Ergodic Theory & Dynamical Systems Seminar 2009-10

Autumn Term 2009/2010

These will take place on Tuesdays at 2:00pm in B3.02 (unless otherwise indicated) in the Mathematics Institute.

For further information about Ergodic Theory and Dynamical Systems Seminars,
contact one of the organisers: Charlene Kalle, or Davoud Cheraghi. GO TO TERM 3

Term I

29th September 2009
Mike Field (Houston)
Exponential mixing for Hyperbolic flows

13th October 2009
Kenneth Falconer (St. Andrews)
Self-affine fractals and multifractals

20th October 2009
Davoud Cheraghi (Warwick)
Typical trajectories of quadratic polynomials with positive area Julia sets

27th October 2009
Anders Öberg (Uppsala)
Uniqueness and mixing rates for g-measure

3rd November 2009
Thomas Kempton (Warwick)
Factors of Gibbs measures for subshifts of finite type

10th November 2009
Charlene Kalle (Warwick)
β-expansions and multiple tilings

17th November 2009
Alastair Fletcher (Warwick)
Quasiregular dynamics

24th November 2009
Jean-Marc Gambaudo (Nice - Sophia Antipolis)
On the stability of quasicrystals

1st December 2009
Philip Rippon (Open)
Boundaries of escaping Fatou components of transcendental entire functions

8th December 2009
Freddie Exall (Liverpool)
TBA

Term II

12th January 2010
Carlangelo Liverani (Roma Tor Vergata)
Some rigorous results in linear response theory

This week the seminar will be in Room B3.01.

19th January 2010
Richard Sharp (Manchester)
Length spectra of negatively curved manifolds

26th January 2010
Lasse Rempe (Liverpool)
Measurable dynamics of transcendental functions

2nd February 2010
Henk Bruin (Surrey)
On the dynamics of subtractive algorithms

Abstract: There are various algorithms used to give simultaneous approximations of d

irrationalsby d rationals with common denominators. The Jacobi-Perron algorithm is

the bestknown example of such a continued fraction algorithm in higher dimensions,

but similar algorithms emerge from different applications too.

In this talk (based on work in progress with Robbert Fokkink and Cor Kraaikamp, Delft)

I want to describe a general class, called substractive algorithms by Schweiger,

and discuss their asymptotics and Lebesgue ergodic properties.

The existence of infinite \sigma-finite absolutely continuous measures is known

for some cases (basically coinciding with the cases for which a Markov partition

is known to exist), but there are good reasons to believe that \sigma-finite acims

occur in all conservative cases.

9th February 2010
Gwyneth Stallard (Open university)
Dimensions of escaping sets of transcendental entire functions

16th February 2010
Sara Munday (St-Andrews)
An introduction to $\alpha$ -Farey-Luroth and $\alpha$ -Luroth systems and
some strong renewal results

23th February 2010
Andy Ferguson (Warwick)
Escape rates for Gibbs measure

Abstract: In this talk I will present a result relating to the convergence of the spectral radius of a singularly perturbed transfer operator.
I will then discuss applications to the convergence of escape rates and topological pressure for subshifts of finite type.
This is joint work with Mark Pollicott.

2nd March 2010
Edward Crane (University of Bristol)
The Simple Harmonic Urn

Abstract: Urn models have a long history as thought experiments in statistical physics and biology, the best-known examples being
Polya's urn and the Ehrenfest urn. The behaviour of generalized Polya urns is well understood in the strictly positive case, where the
asymptotic behaviour depends on the spectrum of the reinforcement matrix. A morerecent example is the OK Corral model, a
two-colour urn model with negative eigenvalues, analysed by Kingman and Volkov by coupling with a pair of independent death
processes. In this talk we present a two-colour urn model with complex eigenvalues, which we call the simple harmonic urn.
We analyse it with a similar coupling method, revealing a connection with the renewal process with uniform interarrival times.
In passing we prove new sharp results about the uniform renewal process, essentially giving a sharp estimate of exponential decay
of correlations for a system induced from a shift space. Exact expressions for the transition probabilities involve the Eulerian numbers,
which count permutations with a specified number of descents. We show that the simple harmonic urn is transient, but only barely
- after a slight modification it becomes recurrent. This is neatly illustrated by a percolation model whose directed paths provide a
coupling of many instances of the simple harmonicurn and whose planar dual encodes the modification. Time permitting, we will
discuss two embeddings of the simple harmonic urn model in stationary processes and describe some open questions.

