Fluctuations of ergodic sums for horocycle flows on \(\mathbb Z^d\)-covers of finite volume surfaces (Q945444)

The authors study the almost sure asymptotic behavior of ergodic sums, with respect to the horocycle flow, for \(L^1\) functions on the unit tangent bundle of a \(\mathbb Z^d\)-cover of a finite area hyperbolic surface. Let \(M_0\) denote a complete two-dimensional Riemannian manifold with finite area and Gaussian curvature \(K\equiv-1\) that is obtained by deleting \(t\) points from a compact, connected, orientable surface of genus \(g\), where \(2g+t> 2\). Let \(p:M\to M_0\) denote a regular covering whose deckgroup \(D\) is isomorphic to \(\mathbb Z^d\) for some positive integer \(d\). Such coverings are the simplest and most tractable infinite coverings of \(M_0\), and they have been studied by several authors. Fix a group isomorphism between \(D\) and \(\mathbb Z^d\). Let \(\{h^s\}\) and \(\{g^s\}\) denote the horocycle and geodesic flows respectively on the unit tangent bundles of \(M\) and \(M_0\). Let \(\widetilde{M}_0\) be a fundamental domain in the unit tangent bundle \(T^1M\) for the action of \(D\) by differential maps on \(T^1M\). Let \(m\) denote the Riemannian volume measure on \(T^1M\), normalized so that \(m(\widetilde{M}_0)=1\). For each vector \(v\in T^1M\) there exists an element \(\zeta(v) \in D\) such that \(\zeta(v)(v)\in \widetilde{M}_0\). For the geodesic flow \(\{g^s\}\) in \(T^1M\) the authors consider the behavior of the \(\mathbb Z^d\)-valued stochastic process \(\{\zeta(g^sv): v\in \widetilde{M}_0\), \(s\geq 0\}\) as \(s\to\infty\). They obtain a decomposition \(\mathbb R^d= E_p\oplus E_q\), where \(E_p\) and \(E_q\) are subspaces determined by the residues of the 1-forms at the cusps of \(M_0\). Moreover, \(\zeta\in D\approx \mathbb Z^d\) can be decomposed into \(\zeta= \zeta_p+ \zeta_q\) such that for \(v\in T^1M\) one has \(\zeta_p(v)\in E_p\) and \(\zeta_q(v)\in E_q\); \(\frac{1}{s} \zeta_p(g^sv)\to X\) as \(s\to+\infty\); \(\frac{1}{\sqrt{s}} \zeta_q(g^sv)\to Y\) as \(s\to+\infty\) and \(\frac{1}{s} \zeta_p(g^sv)+ \frac{1}{\sqrt{s}} \zeta_q(g^sv)\to N\) as \(s\to+\infty\). Here convergence is convergence in distribution, \(X\in E_p\) is a nondegenerate \(p\)-dimensional symmetric Cauchy random variable, \(Y\in E_q\) is a nondegenerate \(q\)-dimensional Gaussian random variable and \(N\) is the independent sum of \(X\) and \(Y\). For \(T>0\) define \(a(T)= \frac{T}{(\ln T)^k}\), where \(k=p+\frac{1}{2}q\) and \(p,q\) are the integers above with \(p+q=d\). The main result of the article (Theorem 1.1) gives upper and lower bounds for the fluctuation of \(\frac{1}{a(T)} \int_0^T f(h^sv)\,ds\), where \(v\in T^1M\), \(f\in L^1(T^1M)\) satisfies \(\int_{T^1M} f\,dm= 1\) and \(\{h^s\}\) denotes the horocycle flow. These bounds depend on a positive constant \(\alpha\), the constant \(T^*= \ln(\frac{T}{(\ln T)^\alpha})\), \(\zeta_p\), and \(\zeta_q\). We omit a precise statement of the result, but some of the implications include: {\parindent=5mm \begin{itemize}\item[a)] The growth rate of ergodic sums is \(a(T)\); that is, if one divides \(\int_0^T f(h^sv)\,ds\) by a quantity less than \(a(T)\) then there is a subsequence where the quotient tends to infinity and if one divides by more than \(a(T)\) then there is a subsequence where the quotient tends to zero. \item[b)] This rate of growth depends on \(k=p+\frac{1}{2}q\). \item[c)] The fluctuations of \(\frac{1}{a(T)} \int_0^T f(h^sv)\,ds\) are driven by the geodesic flow orbit \(g^sv\). \item[d)] The time scale of these fluctuations is logarithmic, depending on \(T^*\sim \ln T\). \end{itemize}} Thus there are exponentially large time intervals when \(\frac{1}{a(T)} \int_0^T f(h^sv)\,dt\) deviates significantly from \(\int_{T^1M} f\,dm\). Further applications of the main result include: Theorem 1.2. The measure \(m\) is rationally ergodic for the horocycle flow \(\{h^s\}\) on \(T^1M\). In particular there exists a sequence \(T_k\to+\infty\) such that the Cesàro \(\lim_{k\to\infty} \frac{1}{a(T_k)} \int_0^{T_k} f(h^sv)\,ds= \int_{T^1M} f\,dm\) for \(f\in L^1(T^1M)\) and \(v\) a.e. in \(T^1M\). Theorem 1.3. There is a constant A such that for every \(f\in L^1(T^1M)\) one obtains \[ \lim_{N\to \infty} \frac{1}{\ln\ln N} \int_3^N \frac{1}{T\ln T} \bigg(\frac{1}{a(T)} \int_0^T f(h^sv)\,ds \bigg)\,dT= A\int_{T^1M}f\,dm \] for \(v\) a.e. in \(T^1M\). The authors also describe the constant \(A\).