## Seminar program for Spring 2021

We are pleased to resume our online seminar program. As usual, we meet on Thursdays at 3.00pm EST unless otherwise noted.

The following is our current schedule, and more talks will be announced soon.

Feb 4th: No seminar due to the one-day workshop ‘Hyperbolic Day Online‘ organized by Andrey Gogolev (Ohio State) and Rafael Potrie (Universidad de la Republica)

Feb 11th: Sebastian Donoso (University of Chile)

Feb 18th: Daniel Glasscock (UMass Lowell)

Feb 25th: Florian Richter (Northwestern)

Mar 04th: Claire Merriman (The OSU)

Mar 11th: Dominik Kwietniak (Jagiellonian University in Krakow)

Mar 18th: Donald Robertson (University of Manchester)

Mar 25th: Mariusz Lemańczyk (Nicolaus Copernicus University)

Apr 1st: Break

April 8th: Jonathan DeWitt (The University of Chicago)

Apr 15th: Joel Moreira (University of Warwick)

Apr 22nd: Steve Cantrell (The University of Chicago)

Apr 29th: Dmitry Kleinbock (Brandeis University)

## New Ohio State Online Ergodic Theory Seminar

UPDATE: We will continue our program in Spring 2021. However, we are taking a brief Winter hiatus. We expect to resume in February.

We are pleased to announce that we will be running an online seminar program in Fall 2020. The seminar will take place in our usual time slot unless otherwise noted – Thursdays 3.00pm (EST). Some seminars are scheduled at an alternate time of Friday 12.40pm (EST).

Our current schedule for the semester follows:

Sept 17: Lien-Yung “Nyima” Kao (George Washington University)

Oct 2 (Friday, 1pm EST): Tushar Das (University of Wisconsin)

Oct 9 (Friday, 12.40pm EST): Mark Demers (Fairfield University)

Oct 16 (Friday, 12.40pm EST): Tianyu Wang (Ohio State)

Oct 22: Andrew Best (Ohio State)

Oct 29: Tamara Kucherenko (City College of New York)

Nov 12: Shahriah Mirzadeh (Michigan State)

Nov 19: Yeor Hafuta (Ohio State)

Dec 3: Nikos Frantzikinakis (University of Crete)

## Seminar 04.22.21 Cantrell

Title: Rough similarity, rigidity and the Manhattan Curve for metrics on
hyperbolic groups

Speaker: Steve Cantrell – The University  of Chicago

Abstract: Consider a hyperbolic group equipped with two hyperbolic metrics
that are left invariant and are quasi-isometric to a word metric. A
natural question to ask is: when are these metrics roughly similar, i.e.
when are they within bounded distance after scaling by a positive
constant? In this talk we’ll discuss rigidity statements that characterize
rough similarity in terms of the properties of the so-called Manhattan
Curve. We’ll see how to study this curve using a blend of ideas coming
from ergodic theory and geometric group theory. This is based on joint
work with Ryokichi Tanaka.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

## Seminar 04.15.21 Moreira

Title: Multiplicative recurrence with additive averaging

Speaker: Joel Moreira – University  of Warwick

Abstract: Motivated by the question of whether Pythagorean triples are partition regular, one is naturally led to study sets of recurrence in the semigroup of natural numbers under multiplication. However, for sets with “additive structure”, the usual tools (such as the van der Corput trick) don’t seem to be useful in this context. As an alternative, we propose to study sets of averaging recurrence, where the averaging is taken additively. We present some results in this direction, and some applications to number theory. This is based on joint work with Sebastian Donoso, Anh Le and Wenbo Sun.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

Recorded Talk: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/play/J1MkxyEaOGUHGcdGM84cNOQXt7thTW47Im6oWulA6EIbn4c5tpI0vGFW1eR7u_vDHqpnpLQCKVQso5SK.86O6eYU5IyOTjLxX?continueMode=true

