Focussing on the mathematics related to the recent proof of ergodicity of the (Weil–Petersson) geodesic flow on a nonpositively curved space whose points are negatively curved metrics on surfaces, this book provides a broad introduction to an important current area of research. It offers original textbook-level material suitable for introductory or advanced courses as well as deep insights into the state of the art of the field, making it useful as a reference and for self-study. The first chapters introduce hyperbolic dynamics, ergodic theory and geodesic and horocycle flows, and include an English translation of Hadamard's original proof of the Stable-Manifold Theorem. An outline of the strategy, motivation and context behind the ergodicity proof is followed by a careful exposition of it (using the Hopf argument) and of the pertinent context of Teichmüller theory. Finally, some complementary lectures describe the deep connections between geodesic flows in negative curvature and Diophantine approximation.

The work consists of two introductory courses, developing different points of view on the study of the asymptotic behaviour of the geodesic flow, namely: the probabilistic approach via martingales and mixing (by Stéphane Le Borgne); the semi-classical approach, by operator theory and resonances (by Frédéric Faure and Masato Tsujii). The contributions aim to give a self-contained introduction to the ideas behind the three different approaches to the investigation of hyperbolic dynamics. The first contribution focus on the convergence towards a Gaussian law of suitably normalized ergodic sums (Central Limit Theorem). The second one deals with Transfer Operators and the structure of their spectrum (Ruelle-Pollicott resonances), explaining the relation with the asymptotics of time correlation function and the periodic orbits of the dynamics.

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

The interaction between ergodic theory and discrete groups has a long history and much work was done in this area by Hedlund, Hopf and Myrberg in the 1930s. There has been a great resurgence of interest in the field, due in large measure to the pioneering work of Dennis Sullivan. Tools have been developed and applied with outstanding success to many deep problems. The ergodic theory of discrete groups has become a substantial field of mathematical research in its own right, and it is the aim of this book to provide a rigorous introduction from first principles to some of the major aspects of the theory. The particular focus of the book is on the remarkable measure supported on the limit set of a discrete group that was first developed by S. J. Patterson for Fuchsian groups, and later extended and refined by Sullivan.