Results of Wyner and Ziv and of Ornstein and Weiss show that if one observes the first k outputs of a finite-valued ergodic process, then the waiting time until this block appears again is almost surely asymptotic to $2^{hk}$, where $h$ is the entropy of the process. We examine this phenomenon when the allowed return times are restricted to some subset of times, and generalize the results to processes parameterized by other discrete amenable groups.
We also obtain a uniform density version of the waiting time results: For a process on $s$ symbols, within a given realization, the density of the initial $k$-block within larger $n$-blocks approaches $2^{-hk}$, uniformly in $n>s^k$, as $k$ tends to infinity. Again, similar results hold for processes with other indexing groups.
We extend Bourgain's return times theorem to arbitrary locally compact second countable amenable groups. The proof is based on a version of the Bourgain--Furstenberg--Katznelson--Ornstein orthogonality criterion.
We describe characteristic factors for certain averages arising from commuting actions of locally compact, second-countable, amenable groups. Under some ergodicity assumptions we use these factors to prove a form of multiple recurrence for three such actions.
The paper is devoted to study of product recurrence. First, we prove that notions of $\F_{ps}-PR$ and $\F_{pubd}-PR$ are exactly the same as product recurrence, completing that way results of [P. Dong, S. Shao and X. Ye, \emph{Product recurrent properties, disjointness and weak disjointness}, Israel J. Math.], and consequently, extending the characterization of return times of distal points which originated from works of Furstenberg. We also study the structure of the set of return times of weakly mixing sets. As a consequence, we obtain new sufficient conditions for $\F_{s}-PR$ and also find …
We study Poincaré recurrence from a purely geometrical viewpoint. We prove that the metric entropy is given by the exponential growth rate of return times to dynamical balls. This is the geometrical counterpart of Ornstein-Weiss theorem. Moreover, we show that minimal return times to dynamical balls grow linearly with respect to its length. Finally, some interesting relations between recurrence, dimension, entropy and Lyapunov exponents of ergodic measures are given.
We prove that for conformal expanding maps the return time does have constant multifractal spectrum. This is the counterpart of the result by Feng and Wu in the symbolic setting.
We investigate the thermodynamic formalism for recurrent potentials on group extensions of countable Markov shifts. Our main result characterises recurrent potentials depending only on the base space, in terms of the existence of a conservative product measure and a homomorphism from the group into the multiplicative group of real numbers. We deduce that, for a recurrent potential depending only on the base space, the group is necessarily amenable. Moreover, we give equivalent conditions for the base pressure and the skew product pressure to coincide. Finally, we apply our results to analyse t…
A structure theorem for polynomial return-time sets in minimal systems
U. of Massachusetts Lowell（马萨诸塞大学洛厄尔分校）；Aristotle University of Thessaloniki（塞萨洛尼基亚里士多德大学）；U. of Denver（丹佛大学）；Warwick Mathematics Institute（华威数学研究所）；École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne（洛桑联邦理工学院）；University of Manchester（曼彻斯特大学）
We investigate quantitative recurrence in systems having an infinite measure. We extend the Ornstein-Weiss theorem for a general class of infinite systems estimating return time in decreasing sequences of cylinders. Then we restrict to a class of one dimensional maps with indifferent fixed points and calculate quantitative recurrence in sequences of balls, obtaining that this is related to the behavior of the map near the fixed points.
We show that the Poincaré return time of a typical cylinder is at least its length. For one dimensional maps we express the Lyapunov exponent and dimension via return times.
We study decay of correlations, the asymptotic distribution of hitting times and fluctuations of the return times for a robust class of multidimensional non-uniformly hyperbolic transformations. Oliveira and Viana [15] proved that there is a unique equilibrium state for a large class of non- uniformly expanding transformations and Holder continuous potentials with small variation. For an open class of potentials with small variation, we prove quasi-compactness of the Ruelle-Perron-Frobenius operator in a space $V_θ$ of functions with essential bounded variation that strictly contain Holder con…
We are interested in the asymptotic behaviour of the first return time of the orbits of a dynamical system into a small neighbourhood of their starting points. We study this quantity in the context of dynamical systems preserving an infinite measure. More precisely, we consider the case of $\mathbb{Z}$-extensions of subshifts of finite type. We also consider a toy probabilistic model to enlight the strategy of our proofs.
Under some mild condition, a random walk in the plane is recurrent. In particular each trajectory is dense, and a natural question is how much time one needs to approach a given small neighborhood of the origin. We address this question in the case of some extended dynamical systems similar to planar random walks, including $\ZZ^2$-extension of hyperbolic dynamics. We define a pointwise recurrence rate and relate it to the dimension of the process, and establish a convergence in distribution of the rescaled return times near the origin.
