The first systematic presentation of the theory of dynamical systems under the influence of randomness, this book includes products of random mappings as well as random and stochastic differential equations. The basic multiplicative ergodic theorem is presented, providing a random substitute for linear algebra. On its basis, many applications are detailed. Numerous instructive examples are treated analytically or numerically.

This treatment provides an exposition of discrete time dynamic processes evolving over an infinite horizon. Chapter 1 reviews some mathematical results from the theory of deterministic dynamical systems, with particular emphasis on applications to economics. The theory of irreducible Markov processes, especially Markov chains, is surveyed in Chapter 2. Equilibrium and long run stability of a dynamical system in which the law of motion is subject to random perturbations is the central theme of Chapters 3-5. A unified account of relatively recent results, exploiting splitting and contractions, that have found applications in many contexts is presented in detail. Chapter 6 explains how a random dynamical system may emerge from a class of dynamic programming problems. With examples and exercises, readers are guided from basic theory to the frontier of applied mathematical research.

Mathematicians often face the question to which extent mathematical models describe processes of the real world. These models are derived from experimental data, hence they describe real phenomena only approximately. Thus a mathematical approach must begin with choosing properties which are not very sensitive to small changes in the model, and so may be viewed as properties of the real process. In particular, this concerns real processes which can be described by means of ordinary differential equations. By this reason different notions of stability played an important role in the qualitative theory of ordinary differential equations commonly known nowdays as the theory of dynamical systems. Since physical processes are usually affected by an enormous number of small external fluctuations whose resulting action would be natural to consider as random, the stability of dynamical systems with respect to random perturbations comes into the picture. There are differences between the study of stability properties of single trajectories, i. e. , the Lyapunov stability, and the global stability of dynamical systems. The stochastic Lyapunov stability was dealt with in Hasminskii [Has]. In this book we are concerned mainly with questions of global stability in the presence of noise which can be described as recovering parameters of dynamical systems from the study of their random perturbations. The parameters which is possible to obtain in this way can be considered as stable under random perturbations, and so having physical sense. -1- Our set up is the following.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 16th Carolina Dynamics Symposium, held from April 13–15, 2018, at Agnes Scott College, Decatur, Georgia. The papers cover various topics in dynamics and randomness, including complex dynamics, ergodic theory, topological dynamics, celestial mechanics, symbolic dynamics, computational topology, random processes, and regular languages. The intent is to provide a glimpse of the richness of the field and of the common threads that tie the different specialties together.

Asymptotical problems have always played an important role in probability theory. In classical probability theory dealing mainly with sequences of independent variables, theorems of the type of laws of large numbers, theorems of the type of the central limit theorem, and theorems on large deviations constitute a major part of all investigations. In recent years, when random processes have become the main subject of study, asymptotic investigations have continued to playa major role. We can say that in the theory of random processes such investigations play an even greater role than in classical probability theory, because it is apparently impossible to obtain simple exact formulas in problems connected with large classes of random processes. Asymptotical investigations in the theory of random processes include results of the types of both the laws of large numbers and the central limit theorem and, in the past decade, theorems on large deviations. Of course, all these problems have acquired new aspects and new interpretations in the theory of random processes.

This book presents in a concise and accessible way, as well as in a common setting, various tools and methods arising from spectral theory, ergodic theory and stochastic processes theory, which form the basis of and contribute interactively a great deal to the current research on almost-everywhere convergence problems. Researchers working in dynamical systems and at the crossroads of spectral theory, ergodic theory and stochastic processes will find the tools, methods, and results presented in this book of great interest. It is written in a style accessible to graduate students.