Decay of correlations for normally hyperbolic trapping (Q2346749)

The evolution problems with general semiclassical operators for which the classical flow has a normally hyperbolic trapped set are considered. Flows with this structure include contact Anosov flows, classical flows in molecular dynamics, and null geodesic flows for black holes metrics. The authors prove the existence of resonance-free strips for such problems. The width of the strip is related to certain Lyapunov exponents and, for the spectral parameter in that strip, the Green's function (cut-off resolvent) is polynomially bounded. Such estimates are closely related to exponential decay of correlations in classical dynamics and in scattering problems. More interesting quantitative results can be obtained for the wave equation or for decay of classical correlations. The main result of this paper is proved for certain operators using a complex absorbing potential. The authors derive results which apply to the setting of scattering theory [\textit{K. Datchev} and \textit{A. Vasy}, Int. Math. Res. Not. 2012, No. 23, 5409--5443 (2012; Zbl 1262.58019)], to various problems of scattering on asymptotically hyperbolic manifolds and to the decay of correlations for the wave equation and for contact Anosov flows.