Unique ergodicity of flows on homogeneous spaces

LetG be a unimodular Lie group, Γ a co-compact discrete subgroup ofG and ‘a’ a semisimple element ofG. LetT _a be the mapgΓ →ag Γ:G/Γ →G/Γ. The following statements are pairwise equivalent: (1) (T _a, G/Γ,θ) is weak-mixing. (2) (T _a, G/Γ) is topologically weak-mixing. (3) (G ^u, G/Γ) is uniquely ergodic. (4) (G ^u, G/Γ,θ) is ergodic. (5) (G ^u, G/Γ) is point transitive. (6) (G ^u, G/Γ) is minimal. If in additionG is semisimple with finite center and no compact factors, then the statement “(T _a, G/Γ,θ) is ergodic” may be added to the above list. The authors were partially supported by NSF grant MCS 75-05250.     

Lower bounds at infinity of solutions of partial differential equations in the exterior of a proper cone

An extension of a classical theorem of Rellich to the exterior of a closed proper convex cone is proved: Let Γ be a closed convex proper cone inR ⁿ and −Γ′ be the antipodes of the dual cone of Γ. Let be a partial differential operator with constant coefficients inR ⁿ, whereQ(ζ)≠0 onR ⁿ−iΓ′ andP _i is an irreducible polynomial with real coefficients. Assume that the closure of each connected component of the set {ζ∈R ⁿ−iΓ′;P _j(ζ)=0, gradP _j(ζ)≠0} contains some real point on which gradP _j≠0 and gradP _j∉Γ∪(−Γ). LetC be an open cone inR ⁿ−Γ containing both normal directions at some such point, and intersecting each normal plane of every manifold contained in {ξ∈R ⁿ;P(ξ)=0}. Ifu∈ℒ′∩L _loc ² (R ⁿ−Γ) and the support ofP(−i∂/∂x)u is contained in Γ, then the condition implies that the support ofu is contained in Γ.     

Divergent torus orbits in homogeneous spaces of ℚ-rank two

LetG be a semisimple algebraic ℚ-group, let Γ be an arithmetic subgroup ofG, and letT be an ℝ-split torus inG. We prove that if there is a divergentT _ℝ-orbit in Γ\G _ℝ, and ℚ-rankG≤2, then dimT≤ℚ-rankG. This provides a partial answer to a question of G. Tomanov and B. Weiss.     

Free subgroups of small cancellation groups

In this paper we give a simple proof of Collin’s theorem concerning free subgroups ofC(4),T(4) groups. Our proof actually shows that a slenderT(4) presentation 〈x ₁,x ₂, …,x _n ;r〉 has a free subgroup of rank 2 provided there is a subset {a, b, c} of {x ₁,x ₂, …,x _n } with the property that any non-empty freely reduced word ina, b, c equal to 1 inG has a subword of length 2 contained in an element ofr*.     

Boundaries of random walks on graphs and groups with infinitely many ends

Consider an irreducible random walk {Z _n} on a locally finite graphG with infinitely many ends, and assume that its transition probabilities are invariant under a closed group Γ of automorphisms ofG which acts transitively on the vertex set. We study the limiting behaviour of {Z _n} on the spaceΩ of ends ofG. With the exception of a degenerate case,Ω always constitutes a boundary of Γ in the sense of Furstenberg, and {Z _n} converges a.s. to a random end. In this case, the Dirichlet problem for harmonic functions is solvable with respect toΩ. The degenerate case may arise when Γ is amenable; it then fixes a unique end, and it may happen that {Z _n} converges to this end. If {Z _n} is symmetric and has finite range, this may be excluded. A decomposition theorem forΩ, which may also be of some purely graph-theoretical interest, is derived and applied to show thatΩ can be identified with the Poisson boundary, if the random walk has finite range. Under this assumption, the ends with finite diameter constitute a dense subset in the minimal Martin boundary. These results are then applied to random walks on discrete groups with infinitely many ends.     

Minimality and unique ergodicity of homogeneous actions

Consider a connected Lie groupG, a lattice Γ inG, a connected subgroupH ofG, and the adjoint representation Ad ofG on its Lie algebra g. Suppose that Ad(H) splits into a semidirect product of a reductive subgroup and the unipotent radical. We prove that the minimality of the leftH-action onG/Γ then implies its unique ergodicity. Simultaneously, we suggest a reduction of the study of finite ergodic measures for an arbitrary action (G/Γ,H), where the subgroupH∈G is connected and Γ∈G is discrete, to the case of an Abelian subgroupH. Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 66, No. 2, pp. 293–301, August, 1999.     