## Seminar 04.08.21 DeWitt

Title: Simultaneous Linearization of Diffeomorphisms of Isotropic Manifolds

Speaker: Jonathan DeWitt – The University of Chicago

Abstract: Suppose that M is a closed isotropic Riemannian manifold and that R_1,…,R_m generate the isometry group of M. Let f_1,…,f_m be smooth perturbations of these isometries. We show that the f_i are simultaneously conjugate to isometries if and only if their associated uniform Bernoulli random walk has all Lyapunov exponents zero. This extends a linearization result of Dolgopyat and Krikorian from S^n to real, complex, and quaternionic projective spaces.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

## Seminar 03.25.21 Lemańczyk

Title: On Furstenberg systems of some aperiodic multiplicative functions

Speaker: Mariusz Lemańczyk – Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń

Abstract: Studying arithmetic properties of multiplicative functions through the so called Furstenberg systems became a powerful and fruitful ergodic tool when dealing with the Sarnak and Chowla conjectures, cf. Frantzikinakis-Host’s theorem on the validity of logarithmic Sarnak’s conjecture for systems having not too many ergodic measures.
The Chowla conjecture, originally formulated for the Liouville function, was expected to hold for a much larger class of multiplicative functions in the sense that it has precisely one Furstenberg system, and this system is “maximally random”.
In 2015‪ Matomäki‬ , Radziwiłł and Tao gave a counterexample to Elliot’s conjecture by constructing aperiodic multiplicative functions (bounded by 1) for which (already) the Chowla conjecture of order 2 fails.
During the talk I will try to describe recent results concerning a variety of Furstenberg systems for ‪Matomäki‬, Radziwiłł, Tao’s functions, in particular, showing that the Chowla conjecture holds for them along some subsequences. The talk is based on my joint work with Alex Gomilko and Thierry de la Rue.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

## Seminar 03.18.21 Robertson

Title: Uniform Distribution of Saddle Connection Lengths

Speaker: Donald Robertson – University of Manchester

Abstract: Saddle connections on flat surfaces are those straight line trajectories connecting singular points. In this talk I will explain what that means and discuss work with Jon Chaika and Benjamin Dozier on the uniform distribution mod 1 of the lengths of saddle connections.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

Recorded Talk: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/play/Gn_hXP0BBP7r3HPdodAJuEUxk3ed9ZUfUstA9aS6gKBrFBiLuyOmp6Y8tdA4zHta_Yk0zox-lIuk2iUR._SxZ3acW_MWm4WXD?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=8CfvQXwLTHOXESID46FWow.1616204141275.c79ea67121104fa26c652ee4a2cdd174&_x_zm_rhtaid=272

## Seminar 03.11.21 Kwietniak

Title: Dbar-approachability, entropy density and B-free shifts

Speaker: Dominik Kwietniak – Jagiellonian University in Krakow

Abstract: Let dbar denote the pseudometric on the full shift over a
finite alphabet A given by the upper asymptotic density of the set of
positions at which two A-valued sequences differ. Write H-dbar for the
associated Hausdorff pseudometric for subsets of the full shift. We
study which properties of shift spaces (shifts) are closed with
respect to H-dbar. In particular, we study shifts, which are H-dbar
limits of their Markov approximations. We call these shifts
dbar-approachable. We provide a topological characterization of chain
mixing dbar-approachable shifts analogous to Friedman-Ornstein’s
characterization of Bernoulli processes.

We prove that many specification properties imply
dbar-approachability. It follows that mixing shifts of finite type,
mixing sofic shifts, and beta-shifts are dbar-approachable. We
construct minimal and proximal examples of mixing dbar-approachable
shifts. We also show that dbar-approachability and chain-mixing imply
dbar-stability, a property recently introduced by Tim Austin. This
leads to examples of minimal or proximal dbar-stable shift spaces,
answering a question posed by Austin. Finally, we show that the set of
shifts with entropy-dense ergodic measures is H-dbar closed. Note that
entropy-density of ergodic measures is known to follow from the
specification property, but the minimal or proximal examples are far
from having any specification. Finally, we show entropy-density for a
class of shifts that includes many interesting B-free shifts. These
shift spaces are not dbar-approachable, but they are H-dbar limits of
sequences of transitive sofic shifts, and this implies
entropy-density.

