Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 July 2014
Given an affine variety $X$, a morphism
${\it\phi}:X\rightarrow X$, a point
${\it\alpha}\in X$, and a Zariski-closed subset
$V$ of
$X$, we show that the forward
${\it\phi}$-orbit of
${\it\alpha}$ meets
$V$ in at most finitely many infinite arithmetic progressions, and the remaining points lie in a set of Banach density zero. This may be viewed as a weak asymptotic version of the dynamical Mordell–Lang conjecture for affine varieties. The results hold in arbitrary characteristic, and the proof uses methods of ergodic theory applied to compact Berkovich spaces.