Motivated by entropy estimation from chaotic time series, we provide a comprehensive analysis of hitting times of cylinder sets in the setting of Gibbsian sources. We prove two strong approximation results from which we easily deduce pointwise convergence to entropy, lognormal fluctuations, precise large deviation estimates and an explicit formula for the hitting-time multifractal spectrum. It follows from our analysis that the hitting time of a $n$-cylinder fluctuates in the same way as the inverse measure of this $n$-cylinder at "small scales", but in a different way at "large scales". In pa…
We consider toral extensions of hyperbolic dynamical systems. We prove that its quantitative recurrence (also with respect to given observables) and hitting time scale behavior depend on the arithmetical properties of the extension. By this we show that those systems have a polynomial decay of correlations with respect to $C^{r}$ observables, and give estimations for its exponent, which depend on $r$ and on the arithmetical properties of the system. We also show examples of systems of this kind having not the shrinking target property, and having a trivial limit distribution of return time sta…
The goal of this paper is to survey the history, development and current status of the Return Times Theorem and its many extensions and variations. Let $(X, \mathcal{F}, μ)$ be a finite measure space and let $T:X \rightarrow X$ be a measure preserving transformation. Perhaps the oldest result in ergodic theory is that of Poincaré's Recurrence Principle which states: For any set $A \in \mathcal{F}$, the set of points $x$ of $A$ such that $T^nx$ is not in the set $A$ for all $n > 0$ has zero measure. This says that almost every point of $A$ returns to $A$. In fact, almost every point of $A$ retu…
We study the recurrence to mistake dynamical balls, that is, dynamical balls that admit some errors and whose proportion of errors decrease tends to zero with the length of the dynamical ball. We prove, under mild assumptions, that the measure-theoretic entropy coincides with the exponential growth rate of return times to mistake dynamical balls and that minimal return times to mistake dynamical balls grow linearly with respect to its length.Moreover we obtain averaged recurrence formula for subshifts of finite type and suspension semiflows. Applications include $β$-transformations, Axiom A fl…
We construct, in locally compact, second countable, amenable groups, sets with large density that fail to have certain combinatorial properties. For the property of being a shift of a set of measurable recurrence we show that this is possible when the group does not have cocompact von Neumann kernel. For the stronger property of being piecewise-syndetic we show that this is always possible. For minimally almost periodic, locally compact, second countable, amenable groups, we prove that any dilation of a positive density set by an open neighborhood of the identity contains a set of measurable r…
The principal results proved in this expository thesis are the IP polynomial Szemerédi theorem for nilpotent groups and the multiple term return times theorem with nilsequence weights. It also contains extensions of the convergence theorem for nilpotent polynomial multiple ergodic averages and the return times theorem to locally compact second countable amenable groups.
We consider finitely generated free semigroup actions on a compact metric space and obtain quantitative information on Poincaré recurrence, average first return time and hitting frequency for the random orbits induced by the semigroup action. Besides, we relate the recurrence to balls with the rates of expansion of the semigroup's generators and the topological entropy of the semigroup action. Finally, we establish a partial variational principle and prove an ergodic optimization for this kind of dynamical action.
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.
From a physical/dynamical system perspective, the potential well represents the proportional mass of points that escape the neighbourhood of a given point. In the last 20 years, several works have shown the importance of this quantity to obtain precise approximations for several recurrence time distributions in mixing stochastic processes and dynamical systems. Besides providing a review of the different scaling factors used in the literature in recurrence times, the present work contributes with two new results: (1) for $ϕ$-mixing and $ψ$-mixing processes, we give a new exponential approximat…
Let $(X,μ)$ be a probability space, $G$ a countable amenable group and $(F_n)_n$ a left Følner sequence in $G$. This paper analyzes the non-conventional ergodic averages \[\frac{1}{|F_n|}\sum_{g \in F_n}\prod_{i=1}^d (f_i\circ T_1^g\cdots T_i^g)\] associated to a commuting tuple of $μ$-preserving actions $T_1$, ..., $T_d:G\curvearrowright X$ and $f_1$, ..., $f_d \in L^\infty(μ)$. We prove that these averages always converge in $\|\cdot\|_2$, and that they witness a multiple recurrence phenomenon when $f_1 = \ldots = f_d = 1_A$ for a non-negligible set $A\subseteq X$. This proves a conjecture o…
We study the action of groups generated by bounded activity automata with infinite alphabets on their orbital Schreier graphs. We introduce an amenability criterion for such groups based on the recurrence of the first level action. This criterion is a natural extension of the result that all groups generated by bounded activity automata with finite alphabets are amenable. Our motivation comes from the investigation of iterated monodromy groups of entire functions.
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 …
The purpose of this article is to study the eigenvalues $u_1^{\, t}=e^{itθ_1},\dots,u_N^{\,t}=e^{itθ_N}$ of $U^t$ where $U$ is a large $N\times N$ random unitary matrix and $t>0$. In particular we are interested in the typical times $t$ for which all the eigenvalues are simultaneously close to $1$ in different ways thus corresponding to recurrence times in the issue of quantum measurements. Our strategy consists in rewriting the problem as a random matrix integral and use loop equations techniques to compute the first orders of the large $N$ asymptotic. We also connect the problem to the compu…
