Ergodicity of group actions and spectral gap, applications to random walks and Markov shifts (Q379572)

Let \((X, \mathcal{B}, \nu )\) be a metric space with a Borel \(\sigma \)-algebra \(\mathcal{B}\) and a probability measure \(\nu \). Let also \(\Gamma \) be a countable group acting on \(X\) by Borel invertible maps, and \(\mu \) be a probability measure on \(\Gamma \) such that \(\operatorname{supp}(\mu )\) generates \(\Gamma \). One can consider the Markov operator \(P\) given by \[ P\psi (x) = \displaystyle \mathop {\sum }_{a\in \operatorname{supp}(\mu )}\psi (ax)\mu (a), \quad x\in X. \] The ergodicity of the operator \(P\) is equivalent to the ergodicity of the action of \(\Gamma \) on the probability space \((X, \mathcal{B}, \nu )\). The authors study various ergodic-theoretic properties of the operator \(P\) and its applications to several important examples. In the first section of the paper, it is proved that, for nilmanifolds (i.e., the quotients of connected, simply connected nilpotent Lie groups by their lattices), the ergodicity of \(P\) follows from the ergodicity of the restriction of \(P\) to the maximal torus factor. This extends a result of \textit{W. Parry} from [Am. J. Math. 91, 757--771 (1969; Zbl 0183.51503); Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 2, 37--40 (1970; Zbl 0194.05601)]. In the second section, the so-called spectral gap property is recalled; various facts and examples about this property are reviewed in tori, nilmanifolds, simple Lie groups, and compact Lie groups. Then, involving the spectral gap property, the authors obtain results about ergodicity, transience and recurrence of non-compact extensions of random walks. The last section of the paper is devoted to several (general) examples where the obtained results are examined and applied. These examples include random walks in a random scenery, random walks on extensions of tori, on coverings, and on motion groups.