise disjoint, tubular neighborhoods of translated subtori (the so called cylindric scatterers) have been removed. We prove that every such system is ergodic (actually, a Bernoulli flow), unless a simple geometric obstacle for the ergodicity is present.
We consider the system of $N$ ($\ge2$) elastically colliding hard balls of masses $m_1,...,m_N$ and radius $r$ in the flat unit torus $\Bbb T^ν$, $ν\ge2$. In the case $ν=2$ we prove (the full hyperbolicity and) the ergodicity of such systems for every selection $(m_1,...,m_N;r)$ of the external geometric parameters, without exceptional values. In higher dimensions, for hard ball systems in $\Bbb T^ν$ ($ν\ge3$), we prove that every such system (is fully hyperbolic and) has open ergodic components.
In this paper we present a conditional proof of Wojtkowski's Ergodicity Conjecture for the system of 1D perfectly elastic balls falling down in a half line under constant gravitational acceleration. Namely, we prove that almost every such system is (completely hyperbolic and) ergodic, by assuming the transversality between different singularities and between singularities and stable (unstable) invariant manifolds.
In this paper, we establish a noncommutative analogue of Calderón's transference principle, which allows us to deduce noncommutative ergodic maximal inequalities from the special case---operator-valued maximal inequalities. As applications, we deduce dimension-free estimates of noncommutative Wiener's maximal ergodic inequality and noncommutative Stein-Calderón's maximal ergodic inequality over Euclidean spaces. We also show the corresponding individual ergodic theorems. To show Wiener's pointwise ergodic theorem, we construct a dense subset on which pointwise convergence holds following a som…
In this paper, we consider generalized wind-tree models and $\Z^d$-covers over compact translation surfaces. Under suitable hypothesis, we prove recurrence of the linear flow in a generic direction and non-ergodicity of Lebesgue measure.
We consider the system of $N$ ($\ge2$) elastically colliding hard balls of masses $m_1,...,m_N$ and radius $r$ on the flat unit torus $\Bbb T^ν$, $ν\ge2$. We prove the so called Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis, i. e. the full hyperbolicity and ergodicity of such systems for every selection $(m_1,...,m_N;r)$ of the external geometric parameters. The present proof does not use the formerly developed, rather involved algebraic techniques, instead it employs exclusively dynamical methods and tools from geometric analysis.
We consider the system of $N$ ($\ge2$) hard disks of masses $m_1,...,m_N$ and radius $r$ in the flat unit torus $\Bbb T^2$. We prove the ergodicity (actually, the B-mixing property) of such systems for almost every selection $(m_1,...,m_N;r)$ of the outer geometric parameters.
We consider the system of $N$ ($\ge2$) elastically colliding hard balls of masses $m_1,...,m_N$ and radius $r$ on the flat unit torus $\Bbb T^ν$, $ν\ge2$. We prove the so called Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis, i. e. the full hyperbolicity and ergodicity of such systems for every selection $(m_1,...,m_N;r)$ of the external geometric parameters, without exceptional values. The present proof does not use at all the formerly developed, rather involved algebraic techniques, instead it employs exclusively dynamical methods and tools of geometric analysis.
In the ergodic theory of semi-dispersing billiards the Local Ergodic Theorem, proved by Chernov and Sinai in 1987, plays a central role. So far, all existing proofs of this theorem had to use an annoying global hypothesis, namely the almost sure hyperbolicity of singular orbits. (This is the so called Chernov--Sinai Ansatz.) Here we introduce some new geometric ideas to overcome this difficulty and liberate the proof from the tyranny of the Ansatz. The presented proof is a substantial generalization of my previous joint result with N. Chernov (which is a $2D$ result) to arbitrary dimensions. A…
We consider the system of $N$ ($\ge2$) elastically colliding hard balls of masses $m_1,...,m_N$ and radius $r$ on the flat unit torus $\Bbb T^ν$, $ν\ge2$. We prove the so called Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis, i. e. the full hyperbolicity and ergodicity of such systems for every selection $(m_1,...,m_N;r)$ of the external geometric parameters, provided that almost every singular orbit is geometrically hyperbolic (sufficient), i. e. the so called Chernov-Sinai Ansatz is true. The present proof does not use the formerly developed, rather involved algebraic techniques, instead it employs excl…
The Local Ergodic Theorem (also known as the `Fundamental Theorem') gives sufficient conditions under which a phase point has an open neighborhood that belongs (mod 0) to one ergodic component. This theorem is a key ingredient of many proofs of ergodicity for billiards and, more generally, for smooth hyperbolic maps with singularities. However the proof of that theorem relies upon a delicate assumption (Chernov-Sinai Ansatz), which is difficult to check for some physically relevant models, including gases of hard balls. Here we give a proof of the Local Ergodic Theorem for two dimensional bill…
We prove a ratio ergodic theorem for non-singular free $Z^d$ and $R^d$ actions, along balls in an arbitrary norm. Using a Chacon-Ornstein type lemma the proof is reduced to a statement about the amount of mass of a probability measure that can concentrate on (thickened) boundaries of balls in $R^d$. The proof relies on geometric properties of norms, including the Besicovitch covering lemma and the fact that boundaries of balls have lower dimension than the ambient space. We also show that for general group actions, the Besicovitch covering property not only implies the maximal inequality, but …
In this paper we prove the following result, useful and often needed in the study of the ergodic properties of hard ball systems: In any such system, for any phase point x with a non-singular forward trajectory and infinitely many connected collision graphs on that forward orbit, it is true that for any small number epsilon there is a stable tangent vector w of x and a large enough time t>>1 so that the vector w undergoes a contraction by a factor of less than epsilon in time t. Of course, the Multiplicative Ergodic Theorem of Oseledets provides a much stronger conclusion, but at the expense o…
Wojtkowski's system of $N$, $N \geq 2$, falling balls is a nonuniformly hyperbolic smooth dynamical system with singularities. It is still an open question whether this system is ergodic. We contribute towards an affirmative answer, by proving the non-contraction property, conditioned by the assumption of strict unboundedness. For a certain mass ratio the configuration space can be unfolded to a billiard table where the daunting proper alignment condition is satisfied. We prove, that the aforementioned unfolded system with three degrees of freedom is ergodic.
