Let (α, u) denote a cocycle-crossed action of a discrete group G on a unital C*-algebra A, and B = C*r (A, G, α, u) the associated reduced (twisted) C*-crossed product. We discuss the following problem: when is B a simple C*-algebra with a unique trace? To this aim, we introduce the concept of tracially properly outerness of actions.

In this paper we establish conditions on a sequence of operators which imply divergence. In fact, we give conditions which imply that we can find a set B of measure as close to zero as we like, but such that the operators applied to the characteristic function of this set have a lim sup equal to 1 and a lim inf equal to 0 a.e. (strong sweeping out). The results include the fact that ergodic averages along lacunary sequences, certain convolution powers, and the Riemann sums considered by Rudin are all strong sweeping out. One of the criteria for strong sweeping out involves a condition on the Fourier transform of the sequence of measures, which is often easily checked. The second criterion for strong sweeping out involves showing that a sequence of numbers satisfies a property similar to the conclusion of Kronecker's lemma on sequences linearly independent over the rationals.

Let Ω be a bounded region in Rn and let be a partition of Ω into a finite number of subsets having piecewise C2 boundaries. The boundaries may contain cusps. Let τ: Ω → Ω be piecewise C2 on and expanding in the sense that there exists α > 1 such that for any i = 1, 2,…,m, where is the derivative matrix of and ‖·‖ is the euclidean matrix norm. The main result provides a lower bound on α which guarantees the existence of an absolutely continuous invariant measure for τ.

We show that any cocycle from an ergodic, finite measure preserving action of a higher-rank group to a closed subgroup of the isometry group of a proper, geodesic hyperbolic, ‘at most exponential’ metric space is necessarily cohomologous to a cocycle with values in a compact subgroup. Philosophically, this says that higher-rank dynamics is incompatible with hyperbolic dynamics; since hyperbolicity is, in some sense, generic among finitely presented groups, this places strong restrictions on the possible dynamics of higher-rank groups. We derive some applications of the main result. When the target group of the cocycle has no small subgroups, we show that the main result holds for a wider class of domain groups.

Let (Y, g) be a compact connected n-dimensional Riemannian manifold and let () be its universal cover endowed with the pulled-back metric. If y ∈ , we define

where B(y, R) denotes the ball of radius R around y in . It is a well known fact that this limit exists and does not depend on y ([Man]). The invariant h(g) is called the volume entropy of the metric g but, for the sake of simplicity, we shall use the term entropy. The idea of recognizing special metrics in terms of this invariant looks at first glance very optimistic. First the entropy, which behaves like the inverse of a distance, is sensitive to changes of scale which makes it a bad invariant: however, this is a minor drawback that can be circumvented by looking at the behaviour of the entropy functional on the space of metrics with fixed volume (equal to one for example). Nevertheless, it seems very unlikely that two numbers, the entropy and the volume, might characterize any metric. The very first person to consider such a possibility was Katok ([Kat1]). In this article the entropy is thought of as a dynamical invariant which actually is suggested by its name. More precisely, let us define this dynamical invariant, which is called the topological entropy: let (M, d) be a compact metric space and ψt, a flow on it, we define

.

A non-additive version of the thermodynamic formalism is developed. This allows us to obtain lower and upper bounds for the dimension of a broad class of Cantor-like sets. These are constructed with a decreasing sequence of closed sets that may satisfy no asymptotic behavior. Moreover, they can be coded by arbitrary symbolic dynamics, and the geometry of the construction may depend on all the symbolic past. Applications include estimates of dimension for hyperbolic sets of maps that need not be differentiable.

Let T be a rational function of degree ≥ 2 on the Riemann sphere. Our results are based on the lemma that the diameter of a connected component of T−n(B(x, r)), centered at any point x in its Julia set J = J(T), does not exceed Lnrp for some constants L ≥ 1 and ρ > 0. Denote the transfer operator of a Hölder-continuous function φ on J satisfying P(T,φ) > supz∈Jφ(z). We study the behavior of {: n ≥ 1} for Hölder-continuous functions ψ and show that the sequence is (uniformly) normbounded in the space of Hölder-continuous functions for sufficiently small exponent. As a consequence we obtain that the density of the equilibrium measure μ for φ with respect to the -conformal measure is Höolder-continuous. We also prove that the rate of convergence of {ψ to this density in sup-norm is . From this we deduce the corresponding decay of the correlation integral and the central limit theorem for ψ.

A homoclinic orbit is considered for which the center-stable and center-unstable manifolds of a saddle-node equilibrium have a quadratic tangency. This bifurcation is of codimension two and leads generically to the creation of a bifurcation curve defining two independent transverse homoclinic orbits to a saddle-node. This latter case was shown by Shilnikov to imply shift dynamics. It is proved here that in a large open parameter region of the codimension-two singularity, the dynamics are completely described by a perturbation of the Hénon-map giving strange attractors, Newhouse sinks and the creation of the shift dynamics. In addition, an example system admitting this bifurcation is constructed and numerical computations are performed on it.

