Geometric potential of an expanding map Created 2026-10-14 Updated 2026-11-05
For a differentiable uniformly expanding interval map, the geometric potential of an expanding map isThe exponential of its length- orbit sum is the reciprocal derivative magnitude . This weight is geometric: an inverse branch contracts interval lengths by that factor.
The corresponding Perron-Frobenius operator transports a density by summing contributions from inverse branches:For a finite smooth full-branch expanding map, standard bounded-distortion hypotheses give a positive regular fixed density , normalized by . The identity means that is an invariant measure. The cylinder averages of an invariant density explain how the geometric cylinder weights recover that density.
For the doubling map, there are two inverse branches andThe constant density is fixed, giving Lebesgue measure. Choosing an unequal-symbol potential instead produces a different Gibbs measure; an arbitrary Gibbs measure need not be absolutely continuous. Thus the potential, rather than the symbolic alphabet alone, determines whether the measure agrees with geometric length.
Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge 2001 iii Paper 55 3 i Solution Created 2026-10-03 Updated 2026-10-14
A qualification is necessary: an arbitrary symbolic Gibbs measure does not satisfy the claim. Consider the doubling map with its two binary branches and a Bernoulli symbolic Gibbs measure with probabilities and . This is the Gibbs law for a locally constant symbolic potential, while every level- interval has length . Along the nonboundary alternating itinerary, for even ,No finite can approximate these with a decaying uniform error. This proves the reusable fact that an arbitrary Gibbs measure need not be absolutely continuous.
For the intended geometric version, take the Gibbs measure for the geometric potential of an expanding map , with the standard sufficiently smooth finite full-branch hypotheses. The allowed transfer-operator result supplies a strictly positive Lipschitz continuous invariant probability density function , normalized by , and its symbolic weights of cylinder sets are . State the needed regularity explicitly: and . Expansion gives .
Let denote the point coded by the infinite sequence, and define . The expression defining is the logarithm of the average of over the cylinder. For ,Since the logarithm is Lipschitz continuous with constant on this positive range, the cylinder averages of an invariant density giveThis proves the intended estimate. Expansion alone and an unspecified Gibbs symbolic potential are insufficient; the geometric choice and the regularity producing a positive Lipschitz continuous probability density function are substantive hypotheses.