In 1963 Ya. G. Sinai formulated a modern version of Boltzmann's ergodic hypothesis, what we now call the ``Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis'': The billiard system of $N$ ($N\ge 2$) hard balls of unit mass moving on the flat torus $\mathbb{T}^ν=\mathbb{R}^ν/\mathbb{Z}^ν$ ($ν\ge 2$) is ergodic after we make the standard reductions by fixing the values of trivial invariant quantities. It took fifty years and the efforts of several people, including Sinai himself, until this conjecture was finally proved. In this short survey we provide a quick review of the closing part of this process, by show…
We consider the billiard flow of elastically colliding hard balls on the flat $ν$-torus ($ν\ge 2$), and prove that no singularity manifold can even locally coincide with a manifold describing future non-hyperbolicity of the trajectories. As a corollary, we obtain the ergodicity (actually the Bernoulli mixing property) of all such systems, i.e. the verification of the Boltzmann-Sinai Ergodic Hypothesis.
The system of falling balls is an autonomous Hamiltonian system with a smooth invariant measure and non-zero Lyapunov exponents almost everywhere. Since almost three decades, the question of ergodicity is still open. The subject of this work is to contribute to the solution of the ergodicity conjecture for three falling balls with a specific mass ratio. The latter is executed in the following three points: First, we prove the Chernov-Sinai ansatz. Second, we prove that there is an abundance of least expanding points and, third, we explain that the proper alignment condition can still be verifi…
This work is devoted to the study of minimal, smooth actions of finitely generated groups on the circle. We provide a sufficient condition for such an action to be ergodic (with respect to the Lebesgue measure), and we illustrate this condition by studying two relevant examples. Under an analogous hypothesis, we also deal with the problem of the zero Lebesgue measure for exceptional minimal sets. This hypothesis leads to many other interesting conclusions, mainly concerning the stationary and conformal measures. Moreover, several questions are left open. The methods work as well for codimensio…
We prove here that in the Theorem on Local Ergodicity for Semi-Dispersive Billiards (proved by N. I. Chernov and Ya. G. Sinai in 1987) the condition of the so called ``Ansatz'' can be dropped. That condition assumed that almost every singular phase point had a hyperbolic trajectory after the singularity. Having this condition dropped, the cited theorem becomes much stronger and easier to apply. At the end of the paper two immediate corollaries of this improvement are discussed: One of them is the (fully hyperbolic) Bernoulli mixing property of every hard disk system (D=2), the other one claims…
We consider the return times dynamics to Bowen balls for continuous maps on metric spaces which have invariant probability measures with certain mixing properties. These mixing properties are satisfied for instance by systems that allow Young tower constructions. We show that the higher order return times to Bowen balls are in the limit Poisson distributed. We also provide a general result for the asymptotic behavior of the recurrence time for Bowen balls for ergodic systems and those with specification.
The system of falling balls is an autonomous Hamiltonian system with a smooth invariant measure and non-zero Lyapunov exponents almost everywhere. For almost three decades new, the question of its ergodicity remains open. We contribute to the solution of the erogodicity conjecture for three falling balls with a specific mass ratio in the following two points: First, we prove the Chernov-Sinai ansatz. Second, we prove that there is an abundance of sufficiently expanding points. It is of special interest that for the aforementioned specific mass ratio, the configuration space can be unfolded to …
The Chowla conjecture asserts that the values of the Liouville function form a normal sequence of plus and minus ones. Reinterpreted in the language of ergodic theory it asserts that the Liouville function is generic for the Bernoulli measure on the space of sequences with values plus or minus one. We show that these statements are implied by the much weaker hypothesis that the Liouville function is generic for an ergodic measure. We also give variants of this result related to a conjecture of Elliott on correlations of multiplicative functions with values on the unit circle. Our argument has …
The Furstenberg recurrence theorem (or equivalently, Szemerédi's theorem) can be formulated in the language of von Neumann algebras as follows: given an integer $k \geq 2$, an abelian finite von Neumann algebra $(\M,τ)$ with an automorphism $α: \M \to \M$, and a non-negative $a \in \M$ with $τ(a)>0$, one has $\liminf_{N \to \infty} \frac{1}{N} \sum_{n=1}^N \Re τ(a α^n (a) ... α^{(k-1)n} (a)) > 0$; a subsequent result of Host and Kra shows that this limit exists. In particular, $\Re τ(a α^n (a) >... α^{(k-1)n} (a)) > 0$ for all $n$ in a set of positive density. From the von Neumann algebra pers…
