This volume provides a self-contained introduction to some topics in orbit equivalence theory, a branch of ergodic theory. The first two chapters focus on hyperfiniteness and amenability. Included here are proofs of Dye's theorem that probability measure-preserving, ergodic actions of the integers are orbit equivalent and of the theorem of Connes-Feldman-Weiss identifying amenability and hyperfiniteness for non-singular equivalence relations. The presentation here is often influenced by descriptive set theory, and Borel and generic analogs of various results are discussed. The final chapter is a detailed account of Gaboriau's recent results on the theory of costs for equivalence relations and groups and its applications to proving rigidity theorems for actions of free groups.

This book contains a collection of survey papers by leading researchers in ergodic theory, low-dimensional and topological dynamics and it comprises nine chapters on a range of important topics. These include: the role and usefulness of ultrafilters in ergodic theory, topological dynamics and Ramsey theory; topological aspects of kneading theory together with an analogous 2-dimensional theory called pruning; the dynamics of Markov odometers, Bratteli-Vershik diagrams and orbit equivalence of non-singular automorphisms; geometric proofs of Mather's connecting and accelerating theorems; recent results in one dimensional smooth dynamics; periodic points of nonexpansive maps; arithmetic dynamics; the defect of factor maps; entropy theory for actions of countable amenable groups.

This volume contains translations of papers that originally appeared in the Japanese journal 'Sugaku'. The papers range over a variety of topics, including operator algebras, analysis, and statistics.

Presents Results from a Very Active Area of ResearchExploring an active area of mathematics that studies the complexity of equivalence relations and classification problems, Invariant Descriptive Set Theory presents an introduction to the basic concepts, methods, and results of this theory. It brings together techniques from various areas of mathem

The author examines the influence of operator algebras on dynamics, concentrating on ergodic equivalence relations. He also covers higher dimensional Markov shifts, making the assumption that the Markov shift carries a group structure.

This book lays the foundations for an exciting new area of research in descriptive set theory. It develops a robust connection between two active topics: forcing and analytic equivalence relations. This in turn allows the authors to develop a generalization of classical Ramsey theory. Given an analytic equivalence relation on a Polish space, can one find a large subset of the space on which it has a simple form? The book provides many positive and negative general answers to this question. The proofs feature proper forcing and Gandy–Harrington forcing, as well as partition arguments. The results include strong canonization theorems for many classes of equivalence relations and sigma-ideals, as well as ergodicity results in cases where canonization theorems are impossible to achieve. Ideal for graduate students and researchers in set theory, the book provides a useful springboard for further research.

Actions of Polish groups are ubiquitous in mathematics. In certain branches of ergodic theory and functional analysis, one finds a systematic study of the group of measure-preserving transformations and the unitary group. In logic, the analysis of countable models intertwines with results concerning the actions of the infinite symmetric group. This text develops the theory of Polish group actions entirely from scratch, ultimately presenting a coherent theory of the resulting orbit equivalence classes that may allow complete classification by invariants of an indicated form. The book concludes with a criterion for an orbit equivalence relation classifiable by countable structures considered up to isomorphism. This self-contained volume offers a complete treatment of this active area of current research and develops a difficult general theory classifying a class of mathematical objects up to some relevant notion of isomorphism or equivalence.

This book consists of several survey and research papers covering a wide range of topics in active areas of set theory and set theoretic topology. Some of the articles present, for the first time in print, knowledge that has been around for several years and known intimately to only a few experts. The surveys bring the reader up to date on the latest information in several areas that have been surveyed a decade or more ago. Topics covered in the volume include combinatorial and descriptive set theory, determinacy, iterated forcing, Ramsey theory, selection principles, set-theoretic topology, and universality, among others. Graduate students and researchers in logic, especially set theory, descriptive set theory, and set-theoretic topology, will find this book to be a very valuable reference.