Typicality of recurrence for Lorentz gases

It is a safe conjecture that most (not necessarily periodic) two-dimensional Lorentz gases with finite horizon are recurrent. Here we formalize this conjecture by means of a stochastic ensemble of Lorentz gases, in which i.i.d. random scatterers are placed in each cell of a co-compact lattice in the plane. We prove that the typical Lorentz gas, in the sense of Baire, is recurrent, and give results in the direction of showing that recurrence is an almost sure property (including a zero-one law that holds in every dimension). A few toy models illustrate the extent of these results.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Ergodic Properties of the Quantum Ideal Gas in the Maxwell-Boltzmann Statistics

It is proved that the quantization of the Volkovyski-Sinai model of ideal gas (in the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics) enjoys at the thermodynamical limit the properties of mixing and ergodicity with respect to the quantum canonical Gibbs state. Plus, the average over the quantum state of a pseudo-differential operator is exactly the average over the classical canonical measure of its Weyl symbol.Comment: 35 pages, LaTe

Uniformly expanding Markov maps of the real line: exactness and infinite mixing

We give a fairly complete characterization of the exact components of a large class of uniformly expanding Markov maps of $\mathbb{R}$. Using this result, for a class of $\mathbb{Z}$-invariant maps and finite modifications thereof, we prove certain properties of infinite mixing recently introduced by the author.Comment: Final version to be published in Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems A. 47 pages, 5 figures. Labeling of appendices (and related wording) may differ from published versio

Exactness, K-property and infinite mixing

We explore the consequences of exactness or K-mixing on the notions of mixing (a.k.a. infinite-volume mixing) recently devised by the author for infinite-measure-preserving dynamical systems.Comment: Corrected reference to published version and fixed some typos, 15 page

Infinite-horizon Lorentz tubes and gases: recurrence and ergodic properties

We construct classes of two-dimensional aperiodic Lorentz systems that have infinite horizon and are 'chaotic', in the sense that they are (Poincar\'e) recurrent, uniformly hyperbolic, ergodic, and the first-return map to any scatterer is $K$-mixing. In the case of the Lorentz tubes (i.e., Lorentz gases in a strip), we define general measured families of systems (\emph{ensembles}) for which the above properties occur with probability 1. In the case of the Lorentz gases in the plane, we define families, endowed with a natural metric, within which the set of all chaotic dynamical systems is uncountable and dense.Comment: Final version, to appear in Physica D (2011

Localization in infinite billiards: a comparison between quantum and classical ergodicity

Consider the non-compact billiard in the first quandrant bounded by the positive $x$-semiaxis, the positive $y$-semiaxis and the graph of $f(x) = (x+1)^{-\alpha}$, $\alpha \in (1,2]$. Although the Schnirelman Theorem holds, the quantum average of the position $x$ is finite on any eigenstate, while classical ergodicity entails that the classical time average of $x$ is unbounded.Comment: 9 page

Large deviations in quantum lattice systems: one-phase region

We give large deviation upper bounds, and discuss lower bounds, for the Gibbs-KMS state of a system of quantum spins or an interacting Fermi gas on the lattice. We cover general interactions and general observables, both in the high temperature regime and in dimension one.Comment: 30 pages, LaTeX 2

More ergodic billiards with an infinite cusp

In a previous paper (nlin.CD/0107041) the following class of billiards was studied: For $f: [0, +\infty) \longrightarrow (0, +\infty)$ convex, sufficiently smooth, and vanishing at infinity, let the billiard table be defined by $Q$, the planar domain delimited by the positive $x$-semiaxis, the positive $y$-semiaxis, and the graph of $f$. For a large class of $f$ we proved that the billiard map was hyperbolic. Furthermore we gave an example of a family of $f$ that makes this map ergodic. Here we extend the latter result to a much wider class of functions.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Global-local mixing for the Boole map

In the context of 'infinite-volume mixing' we prove global-local mixing for the Boole map, a.k.a. Boole transformation, which is the prototype of a non-uniformly expanding map with two neutral fixed points. Global-local mixing amounts to the decorrelation of all pairs of global and local observables. In terms of the equilibrium properties of the system it means that the evolution of every absolutely continuous probability measure converges, in a certain precise sense, to an averaging functional over the entire space.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Final version to be published in Chaos, Solitons & Fractal