We survey results about, and results using, central sets since their introduction in 1981.

In this paper, we study the ideal structure of reduced $C^{\ast }$-algebras $C_{r}^{\ast }(G)$ associated to étale groupoids $G$. In particular, we characterize when there is a one-to-one correspondence between the closed, two-sided ideals in $C_{r}^{\ast }(G)$ and the open invariant subsets of the unit space $G^{(0)}$ of $G$. As a consequence, we show that if $G$ is an inner exact, essentially principal, ample groupoid, then $C_{r}^{\ast }(G)$ is (strongly) purely infinite if and only if every non-zero projection in $C_{0}(G^{(0)})$ is properly infinite in $C_{r}^{\ast }(G)$. We also establish a sufficient condition on the ample groupoid $G$ that ensures pure infiniteness of $C_{r}^{\ast }(G)$ in terms of paradoxicality of compact open subsets of the unit space $G^{(0)}$. Finally, we introduce the type semigroup for ample groupoids and also obtain a dichotomy result: let $G$ be an ample groupoid with compact unit space which is minimal and topologically principal. If the type semigroup is almost unperforated, then $C_{r}^{\ast }(G)$ is a simple $C^{\ast }$-algebra which is either stably finite or strongly purely infinite.

We study the complexity of the itineraries of injective piecewise contracting maps on the interval. We prove that for any such map the complexity function of any itinerary is eventually affine. We also prove that the growth rate of the complexity is bounded from above by the number, $N-1$, of discontinuities of the map. To show that this bound is optimal, we construct piecewise affine contracting maps whose itineraries all have the complexity $(N-1)n+1$. In these examples, the asymptotic dynamics take place in a minimal Cantor set containing all the discontinuities.

For a transcendental entire function $f$ of finite order in the Eremenko–Lyubich class ${\mathcal{B}}$, we give conditions under which the Lebesgue measure of the escaping set ${\mathcal{I}}(f)$ of $f$ is zero. This complements the recent work of Aspenberg and Bergweiler [Math. Ann. 352(1) (2012), 27–54], in which they give conditions on entire functions in the same class with escaping sets of positive Lebesgue measure. We will construct an entire function in the Eremenko–Lyubich class to show that the condition given by Aspenberg and Bergweiler is essentially sharp. Furthermore, we adapt our idea of proof to certain infinite-order entire functions. Under some restrictions to the growth of these entire functions, we show that the escaping sets have zero Lebesgue measure. This generalizes a result of Eremenko and Lyubich.

We prove that every smooth diffeomorphism group valued cocycle over certain $\mathbb{Z}^{k}$ Anosov actions on tori (and more generally on infranilmanifolds) is a smooth coboundary on a finite cover, if the cocycle is center bunched and trivial at a fixed point. For smooth cocycles which are not trivial at a fixed point, we have smooth reduction of cocycles to constant ones, when lifted to the universal cover. These results on cocycle trivialization apply, via the existing global rigidity results, to maximal Cartan $\mathbb{Z}^{k}$ ($k\geq 3$) actions by Anosov diffeomorphisms (with at least one transitive), on any compact smooth manifold. This is the first rigidity result for cocycles over $\mathbb{Z}^{k}$ actions with values in diffeomorphism groups which does not require any restrictions on the smallness of the cocycle or on the diffeomorphism group.

We formulate abstract conditions under which a suspension flow satisfies the local central limit theorem. We check the validity of these conditions for several systems including reward renewal processes, Axiom A flows, as well as the systems admitting Young’s tower, such as Sinai’s billiard with finite horizon, suspensions over Pomeau–Manneville maps, and geometric Lorenz attractors.

We show in prime dimension that for two non-commuting totally irreducible toral automorphisms the set of points that equidistribute under the first map but have non-dense orbit under the second has full Hausdorff dimension. In non-prime dimension the argument fails only if the automorphisms have strong algebraic relations.

