Divergent square averages (Q974071)

A consequence of \textit{J. Bourgain}'s work [Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 69, 5--45 (1989; Zbl 0705.28008)] is an ergodic theorem along squares, answering earlier questions of Bellow and Furstenberg: if \((X,\mathcal{B},\mu,T)\) is a measure-preserving system, then the non-conventional ergodic averages \((1/N)\sum_{n=0}^{N-1}f(T^{n^2}x)\) converge almost everywhere for \(f\in L^p\) with \(p>1\). Here a comprehensive -- and negative -- answer is given to his question of whether the result extends to all of \(L^1\). The authors show that the sequence \((n^2)\) is universally bad: for any ergodic measure-preserving system there is a function \(f\in L^1\) for which \((1/N)\sum_{n=0}^{N-1}f(T^{n^2}x)\) fails to converge as \(N\to\infty\) for \(x\) in a set of positive measure. The extremely intricate argument builds on arithmetic results on the distribution of squares modulo products of primes and makes use of the Pólya--Vinogradov Theorem.