Distribution of lattice orbits on homogeneous varieties

Given a lattice Γ in a locally compact group G and a closed subgroup H of G, one has a natural action of Γ on the homogeneous space V = H\ G. For an increasing family of finite subsets {Γ _T : T > 0}, a dense orbit υ· Γ, υ∈V and compactly supported function φ on V, we consider the sums . Understanding the asymptotic behavior of S _φ,υ (T) is a delicate problem which has only been considered for certain very special choices of H,G and {Γ _T }. We develop a general abstract approach to the problem, and apply it to the case when G is a Lie group and either H or G is semisimple. When G is a group of matrices equipped with a norm, we have where G _T = {g ∈G: ||g|| < T} and Γ _T = G _T ∩ Γ. We also show that the asymptotics of S _{φ, υ} (T) is governed by where ν is an explicit limiting density depending on the choice of υ and || · ||. Submitted: March 2005 Revision: April 2006 Accepted: June 2006     

Cusp forms

LetG andH ⊂G be two real semisimple groups defined overQ. Assume thatH is the group of points fixed by an involution ofG. Letπ ⊂L ²(H\G) be an irreducible representation ofG and letf επ be aK-finite function. Let Γ be an arithmetic subgroup ofG. The Poincaré seriesP _f(g)=Σ_H∩ΓΓ f(γ{}itg) is an automorphic form on Γ\G. We show thatP _f is cuspidal in some cases, whenH ∩Γ\H is compact. Partially supported by NSF Grant # DMS 9103608.     

Formule de Rice en dimension d

Summary Let {x(t): tR ^d} a stochastic process with parameter in R ^d, and u a fixed real number. Denote by C _u, A_u, B_u respectively the random sets {t: x(t)= u}, {t: x(t)}, {t: x(t)>u}. The paper contains two main results for processes with continuously differentiable paths plus some additional requirements: First, a formula for the expectation of Q _T(A_u) and Q _T(B_u), where for a given bounded open set T in R ^d, Q_T(B) denotes the perimeter of B relative to T and second, sufficient conditions on the process, so that it does not have local extrema on the barrier u. The second result can also be used to interpret the first in terms of C _u.     

On finite Moufang polygons

We show that a finite generalized polygon Γ is Moufang with respect to a groupG if and only if for every flag {x, y} of Γ, the subgroupG ₁(x, y) ofG fixing every element incident with one ofx, y acts transitively on the set of apartments containing the elementsu, x, y, w, whereu≠y (resp.w≠x) is an arbitrary element incident withx (resp.y). Research Associate at the National Fund of Scientific Research of Belgium. Research partially supported by NSF Grant DMS-8901904.     

On discrete subgroups containing a lattice in a horospherical subgroup

We showed in [Oh] that for a simple real Lie groupG with real rank at least 2, if a discrete subgroup Γ ofG contains lattices in two opposite horospherical subgroups, then Γ must be a non-uniform arithmetic lattice inG, under some additional assumptions on the horospherical subgroups. Somewhat surprisingly, a similar result is true even if we only assume that Γ contains a lattice in one horospherical subgroup, provided Γ is Zariski dense inG.     

Probabilities of high excursions of Gaussian fields

Let {ξ(t), t ∈ T} be a differentiable (in the mean-square sense) Gaussian random field with E ξ(t) ≡ 0, D ξ(t) ≡ 1, and continuous trajectories defined on the m-dimensional interval T ì \mathbbR^m T \subset {\mathbb{R}^m} . The paper is devoted to the problem of large excursions of the random field ξ. In particular, the asymptotic properties of the probability P = P{−v(t) < ξ(t) < u(t), t ∈ T}, when, for all t ∈ T, u(t), v(t) ⩾ χ, χ → ∞, are investigated. The work is a continuation of Rudzkis research started in [R. Rudzkis, Probabilities of large excursions of empirical processes and fields, Sov. Math., Dokl., 45(1):226–228, 1992]. It is shown that if the random field ξ satisfies certain smoothness and regularity conditions, then P = e^−Q  + Qo(1), where Q is a certain constructive functional depending on u, v, T, and the matrix function R(t) = cov(ξ′(t), ξ′(t)).     

Disjoint homotopic paths and trees in a planar graph

In this paper we describe a polynomial-time algorithm for the following problem:given: a planar graphG embedded in ℝ², a subset {I ₁, …,I _p} of the faces ofG, and pathsC ₁, …,C _k inG, with endpoints on the boundary ofI ₁ ∪ … ∪I _p; find: pairwise disjoint simple pathsP ₁, …,P _k inG so that, for eachi=1, …,k, P _i is homotopic toC _i in the space ℝ²\(I ₁ ∪ … ∪I _p). Moreover, we prove a theorem characterizing the existence of a solution to this problem. Finally, we extend the algorithm to disjoint homotopic trees. As a corollary we derive that, for each fixedp, there exists a polynormial-time algorithm for the problem:given: a planar graphG embedded in ℝ² and pairwise disjoint setsW ₁, …,W _k of vertices, which can be covered by the boundaries of at mostp faces ofG;find: pairwise vertex-disjoint subtreesT ₁, …,T _k ofG whereT _i (i=1, …, k).     

