Almost-sure convergence of (l/k) log Wk(x, y) to entropy for weak Bernoulli processes is proved, where Wk (x, y) is the waiting time until an initial segment of length k of a sample path x is seen in an independently chosen sample path y. Analogous almost-sure results are obtained in the approximate match case for very weak Bernoulli processes. The weak Bernoulli proof uses recent results obtained by the authors about the estimation of joint distributions, while the very weak Bernoulli result utilizes a new characterization of such processes in terms of a blowing-up property.

The local dimension of invariant and conformal measures for piecewise monotonic transformations on the interval is considered. For ergodic invariant measures m with positive characteristic exponent χm we show that the local dimension exists almost everywhere and equals hm/χm For certain conformal measures we show a relation between a pressure function and the Hausdorff dimension of sets, on which the local dimension is constant.

This paper yields diffusion and moderate deviation type asymptotics for solutions of differential equations of the form dZε(t)/dt = εB(Zε(t), fty) where ft is a suspension flow (in particular, a hyperbolic flow) over a sufficiently fast mixing transformation. Such problems emerge in the study of perturbed Hamiltonian systems. These exhibit a new class of limit theorems for dynamical systems and extend a number of previously known results.

We prove that every Hölder-continuous cocycle for an expansive and mixing ℤd-action α by automorphisms of a compact, abelian group X is Hölder-cohomologous to an affine cocycle, and give a complete description of the Hölder cohomology group of α.

We give a complete description of smooth untwisted cohomology with coefficients in ℝl for ℤk-actions by hyperbolic automorphisms of a torus. For 1 ≤ n ≤ k − 1 the nth cohomology trivializes, i.e. every cocycle is cohomologous to a constant cocycle via a smooth coboundary. For n = k a counterpart of the classical Livshitz Theorem holds: the cohomology class of a smooth k-cocycle is determined by periodic data.

It is shown that for a class of simple AF-algebras generated by a sequence of self-adjoint unitaries (sn) the entropy of the shift α(sn) = sn+1 with respect to the unique invariant trace υ satisfies hϕøϕ (α⊗α) = log2, while hφ(α) = 0.

Let G be a Lie group and Γ be a discrete subgroup. We show that if {μn} is a convergent sequence of probability measures on G/Γ which are invariant and ergodic under actions of unipotent one-parameter subgroups, then the limit μ of such a sequence is supported on a closed orbit of the subgroup preserving it, and is invariant and ergodic for the action of a unipotent one-parameter subgroup of G.

In this article, we study transitive flows on manifolds or on manifold-like phase spaces. These are flows in which at least one orbit is dense. By quantifying the nature of the set of dense orbits, a variety of transitivity types is obtained. We explore conditions under which products or ‘scaled’ products of transitive flows are again transitive. We also investigate a connection between transitivity and topologically strong mixing.

We classify the C1+α structures on embedded trees. This extends the results of Sullivan on embeddings of the binary tree to trees with arbitrary topology and to embeddings without bounded geometry and with contact points. We used these results in an earlier paper to describe the moduli spaces of smooth conjugacy classes of expanding maps and Markov maps on train tracks. In later papers we will use those results to do the same for pseudo-Anosov diffeomorphisms of surfaces. These results are also used in the classification of renormalisation limits of C1+α diffeomorphisms of the circle.

We obtain the density of Lyapunov exponents for maximal abelian ℝ-split group in kth tensor product representation of a subgroup Γ ⊂ SL(n, ℤ) of finite index under certain conditions. Anosov and Cartan actions of such groups associated with irreducible representations of SL(n, ℝ) are also classified. Examples of rigidity of actions on nilmanifolds are discussed.

In this paper the Pesin's entropy formula and ‘large ergodic theorem’ are constructed for Axiom A endomorphisms.

Given a measure-preserving equivalence relation R with countable classes, we study relations between the properties of R and metric invariants. We give applications to pseudogroups of measure-preserving homeomorphisms.

We consider simple random walk on the family tree T of a nondegenerate supercritical Galton—Watson branching process and show that the resulting harmonic measure has a.s. strictly smaller Hausdorff dimension than that of the whole boundary of T. Concretely, this implies that an exponentially small fraction of the nth level of T carries most of the harmonic measure. First-order asymptotics for the rate of escape, Green function and the Avez entropy of the random walk are also determined. Ergodic theory of the shift on the space of random walk paths on trees is the main tool; the key observation is that iterating the transformation induced from this shift to the subset of ‘exit points’ yields a nonintersecting path sampled from harmonic measure.

Kifer and Ledrappier have asked whether the harmonic measures {νx} on manifolds of negative curvature are equivalent to the conditional measures of the harmonic measure v of the geodesic flow associated with the fibration {SxM}x∈M. We settle this question with a rigidity result. We also clear up the same problem concerning the Patterson-Sullivan measure and the Bowen–Margulis measure.

We introduce a notion of autonomous dynamical systems which generalizes algebraic dynamical systems. We show by giving examples and by describing some properties that this generalization is not a trivial one. We apply the methods then developed to algebraic Anosov systems. We prove that a C1-submanifold of finite volume, which is invariant by an algebraic Anosov system is ‘essentially’ algebraic.

We prove that the restriction of the graph of a subfactor, ΓN,M, to an infinite subset of vertices with finite boundary has the same norm as ΓN,W. In particular, if N φ M is extremal with [M : N] > 4 and ΓN,M has an A∞, tail then ΓN, M = A∞.

Let Λ be a basic set of an Axiom A diffeomorphism of a compact Riemannian manifold M without boundary. If ε is small enough one can find by local product structure that for x ε Λ there is a neighborhood V(x) in M such that V ∩ Λ is homeomorphic to . The author proves that this homeomorphism can be extended to a homeomorphism of V onto .

Generalizing Ratner's topological theorem for unipotent flows we obtain a sufficient condition for an orbit closure of a flow on a homogeneous space of finite volume to be algebraic. We give some applications of the result to studying birecurrent and minimal sets of homogeneous flows.