We know very little about the time-evolution of many-particle dynamical systems, the subject of our book. Even the 3-body problem has no explicit solution (we cannot solve the corresponding system of differential equations, and computer simulation indicates hopelessly chaotic behaviour). For example, what can we say about the typical time evolution of a large system starting from a stage far from equilibrium? What happens in a realistic time scale? The reader's first reaction is probably: What about the famous Second Law (of thermodynamics)?Unfortunately, there are plenty of notorious mathematical problems surrounding the Second Law. (1) How to rigorously define entropy? How to convert the well known intuitions (like 'disorder' and 'energy spreading') into precise mathematical definitions? (2) How to express the Second Law in forms of a rigorous mathematical theorem? (3) The Second Law is a 'soft' qualitative statement about entropy increase, but does not say anything about the necessary time to reach equilibrium.The object of this book is to answer questions (1)-(2)-(3). We rigorously prove a Time-Quantitative Second Law that works on a realistic time scale. As a by product, we clarify the Loschmidt-paradox and the related reversibility/irreversibility paradox.

"We know very little about the time-evolution of many-particle dynamical systems, the subject of our book. Even the 3-body problem has no explicit solution (we cannot solve the corresponding system of differential equations, and computer simulation indicates hopelessly chaotic behaviour). For example, what can we say about the typical time evolution of a large system starting from a stage far from equilibrium? What happens in a realistic time scale? The reader's first reaction is probably: What about the famous Second Law (of thermodynamics)? Unfortunately, there are plenty of notorious mathematical problems surrounding the Second Law. (1) How to rigorously define entropy? How to convert the well known intuitions (like "disorder" and "energy spreading") into precise mathematical definitions? (2) How to express the Second Law in forms of a rigorous mathematical theorem? (3) The Second Law is a "soft" qualitative statement about entropy increase, but does not say anything about the necessary time to reach equilibrium. The object of this book is to answer questions (1)-(2)-(3). We rigorously prove a Time-Quantitative Second Law that works on a realistic time scale. As a by product, we clarify the Loschmidt-paradox and the related reversibility/irreversibility paradox"--

This book is based on a series of lectures at the Mathematics Department of the University of Jena, developed in the period from 1995 up to 2015. It is completed by additional material and extensions of some basic results from the literature to more general metric spaces.This book provides a clear introduction to classical fields of fractal geometry, which provide some background for modern topics of research and applications. Some basic knowledge on general measure theory and on topological notions in metric spaces is presumed.

Welcome to the world of scale symmetry, the last elementary symmetry and the least explored!Find out how this long-neglected element transforms the traditional geometry of lines and planes into a rich landscape of trees, craggy mountains and rolling oceans.Enjoy a visual exploration through the intricate and elaborate structures of scale-symmetric geometry. See unique fractals, Mandelboxes, and automata and physical behaviors. Take part in the author's forage into the lesser-trodden regions of this landscape, and discover unusual and attractive specimens!You will also be provided with all the tools needed to recreate the structures yourself.Every example is new and developed by the author, and is chosen because it pushes the field of scale-symmetric geometry into a scarcely explored region. The results are complex and intricate but the method of generation is often simple, which allows it to be presented graphically without depending on too much mathematical syntax. If you are interested in the mathematics, science and art of scale symmetry, then read on!This is also a book for programmers and for hobbyists: those of us who like to dabble with procedural imagery and see where it leads.

Stunning recent results by Host–Kra, Green–Tao, and others, highlight the timeliness of this systematic introduction to classical ergodic theory using the tools of operator theory. Assuming no prior exposure to ergodic theory, this book provides a modern foundation for introductory courses on ergodic theory, especially for students or researchers with an interest in functional analysis. While basic analytic notions and results are reviewed in several appendices, more advanced operator theoretic topics are developed in detail, even beyond their immediate connection with ergodic theory. As a consequence, the book is also suitable for advanced or special-topic courses on functional analysis with applications to ergodic theory. Topics include: • an intuitive introduction to ergodic theory • an introduction to the basic notions, constructions, and standard examples of topological dynamical systems • Koopman operators, Banach lattices, lattice and algebra homomorphisms, and the Gelfand–Naimark theorem • measure-preserving dynamical systems • von Neumann’s Mean Ergodic Theorem and Birkhoff’s Pointwise Ergodic Theorem • strongly and weakly mixing systems • an examination of notions of isomorphism for measure-preserving systems • Markov operators, and the related concept of a factor of a measure preserving system • compact groups and semigroups, and a powerful tool in their study, the Jacobs–de Leeuw–Glicksberg decomposition • an introduction to the spectral theory of dynamical systems, the theorems of Furstenberg and Weiss on multiple recurrence, and applications of dynamical systems to combinatorics (theorems of van der Waerden, Gallai,and Hindman, Furstenberg’s Correspondence Principle, theorems of Roth and Furstenberg–Sárközy) Beyond its use in the classroom, Operator Theoretic Aspects of Ergodic Theory can serve as a valuable foundation for doing research at the intersection of ergodic theory and operator theory

The theory of dynamical systems has given rise to the vast new area variously called applied dynamics, nonlinear science, or chaos theory. This introductory text covers the central topological and probabilistic notions in dynamics ranging from Newtonian mechanics to coding theory. The only prerequisite is a basic undergraduate analysis course. The authors use a progression of examples to present the concepts and tools for describing asymptotic behavior in dynamical systems, gradually increasing the level of complexity. Subjects include contractions, logistic maps, equidistribution, symbolic dynamics, mechanics, hyperbolic dynamics, strange attractors, twist maps, and KAM-theory.