Limit distributions of expanding translates of certain orbits on homogeneous spaces

LetL be a Lie group and λ a lattice inL. SupposeG is a non-compact simple Lie group realized as a Lie subgroup ofL and . LetaεG be such that Ada is semisimple and not contained in a compact subgroup of Aut(Lie(G)). Consider the expanding horospherical subgroup ofG associated toa defined as U⁺ ={g&#x03B5;G:a ⁻ⁿ gaⁿ} →e as n → ∞. Let Ω be a non-empty open subset ofU ⁺ andn _i → ∞ be any sequence. It is showed that . A stronger measure theoretic formulation of this result is also obtained. Among other applications of the above result, we describeG-equivariant topological factors of L/gl × G/P, where the real rank ofG is greater than 1,P is a parabolic subgroup ofG andG acts diagonally. We also describe equivariant topological factors of unipotent flows on finite volume homogeneous spaces of Lie groups.     

Logarithm laws for flows on homogeneous spaces

In this paper we generalize and sharpen D. Sullivan’s logarithm law for geodesics by specifying conditions on a sequence of subsets {A _t  | t∈ℕ} of a homogeneous space G/Γ (G a semisimple Lie group, Γ an irreducible lattice) and a sequence of elements f _t of G under which #{t∈ℕ | f _t x∈A _t } is infinite for a.e. x∈G/Γ. The main tool is exponential decay of correlation coefficients of smooth functions on G/Γ. Besides the general (higher rank) version of Sullivan’s result, as a consequence we obtain a new proof of the classical Khinchin-Groshev theorem on simultaneous Diophantine approximation, and settle a conjecture recently made by M. Skriganov. Oblatum 27-VII-1998 & 2-IV-1999 / Published online: 5 August 1999     

Algebraic modular forms

In this paper, we develop an algebraic theory of modular forms, for connected, reductive groupsG overQ with the property that every arithmetic subgroup Γ ofG(Q) is finite. This theory includes our previous work [15] on semi-simple groupsG withG(R) compact, as well as the theory of algebraic Hecke characters for Serre tori [20]. The theory of algebraic modular forms leads to a workable theory of modular forms (modp), which we hope can be used to parameterize odd modular Galois representations. The theory developed here was inspired by a letter of Serre to Tate in 1987, which has appeared recently [21]. I want to thank Serre for sending me a copy of this letter, and for many helpful discussions on the topic.     

Diffuse measures and nonlinear parabolic equations

Given a parabolic cylinder Q = (0, T) × Ω, where W ì \mathbb R^N{\Omega\subset \mathbb {R}^N} is a bounded domain, we prove new properties of solutions of

On the evolution operator for abstract parabolic equations

We find a new construction of the evolution operatorG(t, s) associated to a family {A(t), 0≦t≦T} of generators of analytic semigroups in a Banach spaceX. We study the dependence ofG (t, s) ont ands, and we give regularity results for the solution of the i.v.p.u′(t)=A(t)u(t)+f(t),u(0)=x.     

On the Kronecker pairing for mixed cusp forms

LetG⊃PSL(2,R) be a Fuchsian group of the first kind with no elements of finite order, and letS ^2m V be the 2m-fold symmetric power of the standard representationV ofSL(2,R) on C². We determine the value of the Kronecker pairing between the canonical image of a mixed cusp formf of type (2,2m) inH ¹(G, S ^2m V) and a cycleg ⊗Q _g ^m inH ₁ (G, (S ^2m V)^*) for eachg inG, whereQ _g ^m is an element of (S ^2m V)^* associated tog, m and a monodromy representation ofG.     

Ergodic Subequivalence Relations Induced by a Bernoulli Action

Let Γ be a countable group and denote by S{\mathcal{S}} the equivalence relation induced by the Bernoulli action G\curvearrowright [0, 1]^G{\Gamma\curvearrowright [0, 1]^{\Gamma}}, where [0, 1]^Γ is endowed with the product Lebesgue measure. We prove that, for any subequivalence relation R{\mathcal{R}} of S{\mathcal{S}}, there exists a partition {X _i } _i≥0 of [0, 1]^Γ into R{\mathcal{R}}-invariant measurable sets such that R_|X0{\mathcal{R}_{\vert X_{0}}} is hyperfinite and R_|Xi{\mathcal{R}_{\vert X_{i}}} is strongly ergodic (hence ergodic and non-hyperfinite), for every i ≥ 1.