Uniformity in the polynomial Wiener-Wintner theorem

In 1993, E. Lesigne proved a polynomial extension of the Wiener-Wintner ergodic theorem and asked two questions: does this result have a uniform counterpart and can an assumption of total ergodicity be replaced by ergodicity? The purpose of this article is to answer these questions, the first one positively and the second one negatively.Comment: 12 page

Equidistribution of sparse sequences on nilmanifolds

We study equidistribution properties of nil-orbits $(b^nx)_{n\in\N}$ when the parameter $n$ is restricted to the range of some sparse sequence that is not necessarily polynomial. For example, we show that if $X=G/\Gamma$ is a nilmanifold, $b\in G$ is an ergodic nilrotation, and $c\in \R\setminus \Z$ is positive, then the sequence $(b^{[n^c]}x)_{n\in\N}$ is equidistributed in $X$ for every $x\in X$. This is also the case when $n^c$ is replaced with $a(n)$, where $a(t)$ is a function that belongs to some Hardy field, has polynomial growth, and stays logarithmically away from polynomials, and when it is replaced with a random sequence of integers with sub-exponential growth. Similar results have been established by Boshernitzan when $X$ is the circle.Comment: 32 pages. References updated, a few small changes made. Appeared in Journal d'Analyse Mathematiqu

Some open problems on multiple ergodic averages

We survey some recent developments and give a list of open problems regarding multiple recurrence and convergence phenomena of $\mathbb{Z}^d$ actions in ergodic theory and related applications in combinatorics and number theory.Comment: Remarks by the referees incorporated. To appear in the Bulletin of the Hellenic Mathematical Society. Updates on the status of the problems will be posted here: http://www.math.uoc.gr/~nikosf/OpenProblems.htm

Multiple recurrence and convergence for Hardy sequences of polynomial growth

We study the limiting behavior of multiple ergodic averages involving sequences of integers that satisfy some regularity conditions and have polynomial growth. We show that for "typical" choices of Hardy field functions $a(t)$ with polynomial growth, the averages $\frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^N f_1(T^{[a(n)]}x)\cdot...\cdot f_\ell(T^{\ell [a(n)]}x)$ converge in the mean and we determine their limit. For example, this is the case if $a(t)=t^{3/2}, t\log{t},$ or $t^2+(\log{t})^2$. Furthermore, if ${a_1(t),...,a_\ell(t)}$ is a "typical" family of logarithmico-exponential functions of polynomial growth, then for every ergodic system, the averages $\frac{1}{N}\sum_{n=1}^N f_1(T^{[a_1(n)]}x)\cdot...\cdot f_\ell(T^{[a_\ell(n)]}x)$ converge in the mean to the product of the integrals of the corresponding functions. For example, this is the case if the functions $a_i(t)$ are given by different positive fractional powers of $t$. We deduce several results in combinatorics. We show that if $a(t)$ is a non-polynomial Hardy field function with polynomial growth, then every set of integers with positive upper density contains arithmetic progressions of the form ${m,m+[a(n)],...,m+\ell[a(n)]}$. Under suitable assumptions we get a related result concerning patterns of the form ${m, m+[a_1(n)],..., m+[a_\ell(n)]}.$Comment: 42 pages. A correction made in Lemma~5.1. We thank Joanna Kulaga-Przymus for pointing out this. The remaining text remains unaffecte

The Structure of Strongly Stationary Systems

Motivated by a problem in ergodic Ramsey theory, Furstenberg and Katznelson introduced the notion of strong stationarity, showing that certain recurrence properties hold for arbitrary measure preserving systems if they are valid for strongly stationary ones. We construct some new examples and prove a structure theorem for strongly stationary systems. The building blocks are Bernoulli systems and rotations on nilmanifolds

Good weights for the Erd\H{o}s discrepancy problem

The Erd\H{o}s discrepancy problem, now a theorem by T. Tao, asks whether every sequence with values plus or minus one has unbounded discrepancy along all homogeneous arithmetic progressions. We establish weighted variants of this problem, for weights given either by structured sequences that enjoy some irrationality features, or certain random sequences. As an intermediate result, we establish unboundedness of weighted sums of bounded multiplicative functions and products of shifts of such functions. A key ingredient in our analysis for the structured weights, is a structural result for measure preserving systems naturally associated with bounded multiplicative functions that was recently obtained in joint work with B. Host.Comment: 23 pages, a small correction in the statements of Corollary 1.5 and Proposition 4.

