Ergodic properties of infinite extensions of area-preserving flows (Q695276)

The authors study ergodic properties of a volume-preserving flow \(F_t^f(x,y):=(\phi_tx,y + \int_o^t f(\phi_sx)ds)\), where \(\phi_t\) is a locally Hamiltonian flow of hyperbolic periodic type on a compact connected surface \(S\) of genus \(g\geq2\) and \(f\) is a smooth real valued function on \(S\). The main result is that if \(f\) belongs to a space of finite codimension, then the following dynamical dichotomy holds: if there is a fixed point of \(\phi_t\) on which \(f\) does not vanish, then \(F_t^f\) is ergodic, otherwise, if \(f\) vanishes on all fixed points, it is reducible, i.e., isomorphic to the trivial extension \(F_t^0\). The proof of this result is based on the reduction to a skew product automorphism over an interval exchange transformation of periodic type. If there is a fixed point of \(\phi_t\) on which \(f\) does not vanish, the reduction yields cocycles with symmetric logarithmic singularities, for which ergodicity is proven in the paper.