Decay of correlations (Q1902562)

Decays of correlations, and in particular the question of an exponential rate for the decay, are studied both in statistical mechanics by studying the Ruelle-Perron Frobenius operator or in symbolic dynamics, by coding hyperbolic dynamical systems via Markov partitions. This paper shows that the correlations decay exponentially fast for a general class of piecewise smooth hyperbolic maps. The technique used here is inspired by \textit{G. Birkhoff} [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 85, 219-227 (1957; Zbl 0079.13502); `Lattice theory', 3rd ed. (1967; Zbl 0153.02501)]. The transfer operator is shown to be a contraction with respect to an explicitly constructed Hilbert metric, which provides constructively the invariant measure. The results can be extended to a more general class of hyperbolic maps such as billiards and non-uniformly hyperbolic maps, and could possibly provide new ways of approach for dissipative systems, for instance.