Intended for beginners in ergodic theory, this book addresses students as well as researchers in mathematical physics. The main novelty is the systematic treatment of characteristic problems in ergodic theory by a unified method in terms of convergent power series and renormalization group methods, in particular. Basic concepts of ergodicity, like Gibbs states, are developed and applied to, e.g., Asonov systems or KAM theory. Many examples illustrate the ideas and, in addition, a substantial number of interesting topics are treated in the form of guided problems.

Klappentext

Intended for beginners in ergodic theory, this introductory textbook addresses students as well as researchers in mathematical physics. The main novelty is the systematic treatment of characteristic problems in ergodic theory by a unified method in terms of convergent power series and renormalization group methods, in particular. Basic concepts of ergodicity, like Gibbs states, are developed and applied to, e.g., Asonov systems or KAM Theroy. Many examples illustrate the ideas and, in addition, a substantial number of interesting topics are treated in the form of guided problems.

Inhalt

1 General Qualitative Properties.- 2 Ergodicity and Ergodic Points.- 3 Entropy and Complexity.- 4 Markovian Pavements.- 5 Gibbs Distributions.- 6 General Properties of Gibbs and SRB Distributions.- 7 Analyticity, Singularity and Phase Transitions.- 8 Special Ergodic Theory Problems in Nonchaotic Dynamics.- 9 Some Special Topics in KAM Theory.- 10 Special Problems in Chaotic Dynamics.- A Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics? Twenty-Seven Comments.- Name Index.- Citations Index.