An element g of an abstract group G is a distortion element if there exists a finite family S in G such that g belongs to the subgroup generated by S and the wordlength of gn (w.r.t. S) grows sublinearly in n. In this talk, we will be interested in the distortion elements of the group of Cr orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms of the closed interval, for different values of r. In particular, we will present some natural obstructions to distortion (such that the presence of hyperbolic fixed points in C1 regularity and the positivity of the so-called asymptotic distortion in C2 regularity (and higher)), and we will wonder whether they are the only ones.[-]

A theorem of Barbot (building on work of Ghys, Haefliger and others) says that Anosov flows on 3-manifolds are classified up to orbit equivalence by the data of a pair of transverse foliations of the plane and an action of the fundamental group of the 3-manifold. In recent work with T. Barthelmé, as well as C. Bonatti, S. Fenley and S. Frankel, we have been developing an abstract theory of Anosov-like group actions of bifoliated planes, applicable both to the study of flows and as an interesting class of foliation-preserving dynamical systems in its own right. This minicourse will explain some of this theory and the connections between flows and group actions in dimensions 1, 2 and 3. [-]

The preceding Etats de la recherche on this topic happened in Rennes, 2006, and the organizers of the present edition asked me to make the bridge between these two sessions. My 2006 talks were devoted to the theory of heights and equidistribution theorems for algebraic dynamical systems. I will start from there by presenting the framework allowed by Arakelov geometry, and explaining the recent manuscript of X. Yuan and S.-W. Zhang who provide a birational perspective to these concepts. The theory is a bit complex and technical but I will try to emphasize the parallel between those ideas and the ones that lie at the ground of pluripotential theory in complex analysis, or in the theory of b-divisors in algebraic geometry.[-]

Our goal is the study of the local dynamics of tangent to the identity biholomorphisms in C2, and more precisely of the existence of invariant manifolds. In the first lecture we will focus on the problem of existence of invariant curves for two-dimensional vector fields and present some classical results: Seidenberg's resolution of singularities, Briot-Bouquet theorem and Camacho-Sad theorem. In the second lecture we will present the first results of existence of 1-dimensional invariant manifolds for tangent to the identity biholomorphisms obtained by Ecalle/Hakim and Abate, connecting them to the corresponding results for vector fields. In the third lecture we will discuss two extensions of the previous results, obtained in collaboration with Jasmin Raissy, Fernando Sanz, Javier Ribon, Rudy Rosas and Liz Vivas.[-]

Our goal is the study of the local dynamics of tangent to the identity biholomorphisms in C2, and more precisely of the existence of invariant manifolds. In the first lecture we will focus on the problem of existence of invariant curves for two-dimensional vector fields and present some classical results: Seidenberg's resolution of singularities, Briot-Bouquet theorem and Camacho-Sad theorem. In the second lecture we will present the first results of existence of 1-dimensional invariant manifolds for tangent to the identity biholomorphisms obtained by Ecalle/Hakim and Abate, connecting them to the corresponding results for vector fields. In the third lecture we will discuss two extensions of the previous results, obtained in collaboration with Jasmin Raissy, Fernando Sanz, Javier Ribon, Rudy Rosas and Liz Vivas.[-]

Classifying regular systems of first order linear ordinary equations is a classical subject going back to Poincare and Dulac. There is a gauge group whose action can be described and an integrable normal form produced. A similar problem for higher order differential equations was never addressed, perhaps because the corresponding equivalence relationship is not induced by any group action. Still one can develop a reasonable classification theory, largely parallel to the classical theory. This is a joint work with Shira Tanny from the Weizmann Institiute, see http://arxiv.org/abs/1412.7830.[-]

Our first purpose is to show how aspects of the representation theory of (non-amenable) algebraic groups can be utilized to derive effective ergodic theorems for their actions. Our second purpose is to demonstrate some the many interesting applications that ergodic theorems with a rate of convergence have in a variety of problems. We will start by a discussion of property $T$ and show how to extend the spectral estimates it provides considerably beyond their usual formulations. We will also show how to derive best possible spectral estimates via representation theory in some cases. In turn, such spectral estimates will be used to derive effective ergodic theorems. Finally we will show how the rate of convergence in the ergodic theorem implies effective solutions in a host of natural problems, including the non-Euclidean lattice point counting problem, fast equidistribution of lattice orbits on homogenous spaces, and best possible exponents of Diophantine approximation on homogeneous algebraic varieties.[-]