We show if $K$ is a self-similar $1$-set that either satisfies the strong separation condition or is defined via homotheties then there are at most finitely many lines through the origin such that the projection of $K$ onto them is an interval.

For each $n\geq 2$, we investigate a family of iterated function systems which is parameterized by a common contraction ratio $s\in \mathbb{D}^{\times }\equiv \{s\in \mathbb{C}:0<|s|<1\}$ and possesses a rotational symmetry of order $n$. Let ${\mathcal{M}}_{n}$ be the locus of contraction ratio $s$ for which the corresponding self-similar set is connected. The purpose of this paper is to show that ${\mathcal{M}}_{n}$ is regular-closed, that is, $\overline{\text{int}\,{\mathcal{M}}_{n}}={\mathcal{M}}_{n}$ holds for $n\geq 4$. This gives a new result for $n=4$ and a simple geometric proof of the previously known result by Bandt and Hung [Fractal $n$-gons and their Mandelbrot sets. Nonlinearity 21 (2008), 2653–2670] for $n\geq 5$.

We show that any non-trivial self-similar subset of the real line that is invariant under a lattice iterated function system (IFS) satisfying the open set condition (OSC) is not Minkowski measurable. So far, this has only been known for special classes of such sets. Thus, we provide the last puzzle-piece in proving that under the OSC a non-trivial self-similar subset of the real line is Minkowski measurable if and only if it is invariant under a non-lattice IFS, a 25-year-old conjecture.

An invariant measure is called a Bernoulli measure if the corresponding dynamics is isomorphic to a Bernoulli shift. We prove that for $C^{1+\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$ diffeomorphisms any weak mixing hyperbolic measure could be approximated by Bernoulli measures. This also holds true for $C^{1}$ diffeomorphisms preserving a weak mixing hyperbolic measure with respect to which the Oseledets decomposition is dominated.

Let $R$ be a ring of characteristic $0$ with field of fractions $K$ and let $m\geq 2$. The Böttcher coordinate of a power series $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}(x)\in x^{m}+x^{m+1}R\unicode[STIX]{x27E6}x\unicode[STIX]{x27E7}$ is the unique power series $f_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}}(x)\in x+x^{2}K\unicode[STIX]{x27E6}x\unicode[STIX]{x27E7}$ satisfying $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}\circ f_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}}(x)=f_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}}(x^{m})$. In this paper we study the integrality properties of the coefficients of $f_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}}(x)$, partly for their intrinsic interest and partly for potential applications to $p$-adic dynamics. Results include: (1) if $p$ is prime and $R=\mathbb{Z}_{p}$ and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}(x)\in x^{p}+px^{p+1}R\unicode[STIX]{x27E6}x\unicode[STIX]{x27E7}$, then $f_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}}(x)\in R\unicode[STIX]{x27E6}x\unicode[STIX]{x27E7}$. (2) If $\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}(x)\in x^{m}+mx^{m+1}R\unicode[STIX]{x27E6}x\unicode[STIX]{x27E7}$, then $f_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D711}}(x)=x\sum _{k=0}^{\infty }a_{k}x^{k}/k!$ with all $a_{k}\in R$. (3) In (2), if $m=p^{2}$, then $a_{k}\equiv -1~\text{(mod}~p\text{)}$ for all $k$ that are powers of $p$.

Let $p$ be a prime number. We develop a theory of $p$-adic Mahler measure of polynomials and apply it to the study of $\mathbb{Z}$-covers of rational homology 3-spheres branched over links. We obtain a $p$-adic analogue of the asymptotic formula of the torsion homology growth and a balance formula among the leading coefficient of the Alexander polynomial, the $p$-adic entropy and the Iwasawa $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}_{p}$-invariant. We also apply the purely $p$-adic theory of Besser–Deninger to $\mathbb{Z}$-covers of links. In addition, we study the entropies of profinite cyclic covers of links. We examine various examples throughout the paper.