On disjointness properties of some parabolic flows (Q2187252)

This is a significant contribution to the study of disjointness properties of parabolic dynamical systems. The primary example is the horocycle flow acting on the unit tangent bundle of a compact surface with constant negative curvature; these flows were studied by \textit{M. Ratner} [Ann. Math. (2) 118, 277--313 (1983; Zbl 0556.28020); Invent. Math. 88, 341--374 (1987; Zbl 0697.58046)], who proved strong rigidity properties for them that persist under smooth time changes. A critical role is played in these arguments by the \(H\)-property (later called the Ratner property), which captures the polynomial rate of divergence of nearby trajectories. For many years the only known examples of systems with this property were horocycle flows and their time changes. \textit{K. Fraczek} and the second author [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 26, No. 3, 719--738 (2006; Zbl 1096.37017)] found a class of smooth flows on the \(2\)-torus with one singular point with a variant of the Ratner property, \textit{B. Fayad} and the first author [Invent. Math. 203, No. 2, 555--614 (2016; Zbl 1358.37018)] found a globally smooth example, and in later work the first and third authors et al. [J. Eur. Math. Soc. 21, No. 12, 3797--3855 (2019; Zbl 1427.37035)] showed that the same switchable Ratner property holds for smooth Arnol'd flows on any surface of genus greater than one. This switchable variation of the Ratner property requires that the polynomially controlled divergence of nearby trajectories holds either in the future or in the past. This -- and other -- Ratner properties are all aimed at being able to recover rigidity properties in the spirit of Ratner theory. Here a general disjointness criteria is established based on the switchable Ratner property, which is used to prove disjointness properties of horocycle flows and their time changes, and certain Arnol'd flows. Among the consequences is the answer to a question raised by \textit{M. Ratner} [Zbl 0556.28020; Invent. Math. 88, 341--374 (1987; Zbl 0697.58046)] on the Möbius orthogonality of time-changes of horocycle flows, via the more general proof of Möbius orthogonality for all smooth time-changes of horocycle flows and the uniquely ergodic realisations of the Arnol'd flows studied.