A family of quadratic maps of the plane has been found numerically for certain parameter values to have three attractors, in a triangular pattern, with ‘intermingled’ basins. This means that for every open set S, if the basin of attraction of one of the attractors intersects S in a set of positive Lebesgue measure, then so do the other two basins. In this paper we mathematically verify this observation for a particular parameter, and prove that our results hold for a set of parameters with positive Lebesgue measure.

We study a generic, real analytic unfolding of a planar diffeomorphism having a fixed point with unipotent linear part. In the analogue for vector fields an open parameter domain is known to exist, with a unique limit cycle. This domain is bounded by curves corresponding to a Hopf bifurcation and to a homoclinic connection. In the present case of analytic diffeomorphisms, a similar domain is shown to exist, with a normally hyperbolic invariant circle. It follows that all the ‘interesting’ dynamics, concerning the destruction of the invariant circle and the transition to trivial dynamics by the creation and death of homoclinic points, takes place in an exponentially small part of the parameter-plane. Partial results were stated in [5]. Related numerical results appeared in [16].

We prove that those non-uniformly hyperbolic maps and flows (with singularities) that enjoy the K-property are also Bernoulli. In particular, many billiard systems, including those systems of hard balls and stadia that have the K-property, and hyperbolic billiards, such as the Lorentz gas in any dimension, are Bernoulli. We obtain the Bernoulli property for both the billiard flows and the associated maps on the boundary of the phase space.

We prove that for almost every (with respect to the Lebesgue measure) a ∈ [√2, 2], the forward trajectory of the turning point of the tent map fa with slope a is dense in the interval of transitivity of fa.

In this paper we study expansive automorphisms of compact 0-dimensional abelian groups. Our main result is the complete algebraic and topological classification of the transitive expansive automorpisms for which the maximal order of the elements is p2 for a prime p. This yields a classification of the transitive expansive automorphisms with topological entropy log p2. Finally, we prove a necessary and sufficient condition for an expansive automorphism to be conjugated, topologically and algebraically, to a shift over a finite group.

It is shown that the collection of measure-distal transformations is a complete co-analytic set and that the Furstenberg order is a -norm. Various other results about skew products are also shown.

Linear mod one transformations are the maps of the unit interval given by fβα(x) = βx + α (mod 1), with β > 1 and 0 ≤ α < 1. The lap-counting function is the function where the lap number Ln essentially counts the number of monotonic pieces of the nth iterate . We derive an explicit factorization formula for Lβα(z) which directly shows that Lβα(z) is a function meromorphic in the open unit disk {z: |z| < 1} and analytic in the open disk {z: |z| < 1/β}, with a simple pole at z = 1/β.Comparison with a known formula for the Artin—Mazur—Ruelle zeta function ζβ,α(z) of fβα shows that Lβα(z) and ζβ,α(z) have identical sets of singularities in the disk {z: |z| < 1}. We derive two more factorization formulae for Lβ,α(z) valid for certain parameter ranges of (β, α). When 1 < α + β ≤ 2, there is sometimes a ‘renormalization’ structure of such maps present, which has previously been studied in connection with simplified models for the Lorenz attractor. In the case that fβα is non-trivially renormalizable, we obtain a factorization formula for Lβα(z). For (β, α) in a region contained in 2 < α + β ≤ 3 we obtain a factorization formula which relates Lβα(z) to a ‘rescaled’ lap-counting function from the region 1 < α + β ≤ 2. The various factorizations exhibit certain singularities of Lβα(z) on the circle |z| = 1/β. These singularities are related to topological dynamical properties of fβ,α. In parts II and III we show that these comprise the complete set of such singularities on the circle |z| = 1/β.

We investigate the relation between the complexity function of a sequence, that is the number p(n) of its factors of length n, and the rank of the associated dynamical system, that is the number of Rokhlin towers required to approximate it. We prove that if the rank is one, then lim , but give examples with lim for any prescribed function G with G (n) = 0(an) for every a > 1. We give exact computations for examples of the ‘staircase’ type, which are strongly mixing systems with quadratic complexity. Conversely, for minimal sequences, if p(n) < an + b for some a ≥ 1, the rank is at most 2[a], with bounded strings of spacers, and the system is generated by a finite number of substitutions.

Given the usual averages in ergodic theory, let n1 ≤ n2 ≤ … and . There is a strong inequality ‖Sf‖2 ≤ 25‖f‖2 and there is a weak inequality m{Sf > λ} ≤ (7000/λ)‖f‖1. Related results and questions for other variants of this square function are also discussed.

This paper represents a contribution to the variational approach to the understanding of the dynamics of exact area-preserving monotone twist maps of the annulus, currently known as the Aubry–Mather theory. The method introduced by Mather to construct invariant measures of Denjoy type is extended to produce almost-periodic measures, having arbitrary rationally independent frequencies, and positive entropy measures, supported within the gaps of Aubry–Mather sets which do not lie on invariant curves. This extension is based on a generalized version of the Percival's Lagrangian and on a new minimization procedure, which also gives a simplified proof of the basic existence theorem for the Aubry–Mather sets.

We give examples of non-integrable measurable functions for which there are ‘many’ rotations such that the arithmetic (ergodic) averages exist for almost every x. We also show that if the above ergodic averages exist for almost every x for a set of rotations of positive measure, then the function should be integrable on [0, 1].