This book is the first comprehensive introduction to smooth ergodic theory. It consists of two parts: the first introduces the core of the theory and the second discusses more advanced topics. In particular, the book describes the general theory of Lyapunov exponents and its applications to the stability theory of differential equations, the concept of nonuniform hyperbolicity, stable manifold theory (with emphasis on absolute continuity of invariant foliations), and the ergodic theory of dynamical systems with nonzero Lyapunov exponents. A detailed description of all the basic examples of conservative systems with nonzero Lyapunov exponents, including the geodesic flows on compact surfaces of nonpositive curvature, is also presented. There are more than 80 exercises. The book is aimed at graduate students specializing in dynamical systems and ergodic theory as well as anyone who wishes to get a working knowledge of smooth ergodic theory and to learn how to use its tools. It can also be used as a source for special topics courses on nonuniform hyperbolicity. The only prerequisite for using this book is a basic knowledge of real analysis, measure theory, differential equations, and topology, although the necessary background definitions and results are provided. In this second edition, the authors improved the exposition and added more exercises to make the book even more student-oriented. They also added new material to bring the book more in line with the current research in dynamical systems.

"In the 50 years since Mandelbrot identified the fractality of coastlines, mathematicians and physicists have developed a rich and beautiful theory describing the interplay between analytic, geometric and probabilistic aspects of the mathematics of fractals. Using classical and abstract analytic tools developed by Cantor, Hausdorff, and Sierpinski, they have sought to address fundamental questions: How can we measure the size of a fractal set? How do waves and heat travel on irregular structures? How are analysis, geometry and stochastic processes related in the absence of Euclidean smooth structure? What new physical phenomena arise in the fractal-like settings that are ubiquitous in nature? This book introduces background and recent progress on these problems, from both established leaders in the field and early career researchers. The book gives a broad introduction to several foundational techniques in fractal mathematics, while also introducing some specific new and significant results of interest to experts, such as that waves have infinite propagation speed on fractals. It contains sufficient introductory material that it can be read by new researchers or researchers from other areas who want to learn about fractal methods and results"--Publisher's website.

Studying the relationship between the geometry, arithmetic and spectra of fractals has been a subject of significant interest in contemporary mathematics. This book contributes to the literature on the subject in several different and new ways. In particular, the authors provide a rigorous and detailed study of the spectral operator, a map that sends the geometry of fractal strings onto their spectrum. To that effect, they use and develop methods from fractal geometry, functional analysis, complex analysis, operator theory, partial differential equations, analytic number theory and mathematical physics.Originally, M L Lapidus and M van Frankenhuijsen 'heuristically' introduced the spectral operator in their development of the theory of fractal strings and their complex dimensions, specifically in their reinterpretation of the earlier work of M L Lapidus and H Maier on inverse spectral problems for fractal strings and the Riemann hypothesis.One of the main themes of the book is to provide a rigorous framework within which the corresponding question 'Can one hear the shape of a fractal string?' or, equivalently, 'Can one obtain information about the geometry of a fractal string, given its spectrum?' can be further reformulated in terms of the invertibility or the quasi-invertibility of the spectral operator.The infinitesimal shift of the real line is first precisely defined as a differentiation operator on a family of suitably weighted Hilbert spaces of functions on the real line and indexed by a dimensional parameter c. Then, the spectral operator is defined via the functional calculus as a function of the infinitesimal shift. In this manner, it is viewed as a natural 'quantum' analog of the Riemann zeta function. More precisely, within this framework, the spectral operator is defined as the composite map of the Riemann zeta function with the infinitesimal shift, viewed as an unbounded normal operator acting on the above Hilbert space.It is shown that the quasi-invertibility of the spectral operator is intimately connected to the existence of critical zeros of the Riemann zeta function, leading to a new spectral and operator-theoretic reformulation of the Riemann hypothesis. Accordingly, the spectral operator is quasi-invertible for all values of the dimensional parameter c in the critical interval (0,1) (other than in the midfractal case when c =1/2) if and only if the Riemann hypothesis (RH) is true. A related, but seemingly quite different, reformulation of RH, due to the second author and referred to as an 'asymmetric criterion for RH', is also discussed in some detail: namely, the spectral operator is invertible for all values of c in the left-critical interval (0,1/2) if and only if RH is true.These spectral reformulations of RH also led to the discovery of several 'mathematical phase transitions' in this context, for the shape of the spectrum, the invertibility, the boundedness or the unboundedness of the spectral operator, and occurring either in the midfractal case or in the most fractal case when the underlying fractal dimension is equal to ½ or 1, respectively. In particular, the midfractal dimension c=1/2 is playing the role of a critical parameter in quantum statistical physics and the theory of phase transitions and critical phenomena.Furthermore, the authors provide a 'quantum analog' of Voronin's classical theorem about the universality of the Riemann zeta function. Moreover, they obtain and study quantized counterparts of the Dirichlet series and of the Euler product for the Riemann zeta function, which are shown to converge (in a suitable sense) even inside the critical strip.For pedagogical reasons, most of the book is devoted to the study of the quantized Riemann zeta function. However, the results obtained in this monograph are expected to lead to a quantization of most classic arithmetic zeta functions, hence, further 'naturally quantizing' various aspects of analytic number theory and arithmetic geometry.The book should be accessible to experts and non-experts alike, including mathematics and physics graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, interested in fractal geometry, number theory, operator theory and functional analysis, differential equations, complex analysis, spectral theory, as well as mathematical and theoretical physics. Whenever necessary, suitable background about the different subjects involved is provided and the new work is placed in its proper historical context. Several appendices supplementing the main text are also included.