The calculus of thermodynamical formalism (Q1989601)

Let $\Omega$ be a metric spaces and $T:\Omega\to\Omega$ an onto map representing a dynamical system. Let $\mathcal X$ be a Banach space of functions on $\Omega$ and $\mathcal U\subset \mathcal X$ an open subset such that for any $A\in\mathcal U$ the transfer operator \[ \mathcal L_Af(x) = \sum_{T(y)=x}e^{A(y)}f(y) \] is a bounded operator $\mathcal L_A:\mathcal X\to\mathcal X$ with a simple leading eigenvalue $\lambda_A$ with eigenfunction $h_A\in \mathcal X$ and a spectral gap. A basic example of such a setting is given by $\Omega=S^1=\mathbb R/\mathbb Z$ and the linear expansive map $T:x\mapsto 2x \text{ mod }\mathbb Z$. \par It is then a classical question to study the dependence of $\lambda_A$, $h_A$ or the Gibbs measure $\mu_A$ under variations of $A$. The present article introduces a differential geometric approach to these questions. Therefore the authors use the fact that for any $A\in \mathcal U$ there is a unique normalized potential $B\in\mathcal U$ such that $\lambda_B=1$, $h_B=1$ and $A$ and $B$ differ only by a constant and a coboundary, i.e., \[ A=B + c +g-g\circ T,~\text{ for }c\in\mathbb C,~g\in\mathcal X .\] The space of normalized potentials is denoted by $\mathcal N\subset\mathcal U$. Now the differential geometric approach is based on Theorem A which states that $\mathcal N$ has the structure of an analytic submanifold of $\mathcal U$. Based on this results the authors study the derivative of the map $\mathcal N\ni A\to\mu_A$, which then allows to define a Riemannian metric on $\mathcal N$ (Theorem D). In the sequel the authors use their differential geometric approach to provide new proofs for known results as well as to establish new results.