The problem of recurrence for the planar Lorentz gas (Q1876380)

This paper is a brief survey for solving the problem of recurrence for planar Lorentz processes. There are two different ways to do this: (1) Using \textit{L.-S. Young}'s construction [Ann. Math. (2) 147, 585--650 (1998; Zbl 0945.37009)] one proves the local central limit theorem from which Polya's theorem is then deduced -- this is the method of \textit{D. Szász} and \textit{T. Varjú} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 24, 257--278 (2004; Zbl 1115.37009)]. (2) \textit{Klaus Schmidt} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I, Math. 327, 837--842 (1998; Zbl 0923.60090)] and \textit{J.-P. Conze} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 19, 1233--1245 (1999; Zbl 0973.37007)] proved that the recurrence of the planar Lorentz processes follows from the global central limit theorem, established by \textit{L. A. Bunimovich} and \textit{Ya. G. Sinai} [Commun. Math. Phys. 78, 479--497 (1981; Zbl 0459.60099)]. The history of the problem and the main ingredients of the proofs are given. The details of K. Schmidt's method are analysed in the Appendix written by V. Bognar.