Existence and non-existence of length averages for foliations (Q2008958)

The article deals with a certain problem of dynamics of foliations with singularities. Given a foliation \(\mathcal{F}\) on a Riemannian manifold \(M\) and a continuous function \(\phi:M\to\mathbb{R}\), the {length average} of \(\phi\) is defined as the limit (as \(r\to\infty\)) of the Riemannian measure integrals of \(\phi\) over the leaf-balls of radius \(r\) divided by the Riemannian volume of these balls. This is an analogue of the {time average} used in the classical theory of dynamical systems. The authors provide: (1) Examples of pairs \((\mathcal{F}, \phi)\) for which the length average does not exist; (2) Conditions on foliations \(\mathcal{F}\) of compact surfaces implying existence of length averages for all continuous functions \(\phi\). The latter result is related to Birkhoff's ergodic theorem in classical dynamics.