This is a joint work with Jakub Konieczny and Michal Kupsa.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

Recorded talk: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/play/_DXkoWtXTB92Pui6F7zl4eoVstNWH1rMUdb2a8NjFe61zd2BC9dTZP4UnuUKAC9behs6MQs88XEToF8A.vhVYz7t7fI5_en7U?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=HImgc_KTTByZM_8W1gjyuA.1615523637945.3021b693a8b3eeed460d5a4c44061f1c&_x_zm_rhtaid=457

## Seminar 03.04.21 Merriman

Title: Using modular surfaces to generate continued fractions

Speaker: Claire Merriman – The Ohio State University

Abstract: Continued fractions are frequently studied in number theory, but they can also be described geometrically. I will give both pictorial and algebraic descriptions of the flows that describe continued fraction expansions. This talk will focus on continued fractions of the form $a_1\pm\frac{1}{a_2\pm\frac{1}{a_3\pm\ddots}}$, where the $a_i$ are odd. I will show how to describe these continued fractions as geodesic on the hyperbolic plane, and how they cross cells of the Farey tessellation.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

Recorded talk: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/play/FNCFPum1mokl6Bnf8uJ76iRehQRPNq5Op3VMXBDbNz7lAPb5qGWwnud4KJJucCuZQhrufoMV3d7X7MbK.icd0xSMxEksuitng?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=TxJ_aekJTv69MOkCQOL-dA.1614920606908.f7398a7dd87a1fb116574333eca30d89&_x_zm_rhtaid=489

## Seminar 02.25.21 Richter

Title: Additive and geometric transversality of fractal sets in the integers

Speaker: Florian K. Richter – Northwestern University

Abstract: Using the language of fractal geometry and dynamical systems, Furstenberg proposed a series of conjectures in the 1960s that explore the relationship between digit expansions of real numbers in distinct prime bases. While his famous x2 x3 conjecture remains open, recent solutions to some of his “transversality conjectures” have shed new light on old problems. In this talk we explore analogues questions in the discrete setting of the integers, with the aim of understanding the independence of sets of integers that are structured with respect to different prime bases. This is based on joint work with Daniel Glasscock and Joel Moreira.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

Recorded talk: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/play/Rkd9fe3_RRhHi58HtHE0Gjv6Ls831YiiVREOlnvsMCZh1MAQ2pwLNXdLTF04YV1bASAUr0xCj6JIoVO_.ukxDRCKORfRDV69r?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=SeyN37XMRTCLsJefPOamKg.1614300556080.85186464ed81cb1aa81402c607077979&_x_zm_rhtaid=566

## Seminar 02.18.21 Glasscock

Title: Recent progress on a question of Katznelson concerning topological recurrence

Speaker: Daniel Glasscock – UMass Lowell

Abstract: Katznelson’s question is a longstanding open question at the intersection of topological dynamics, combinatorial number theory, and harmonic analysis: Is every set of Bohr recurrence a set of topological recurrence?  Equivalently, does the set of differences A-A of a set of integers A with bounded gaps contain the iterated difference set (B-B)-(B-B) of a set B of positive upper density?  In this talk, I will survey what little is known about Katznelson’s question and explain some recent progress achieved in joint work with Andreas Koutsogiannis and Florian Richter.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

## Seminar 02.11.21 Donoso

Title: Topological and combinatorial aspects of finite topological rank systems

Speaker: Sebastián Donoso – University of Chile

Abstract: In this talk, I will review recent results in the class of finite topological rank minimal subshifts. Such systems are the ones that can be represented with a Bratteli diagram (and a Vershik map on it) where the number of vertices at each level is uniformly bounded. I will analyze their correspondence with the $\mathcal{S}$-adic subshifts and their complexity word function.