9th March 2010
Toby Hall (Liverpool.)
Paper surfaces and dynamical limits

Abstract: A paper surface is one which is obtained by making identifications along the sides of polygons in the plane: the difference
from the usual construction of surfaces is that the identifications can becarried out along infinitely many arcs in the boundaries of the
polygons. I will discuss the topological, metric, and complex structures of paper surfaces, and explain their relevance in taking limits
of sequences of two-dimensional dynamical systems. This is joint work with Andre de Carvalho (Sao Paulo).

16th March 2010
Hirojuki Inou (Kyoto)
Similarities in parameter spaces

Abstract: It is well-known that (the boundary of) the Mandelbrot set is self-similar. By computer pictures of families of cubic
polynomials, you can easily see much more complicated structures. For example, quadratic Julia sets and the Mandelbrot
set are homeomorphically (or even quasiconformally) embedded into some one-parameter families of cubic polynomials.
I will summarize known results on such similarities and related results. I will also present some works in progress and conjectures.

Term III

28th April 2010
Renaud Leplaideur (Université de Brest)
Selection of Maximizing Measure at Temperature Zero in the Shift
This week the seminar will be on Wednesday at 2pm in Room MS.04.
11th May 2010
Matthew Nicol (University of Houston)
A Borel-Cantelli Lemma For Non-uniformly Expanding Dynamical Systems
18th May 2010
Jaime Sanchez (Warwick)
Shape theory in the realm of dynamical systems
25th May 2010
Corinna Ulcigrai (University of Bristol)
Interval exchanges techniques to prove mixing properties of area preserving flows
1st June 2010
Name (Univ)
Title
8th June 2010
Mark Pollicott (Warwick)
Dynamical zeta functions: a miscellany
15th June 2010
Yongcheng Yin (Fudan University (China))
On bounded Fatou components for polynomials

Abstract: In this talk, we consider the local connectivity of the boundary of bounded Fatou components and Julia sets for polynomials.
We prove that (1) if U is an attracting or a parabolic bounded Fatou component, then its boundary is locally connected;
(2) if z is not prperiodic and its omega limit set intersects with the boundary of an attracting or a parabolic bounded Fatou component,
then the Julia set is locally connected at z.
This is a joint work with Pascale Roesch.

22nd June 2010
Andras Mathe (Warwick)
Geometric properties of self-similar sets and measures

Abstract: Let K be a self-similar set in a Euclidean space (satisfying the strong separation condition). I will study the
intersection of K with its similar copy g(K). It turns out that this intersection has positive measure if and only if its relative
interior in K is non-empty. Here "measure" is either the Hausdorff measure or any self-similar measure of K. I will also
give necessary algebraic conditions for those maps g for which the intersection of K and g(K) is of positive measure.
Most of the results generalize to self-conformal sets (attractors of IFS of smooth conformal maps), endowed with a
Gibbs measure. I will also mention some open problems. (Based on joint work with M. Elekes and T. Keleti.)
29th June 2010
Tom Sharland (Warwick)
Clustering and the mating of quadratic polynomials

Abstract: Let F be a quadratic rational map on the Riemann sphere. Suppose that a subcollection of the critical orbit Fatou
components meet at a periodic point c. We then call c a cluster point for the map F. I will discuss how maps with cluster
points arise naturally as the result of matings of polynomials and what we can say about the properties of the polynomials
that create clustering under mating, including some results using the language of symbolic dynamics of quadratic polynomials.
I will also describe how, for periods one and two, a very simple set of combinatorial data completely defines a rational map
up to a M\"obius transformation. If there is time, I will discuss how these results generalise in the case that F is a bicritical
rational map of degree d and the difficulties one encounters when dealing with cluster cycles of periods 3 or greater.