Statistical regularities of self-intersection counts for geodesics on negatively curved surfaces (Q2450926)

Let \({\mathcal S}\) be a compact, negatively curved surface. To any geodesic \(\gamma\), any positive number \(T\) and function \(\varphi:{\mathcal S}\to\mathbb{R}_+\), associate the sum \(N_\varphi(\gamma, T):= \sum_i\varphi(x_i)\) over the points \(x_i\) of self-intersection of \(\gamma[0,T]\). It is known that \(N_1(\gamma,T)/T^2\) converges to \(k_\varphi:={1\over 4\pi|{\mathcal S}|}\), almost surely under the normalized Liouville measure \(\lambda\) on \({\mathcal S}\). The author carefully studies the fluctuations around this basic result (which follows from the law of large numbers). He shows first that the law (under \(\lambda\)) of \({N_1(\gamma, T)-k_{\mathcal S} T^2\over T}\) converges as \(T\to\infty\), to some probability law. He then shows the existence of some \(\varepsilon>0\) such that, provided \(\varphi\) is smooth \(\geq 0\), not identically \(0\) and has a support of diameter \(<\varepsilon\), then \({N_\varphi(\gamma,T)-k_{\mathcal S}\|\varphi\|_1 T^2\over T^{3/2}}\) converges in law (under \(\lambda\)) to some nondegenerate centred Gaussian variable. The author ends this beautiful work with the following statement, in which the closed geodesic \(\gamma\) is chosen randomly (uniformly) among all closed geodesics of length smaller than or equal to \(L\). Namely, he proves that, as \(L\to\infty\): (i) if \({\mathcal S}\) has constant negative curvature, then the law of \({N_1(\gamma,L)- k_{\mathcal L}L^2\over L}\) converges to some probability law; (ii) if \({\mathcal S}\) has variable negative curvature, then for some \(k^*>0\) the law of \({N_1(\gamma,L)- k^*L^2\over L^{3/2}}\) converges to some nondegenerate Gaussian law.