Meeting ID: 980 3359 0349

Recorded talk: https://osu.zoom.us/rec/play/AISzeWPNTTxkC-dy_ZtZM76wDoDJofw6-fpqPsslISf34ULhGvUbGjgI4mf3_h2jCNruS9vOPdplxCzR.hNo2Yi9bD6SHkiE3?continueMode=true&_x_zm_rtaid=KvM_SXzBT0qkkWkrmUHZJg.1613079456544.ff00d7a1110cfbae291de3cd17886910&_x_zm_rhtaid=402

## Seminar 12.3.20 Frantzikinakis

Title: Furstenberg Systems of Bounded Sequences

Speaker: Nikos Frantzikinakis – University of Crete

Abstract: Furstenberg systems are measure preserving systems that are used to model statistical properties of bounded sequences of complex numbers. They offer a different viewpoint for a variety of problems for which progress can be made by a partial or complete description of suitably chosen Furstenberg systems. In this lecture I will give several examples of this principle and in the process we will see several structural properties of Furstenberg systems arising from smooth functions and bounded multiplicative functions.

## Seminar 11.19.20 Hafuta

Title: Limit theorems for time dependent expanding dynamical systems

Speaker: Yeor Hafuta – Ohio State University

Abstract: Some of the results like the Berry-Esseen theorem and moderate deviations principle hold true for general sequences of maps when the variance of the underlying partial sums grows faster than n^{2/3}, while other results such as the local central limit theorem hold true for certain classes of random not necessarily stationary transformations. The results also include a certain type of stability theorem in a complex version of the sequential Rulle-Perron-Frobenius theorem, which yields that the variance grows linearly fast when the underlying maps are close enough to a single expanding map.

Pdf of slides available here

Title: On the dimension drop conjecture for diagonal flows on the space of lattices

Speaker: Shahriar Mirzadeh – Michigan State University

Abstract: (see attached pdf for better formatting): Consider the set of points in a homogeneous space X=G/Γ whose gt-orbit misses a fixed open set. It has measure zero if the flow is ergodic. It has been conjectured that this set has Hausdorff dimension strictly smaller than the dimension of X. This conjecture is proved when X is compact or when has real rank 1.

In this talk we will prove the conjecture for probably the most important example of the higher rank case namely: G=SLm+n(R), Γ=SLm+n(Z)and gt=\diag(et/m,⋯,et/m,e−t/n,⋯,e−t/n) We can also use our main result to produce new applications to Diophantine approximation. This project is joint work with Dmitry Kleinbock.

Zoom recording available here

Pdf of slides available here

## Seminar 10.29.20 Kucherenko

Title: Multiple phase transitions on compact symbolic systems

Speaker: Tamara Kucherenko – City College of New York

Abstract: A first-order phase transition refers to a loss of differentiability of the pressure function with respect to a parameter regarded as the inverse temperature. Such non-differentiability necessarily implies coexistence of several equilibrium states, although the converse is not true. In the case of H\”older continuous potentials on transitive SFTs the pressure is real analytic and there are no phase transitions. Therefore, in order to allow the possibility of phase transitions one needs to consider potentials that are merely continuous. Note that the convexity of the pressure implies that a continuous potential has at most countably many phase transitions. We show that the case of infinitely many phase transitions can indeed be realized. In this talk we present a method to explicitly construct a continuous potential on a full shift with an infinite number of first order phase transitions occurring at any increasing sequence of predetermined points. This is based on joint work with Anthony Quas and Christian Wolf.

Zoom recording available here

## Seminar 10.22.20 Best

Title: The Furstenberg-Sárközy theorem and asymptotic total ergodicity

Speaker: Andrew Best – Ohio State University

Abstract: The Furstenberg-Sárközy theorem asserts that the difference set E-E of a subset E of the natural numbers with positive upper density contains a (nonzero) square. Furstenberg’s approach relies on a correspondence principle and a version of the Poincaré recurrence theorem along squares; the latter is shown via the result that for any measure-preserving system $(X,\mathcal{B},\mu,T)$ and set A with positive measure, the ergodic average $\frac{1}{N} \sum_{n=1}^N \mu(A \cap T^{-n^2}A)$ has a positive limit c(A) as N tends to infinity. Motivated — by what? we shall see — to optimize the value of c(A), we define the notion of asymptotic total ergodicity in the setting of modular rings $\mathbb{Z}/N\mathbb{Z}$. We show that a sequence of modular rings (Z/N_m Z) is asymptotically totally ergodic if and only if the least prime factor of N_m grows to infinity. From this fact, we derive some combinatorial consequences. These results are based on joint work with Vitaly Bergelson.

