Michael Brin - Böcker

This book provides a broad introduction to the subject of dynamical systems, suitable for a one- or two-semester graduate course. In the first chapter, the authors introduce over a dozen examples, and then use these examples throughout the book to motivate and clarify the development of the theory. Topics include topological dynamics, symbolic dynamics, ergodic theory, hyperbolic dynamics, one-dimensional dynamics, complex dynamics, and measure-theoretic entropy. The authors top off the presentation with some beautiful and remarkable applications of dynamical systems to such areas as number theory, data storage, and Internet search engines. This book grew out of lecture notes from the graduate dynamical systems course at the University of Maryland, College Park, and reflects not only the tastes of the authors, but also to some extent the collective opinion of the Dynamics Group at the University of Maryland, which includes experts in virtually every major area of dynamical systems.

This volume presents a wide cross section of current research in the theory of dynamical systems and contains articles by leading researchers, including several Fields medalists, in a variety of specialties. These are surveys, usually with new results included, as well as research papers that are included because of their potentially high impact. Major areas covered include hyperbolic dynamics, elliptic dynamics, mechanics, geometry, ergodic theory, group actions, rigidity, applications. The target audience includes dynamicists, who will find new results in their own specialty as well as surveys in others, and mathematicians from other disciplines who look for a sample of current developments in ergodic theory and dynamical systems.