An averaged Chowla and Elliott conjecture along independent polynomials

We generalize a result of Matom\"aki, Radziwi{\l}{\l}, and Tao, by proving an averaged version of a conjecture of Chowla and a conjecture of Elliott regarding correlations of the Liouville function, or more general bounded multiplicative functions, with shifts given by independent polynomials in several variables. A new feature is that we recast the problem in ergodic terms and use a multiple ergodic theorem to prove it; its hypothesis is verified using recent results by Matom\"aki and Radziwi{\l}{\l} on mean values of multiplicative functions on typical short intervals. We deduce several consequences about patterns that can be found on the range of various arithmetic sequences along shifts of independent polynomials.Comment: 15 pages, small changes, to appear in International Mathematics Research Notice

Convergence of multiple ergodic averages for some commuting transformations

We prove the $L^{2}$ convergence for the linear multiple ergodic averages of commuting transformations $T_{1}, ..., T_{l}$, assuming that each map $T_i$ and each pair $T_iT_j^{-1}$ is ergodic for $i\neq j$. The limiting behavior of such averages is controlled by a particular factor, which is an inverse limit of nilsystems. As a corollary we show that the limiting behavior of linear multiple ergodic averages is the same for commuting transformations.Comment: 12 page

A Hardy field extension of Szemeredi's Theorem

In 1975 Szemer\'edi proved that a set of integers of positive upper density contains arbitrarily long arithmetic progressions. Bergelson and Leibman showed in 1996 that the common difference of the arithmetic progression can be a square, a cube, or more generally of the form $p(n)$ where $p(n)$ is any integer polynomial with zero constant term. We produce a variety of new results of this type related to sequences that are not polynomial. We show that the common difference of the progression in Szemer\'edi's theorem can be of the form $[n^\delta]$ where $\delta$ is any positive real number and $[x]$ denotes the integer part of $x$. More generally, the common difference can be of the form $[a(n)]$ where $a(x)$ is any function that is a member of a Hardy field and satisfies $a(x)/x^k\to \infty$ and $a(x)/x^{k+1}\to 0$ for some non-negative integer $k$. The proof combines a new structural result for Hardy sequences, techniques from ergodic theory, and some recent equidistribution results of sequences on nilmanifolds.Comment: 37 pages. A correction made on the statement of Theorems~B and B'. We thank Pavel Zorin-Kranich for pointing out that Lemma~4.6 in the previous version was incorrec

Weighted multiple ergodic averages and correlation sequences

We study mean convergence results for weighted multiple ergodic averages defined by commuting transformations with iterates given by integer polynomials in several variables. Roughly speaking, we prove that a bounded sequence is a good universal weight for mean convergence of such averages if and only if the averages of this sequence times any nilsequence converge. Key role in the proof play two decomposition results of independent interest. The first states that every bounded sequence in several variables satisfying some regularity conditions is a sum of a nilsequence and a sequence that has small uniformity norm (this generalizes a result of the second author and B. Kra); and the second states that every multiple correlation sequence in several variables is a sum of a nilsequence and a sequence that is small in uniform density (this generalizes a result of the first author). Furthermore, we use the previous results in order to establish mean convergence and recurrence results for a variety of sequences of dynamical and arithmetic origin and give some combinatorial implications.Comment: 53 pages, small changes made in light of comments from the referee, to appear in Ergodic Theory and Dynamical System