The integer multiplication map on the circle is an ergodic transformation for Lebesgue measure. In the Fourier basis, an invariant function has coefficients when does not divide , and otherwise. Every nonzero index eventually reduces to the first case, so only the constant coefficient remains.
Let be relatively prime integers. If is invariant and ergodic for the integer multiplication map on the circle and , then for -almost every the sequence is an equidistributed sequence for Lebesgue measure. For a non-ergodic invariant measure, the same conclusion holds if almost every measure in its ergodic decomposition has positive entropy. Positive entropy of the whole measure alone does not suffice.
Use the probability-system convention . The Birkhoff ergodic theorem, also called the pointwise ergodic theorem, states that for a measure-preserving system and ,
where is the invariant sigma-algebra. The limit is integrable and has the same integral as . On a probability space the convergence also holds in , as in the allowed mean ergodic theorem. If is an ergodic transformation, is trivial modulo null sets, giving
The integer multiplication map on the circle preserves Lebesgue measure: for any integrable on ,
To prove the ergodicity of integer multiplication on the circle, suppose satisfies . Let be its Fourier coefficients in the Fourier basis . Since , the Fourier coefficients of at index are zero if does not divide , and are otherwise. This identity holds for all functions by approximation with trigonometric polynomials and the isometry . Invariance gives
Every nonzero integer can be divided by only finitely often. Thus for every , and completeness of the Fourier basis makes constant almost everywhere. Applying this to the indicator function of an invariant set gives measure zero or one, so
A normal number in base has every word of base- digits occurring with limiting overlapping frequency . Use the expansion that is not eventually equal to when there are two expansions. The word corresponds to the half-open interval
A word starting at position occurs exactly when . The Birkhoff ergodic theorem, applied to , gives frequency almost everywhere. There are countably many pairs , so their full-measure sets have a full-measure intersection. In particular,
These are absolutely normal numbers, so existence follows as well. This interval description also proves normality and equidistribution under integer multiplication: the base- intervals form arbitrarily fine grids, so their frequencies imply the correct frequency for every interval by approximation from inside and outside.
For the growth assertion, put . For every , the Tonelli theorem gives the useful summability bound
Since is a measure-preserving transformation, . The first Borel-Cantelli lemma shows that occurs only finitely often almost everywhere. Intersecting the resulting full-measure sets for proves the linear growth bound for integrable observables, . Multiplication by then gives
The threshold is sharp. For , choose with , and take the Bernoulli shift on with the product measure of independent uniform coordinates. The left shift preserves that measure because it preserves the probability of every finite-coordinate event. Define ; it is integrable because
The variables are independent. For any fixed ,
The probability sum diverges, so the second Borel-Cantelli lemma makes these events occur infinitely often almost surely. Intersecting over positive integer even yields . For , the constant observable already fails to give limit zero. Thus the sharpness of the linear growth bound for integrable observables gives