This book, first published in 2000, focuses on developments in the study of geodesic flows on homogenous spaces.

Nearly one hundred years ago Jacques Hadamard used infinite sequences of symbols to analyze the distribution of geodesics on certain surfaces. That was the beginning of symbolic dynamics. In the 1930's and 40's Arnold Hedlund and Marston Morse again used infinite sequences to investigate geodesics on surfaces of negative curvature. They coined the term symbolic dynamics and began to study sequence spaces with the shift transformation as dynamical systems. In the 1940's Claude Shannon used sequence spaces to describe infor mation channels. Since that time symbolic dynamics has been used in ergodic theory, topological dynamics, hyperbolic dynamics, information theory and complex dynamics. Symbolic dynamical systems with a finite memory are stud ied in this book. They are the topological Markov shifts. Each can be defined by transition rules and the rules can be summarized by a transition matrix. The study naturally divides into two parts. The first part is about topological Markov shifts where the alphabet is finite. The second part is concerned with topological Markov shifts whose alphabet is count ably infinite. The techniques used in the two cases are quite different. When the alphabet is finite most of the methods are combinatorial or algebraic. When the alphabet is infinite the methods are much more analytic. This book grew from notes for a graduate course taught at Wesleyan Uni versity in the fall of 1994 and is intended as a graduate text and as a reference book for mathematicians working in related fields.

Symbolic dynamics is essential in the study of dynamical systems of various types and is connected to many other fields such as stochastic processes, ergodic theory, representation of numbers, information and coding, etc. This graduate text introduces symbolic dynamics from a perspective of topological dynamical systems and presents a vast variety of important examples. After introducing symbolic and topological dynamics, the core of the book consists of discussions of various subshifts of positive entropy, of zero entropy, other non-shift minimal action on the Cantor set, and a study of the ergodic properties of these systems. The author presents recent developments such as spacing shifts, square-free shifts, density shifts, $mathcal{B}$-free shifts, Bratteli-Vershik systems, enumeration scales, amorphic complexity, and a modern and complete treatment of kneading theory. Later, he provides an overview of automata and linguistic complexity (Chomsky's hierarchy). The necessary background for the book varies, but for most of it a solid knowledge of real analysis and linear algebra and first courses in probability and measure theory, metric spaces, number theory, topology, and set theory suffice. Most of the exercises have solutions in the back of the book.

Elementary introduction to symbolic dynamics, updated to describe the main advances in the subject since the original publication in 1995.

Mathematics of Complexity and Dynamical Systems is an authoritative reference to the basic tools and concepts of complexity, systems theory, and dynamical systems from the perspective of pure and applied mathematics. Complex systems are systems that comprise many interacting parts with the ability to generate a new quality of collective behavior through self-organization, e.g. the spontaneous formation of temporal, spatial or functional structures. These systems are often characterized by extreme sensitivity to initial conditions as well as emergent behavior that are not readily predictable or even completely deterministic. The more than 100 entries in this wide-ranging, single source work provide a comprehensive explication of the theory and applications of mathematical complexity, covering ergodic theory, fractals and multifractals, dynamical systems, perturbation theory, solitons, systems and control theory, and related topics. Mathematics of Complexity and Dynamical Systems is an essential reference for all those interested in mathematical complexity, from undergraduate and graduate students up through professional researchers.

This is the proceedings of the workshop on recent developments in ergodic theory and dynamical systems on March 2011 and March 2012 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The articles in this volume cover several aspects of vibrant research in ergodic theory and dynamical systems. It contains contributions to Teichmuller dynamics, interval exchange transformations, continued fractions, return times averages, Furstenberg Fractals, fractal geometry of non-uniformly hyperbolic horseshoes, convergence along the sequence of squares, adic and horocycle flows, and topological flows. These contributions illustrate the connections between ergodic theory and dynamical systems, number theory, harmonic analysis, probability, and algebra. Two surveys are included which give a nice introduction for interested young or senior researcher to some active research areas. Overall this volume provides a very useful blend of techniques and methods as well as directions of research on general convergence phenomena in ergodic theory and dynamical systems.

This volume in the Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science, Second Edition, covers recent developments in classical areas of ergodic theory, including the asymptotic properties of measurable dynamical systems, spectral theory, entropy, ergodic theorems, joinings, isomorphism theory, recurrence, nonsingular systems. It enlightens connections of ergodic theory with symbolic dynamics, topological dynamics, smooth dynamics, combinatorics, number theory, pressure and equilibrium states, fractal geometry, chaos. In addition, the new edition includes dynamical systems of probabilistic origin, ergodic aspects of Sarnak's conjecture, translation flows on translation surfaces, complexity and classification of measurable systems, operator approach to asymptotic properties, interplay with operator algebras

This text is a rigorous introduction to ergodic theory, developing the machinery of conditional measures and expectations, mixing, and recurrence. Beginning by developing the basics of ergodic theory and progressing to describe some recent applications to number theory, this book goes beyond the standard texts in this topic. Applications include Weyl's polynomial equidistribution theorem, the ergodic proof of Szemeredi's theorem, the connection between the continued fraction map and the modular surface, and a proof of the equidistribution of horocycle orbits. Ergodic Theory with a view towards Number Theory will appeal to mathematicians with some standard background in measure theory and functional analysis. No background in ergodic theory or Lie theory is assumed, and a number of exercises and hints to problems are included, making this the perfect companion for graduate students and researchers in ergodic theory, homogenous dynamics or number theory.