Conditional proof of the Boltzmann-Sinai ergodic hypothesis (Q2390929)

The author considers hard ball systems of \(N\) balls of masses \(m_1, \dots, m_N\) and radius \(r\) on the \(\nu\)-dimensional torus \(\mathbb{T}^\nu\). It is known from the papers [\textit{N. Simányi} and \textit{D. Szász}, Ann. Math. (2) 149, No. 1, 35--96 (1999; Zbl 0918.58040)] and [\textit{N. Simányi}, Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 22, No. 1, 281--302 (2002; Zbl 1046.37020)] that such systems are hyperbolic. In a previous paper [\textit{N. Simányi}, Invent. Math. 154, No. 1, 123--178 (2003; Zbl 1109.82003)], the author proved that for \(N \geq 2\), \(\nu = 2\) and generic \((m_1, \ldots, m_N, r)\), the hard ball system is ergodic, provided that the radius of the balls are not too large, so that the interior of the phase space is connected. This was generalised in [\textit{N. Simányi}, Ann. Henri Poincaré 5, No. 2, 203--233 (2004; Zbl 1055.37038)] to any dimension \(\nu \geq 2\) and almost all \((m_1, \dots, m_N, r)\). The Chernov--Sinai ansatz is that for almost all points in the phase space, corresponding to a singular reflection, the forward orbit is geometrically hyperbolic. For any \(N \geq 2\), \(\nu \geq 2\) and \((m_1, \dots, m_N, r)\), under the assumption that this ansatz is true, Simányi proves that the hard ball system is ergodic. This paper thus contains a proof of the Boltzmann--Sinai ergodic hypothesis, under the condition that the Chernov--Sinai ansatz is true.