Zoom recording available here

## Seminar 10.16.20 Wang

Title: Central Limit Theorem for equilibrium measures in dynamical systems

Speaker: Tianyu Wang – Ohio State University

Abstract: Central limit theorem of certain class of equilibrium measures is a heavily studied statistical property in smooth dynamics. In the first half of the talk, I will briefly introduce some common strategies to study CLT that are useful in many classic settings, e.g. Anosov flows, expanding maps on the unit circle, (countable) Markov shift, etc. In the second half, I will show how specification can be applied to derive an asymptotic version of CLT for the equilibrium measures in the case of geodesic flow on non-positively curved rank-one manifold. This method is first introduced by Denker, Senti, Zhang and the result is based on a recent joint work with Dan Thompson.

Zoom recording available here

## Seminar 10.9.20 Demers

Title: Thermodynamic Formalism for Sinai Billiards

Speaker: Mark Demers – Fairfield University

Abstract: While the ergodic properties of Sinai billiards with respect to the SRB measure are well understood, there have been few studies of other invariant measures and equilibrium states. As a step in this direction, we study the family of geometric potentials $– t \log (J^uT)$, $t>0$. For any finite horizon Sinai billiard map $T$, we find $t_* >1$ such that for each $t \in (0, t_*)$, there exists a unique equilibrium state $\mu_t$ for the potential. We show that $\mu_t$ is exponentially mixing for H\”older observables, and that the pressure function $P(t)$ is analytic on $(0,t_*)$. This extends our recent results for the case $t=0$, corresponding to the measure of maximal entropy. This is joint work with Viviane Baladi.

Zoom recording available here

Pdf of slides available here

## Seminar 10.2.20 Das

Title: Successive minima of lattice trajectories and topological games to compute fractal dimensions

Speaker: Tushar Das – University of Wisconsin – La Crosse

Abstract: We present certain sketches of a program, developed in collaboration with Lior Fishman, David Simmons, and Mariusz Urbanski, which extends the parametric geometry of numbers (initiated by Schmidt and Summerer, and deepened by Roy) to Diophantine approximation for systems of m linear forms in n variables, and establishes a new connection to the metric theory via a variational principle that computes the fractal dimensions of various sets of number-theoretic interest. Applications of our results include computing the Hausdorff and packing dimensions of the set of singular systems of linear forms and showing they are equal, resolving a conjecture of Kadyrov, Kleinbock, Lindenstrauss and Margulis, as well as a question of Bugeaud, Cheung and Chevallier. As a corollary of the correspondence principle (initiated by Dani, and deepened by Kleinbock and Margulis), the divergent trajectories of a one-parameter diagonal action on the space of unimodular lattices with exactly two Lyapunov exponents with opposite signs has equal Hausdorff and packing dimensions. Highlights of our program include the introduction of certain combinatorial objects that we call templates, which arise from a dynamical study of Minkowski’s successive minima in the geometry of numbers; as well as a new variant of Schmidt’s game designed to compute the Hausdorff and packing dimensions of any set in a doubling metric space. The talk will be accessible to students and faculty interested in some convex combination of homogeneous dynamics, Diophantine approximation and fractal geometry. I hope to present a sampling of open questions and directions that have yet to be explored, some of which may be pursued by either following or adapting the technology described in my talk.

Zoom recording available here

Pdf of slides available here

## Seminar 9.18.20 Kao

Title: Pressure Metrics for Deformation Spaces of Quasifuchsian Groups with Parabolics

Speaker: Lien-Yung “Nyima” Kao – George Washington University

Abstract: Thurston pointed out that one can use variations of lengths of closed geodesics on hyperbolic surfaces to construct a Riemannian metric on the Teichmueller space. When the surface is closed, Wolpert showed that Thurston’s construction recovers the Weil-Petersson metric. Using thermodynamic formalism, McMullen proposed a new perspective to this Riemannian metric, and called it the pressure metric. In this talk, I will discuss how to extend this dynamical construction to spaces of quasiconformal deformations of (non-compact) finite area hyperbolic surfaces. This is a joint work with Harry Bray and Dick Canary.

Zoom recording available here

Pdf of slides available here