Let $F\subseteq \mathbb{R}^{2}$ be a Bedford–McMullen carpet defined by multiplicatively independent exponents, and suppose that either $F$ is not a product set, or it is a product set with marginals of dimension strictly between zero and one. We prove that any similarity $g$ such that $g(F)\subseteq F$ is an isometry composed of reflections about lines parallel to the axes. Our approach utilizes the structure of tangent sets of $F$, obtained by ‘zooming in’ on points of $F$, projection theorems for products of self-similar sets, and logarithmic commensurability type results for self-similar sets in the line.

Let $X$ be a compact metrizable group and let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}$ be a countable group acting on $X$ by continuous group automorphisms. We give sufficient conditions under which the dynamical system $(X,\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4})$ is surjunctive, i.e. every injective continuous map $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}:X\rightarrow X$ commuting with the action of $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6E4}$ is surjective.

We show that a $C^{1}$-generic non-partially hyperbolic symplectic diffeomorphism $f$ has topological entropy equal to the supremum of the sum of the positive Lyapunov exponents of its hyperbolic periodic points. Moreover, we also prove that $f$ has topological entropy approximated by the topological entropy of $f$ restricted to basic hyperbolic sets. In particular, the topological entropy map is lower semicontinuous in a $C^{1}$-generic set of symplectic diffeomorphisms far from partial hyperbolicity.

We highlight a connection between Diophantine approximation and the lower Assouad dimension by using information about the latter to show that the Hausdorff dimension of the set of badly approximable points that lie in certain non-conformal fractals, known as self-affine sponges, is bounded below by the dynamical dimension of these fractals. For self-affine sponges with equal Hausdorff and dynamical dimensions, the set of badly approximable points has full Hausdorff dimension in the sponge. Our results, which are the first to advance beyond the conformal setting, encompass both the case of Sierpiński sponges/carpets (also known as Bedford–McMullen sponges/carpets) and the case of Barański carpets. We use the fact that the lower Assouad dimension of a hyperplane diffuse set constitutes a lower bound for the Hausdorff dimension of the set of badly approximable points in that set.

We study double ergodic averages with respect to two general commuting transformations and establish a sharp quantitative result on their convergence in the norm. We approach the problem via real harmonic analysis, using recently developed methods for bounding multilinear singular integrals with certain entangled structure. A byproduct of our proof is a bound for a two-dimensional bilinear square function related to the so-called triangular Hilbert transform.

We consider group-valued cocycles over dynamical systems. The base system is a homeomorphism $f$ of a metric space satisfying a closing property, for example a hyperbolic dynamical system or a subshift of finite type. The cocycle $A$ takes values in the group of invertible bounded linear operators on a Banach space and is Hölder continuous. We prove that upper and lower Lyapunov exponents of $A$ with respect to an ergodic invariant measure $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$ can be approximated in terms of the norms of the values of $A$ on periodic orbits of $f$. We also show that these exponents cannot always be approximated by the exponents of $A$ with respect to measures on periodic orbits. Our arguments include a result of independent interest on construction and properties of a Lyapunov norm for the infinite-dimensional setting. As a corollary, we obtain estimates of the growth of the norm and of the quasiconformal distortion of the cocycle in terms of the growth at the periodic points of $f$.

We associate with every étale groupoid $\mathfrak{G}$ two normal subgroups $\mathsf{S}(\mathfrak{G})$ and $\mathsf{A}(\mathfrak{G})$ of the topological full group of $\mathfrak{G}$, which are analogs of the symmetric and alternating groups. We prove that if $\mathfrak{G}$ is a minimal groupoid of germs (e.g., of a group action), then $\mathsf{A}(\mathfrak{G})$ is simple and is contained in every non-trivial normal subgroup of the full group. We show that if $\mathfrak{G}$ is expansive (e.g., is the groupoid of germs of an expansive action of a group), then $\mathsf{A}(\mathfrak{G})$ is finitely generated. We also show that $\mathsf{S}(\mathfrak{G})/\mathsf{A}(\mathfrak{G})$ is a quotient of $H_{0}(\mathfrak{G},\mathbb{Z}/2\mathbb{Z})$.

We determine the Hausdorff, the packing and the box-counting dimensions of a family of self-affine sets generalizing Barański carpets. More specifically, we fix a Barański system and allow both vertical and horizontal random translations, while preserving the structure of the rows and columns. The alignment kept in the construction allows us to give expressions for these fractal dimensions outside of a small set of exceptional translations. Such formulae will coincide with those for the non-overlapping case, and thus provide examples where the box-counting and the Hausdorff dimension do not necessarily agree. These results rely on Hochman’s recent work on the dimensions of self-similar sets and measures, and can be seen as an extension of Fraser and Shmerkin [On the dimensions of a family of overlapping self-affine carpets. Ergod. Th. & Dynam. Sys.doi: 10.1017/etds.2015.21. Published online: 21 July 2015] results for Bedford–McMullen carpets with columns overlapping.

We effect the thermodynamical formalism for the non-uniformly hyperbolic $C^{\infty }$ map of the two-dimensional torus known as the Katok map [Katok. Bernoulli diffeomorphisms on surfaces. Ann. of Math. (2)110(3) 1979, 529–547]. It is a slow-down of a linear Anosov map near the origin and it is a local (but not small) perturbation. We prove the existence of equilibrium measures for any continuous potential function and obtain uniqueness of equilibrium measures associated to the geometric $t$-potential $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}_{t}=-t\log \mid df|_{E^{u}(x)}|$ for any $t\in (t_{0},\infty )$, $t\neq 1$, where $E^{u}(x)$ denotes the unstable direction. We show that $t_{0}$ tends to $-\infty$ as the domain of the perturbation shrinks to zero. Finally, we establish exponential decay of correlations as well as the central limit theorem for the equilibrium measures associated to $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}_{t}$ for all values of $t\in (t_{0},1)$.

Suppose that a countable group $G$ admits a cusp-uniform action on a hyperbolic space $(X,d)$ such that $G$ is of divergent type. The main result of the paper is characterizing the purely exponential growth type of the orbit growth function by a condition introduced by Dal’bo, Otal and Peigné [Séries de Poincaré des groupes géométriquement finis. Israel J. Math.118(3) (2000), 109–124]. For geometrically finite Cartan–Hadamard manifolds with pinched negative curvature, this condition ensures the finiteness of Bowen–Margulis–Sullivan measures. In this case, our result recovers a theorem of Roblin (in a coarse form). Our main tool is the Patterson–Sullivan measures on the Gromov boundary of $X$, and a variant of the Sullivan shadow lemma called the partial shadow lemma. This allows us to prove that the purely exponential growth of either cones, or partial cones or horoballs is also equivalent to the Dal’bo–Otal–Peigné condition. These results are used further in a paper by the present author [W. Yang, Patterson–Sullivan measures and growth of relatively hyperbolic groups. Preprint, 2013, arXiv:1308.6326].

We investigate the polynomial lower and upper bounds for decay of correlations of a class of two-dimensional almost Anosov diffeomorphisms with respect to their Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen (SRB) measures. The degrees of the bounds are determined by the expansion and contraction rates as the orbits approach the indifferent fixed point, and are expressed by using coefficients of the third-order terms in the Taylor expansions of the diffeomorphisms at the indifferent fixed point.