Lattice actions on the plane revisited (Q2429489)

\textit{F. Ledrappier} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris, Sér. I, Math. 329, No. 1, 61--64 (1999; Zbl 0928.22012)] initiated the study of equidistribution properties of the linear actions of lattices \(\Gamma \subset G = \mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb R)\) on the plane \(\mathbb R^2\). (This problem was also studied by \textit{A. Nogueira} in the setting of \(\Gamma = \mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb Z)\), see [Indag. Math., New Ser. 13, No.1, 103-124 (2002; Zbl 1016.37003)].) His main tool was the ergodic theory of the horocycle flow, given by the action of the unipotent upper-triangular subgroup \(N\) on \(G/\Gamma\). Note that \(\mathbb R^2 \backslash\{0\} = G/N\), so we can use the relationship between the \(N\) action on \(G/\Gamma\) and the \(\Gamma\) action on \(G/N\). This strategy was generalized to higher-rank Lie groups by \textit{A. Gorodnik} and the second author [Geom. Funct. Anal. 17, No. 1, 58--115 (2007; Zbl 1112.37001)] to understand lattice actions on homogeneous varieties. The paper under review effectivizes some aspects of the equidistribution results for \(\Gamma\)-actions on \(\mathbb R^2\), using the effective equidistribution results for horocycle flow from [\textit{M. Burger}, Duke Math. J. 61, No. 3, 779--803 (1990; Zbl 0723.58041); \textit{L. Flaminio} and \textit{G. Forni}, Duke Math. J. 119, No. 3, 465--526 (2003; Zbl 1044.37017); \textit{A. Strömbergsson}, ``On the deviation of ergodic averages for horocycle flows'', Preprint, \url{http://www.math.uu.se/~astrombe/papers/iha.pdf})] and translating them to obtain effective equidistribution and shrinking target results for the action on \(\mathbb R^2\). The results depend on whether \(\Gamma\) is cocompact or not. In the cocompact setting, all (nonzero) orbits equidistribute (effectively), whereas in the setting \(\Gamma = \mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb Z)\), one has to impose diophantine conditions on the orbit points.