Oseledec multiplicative ergodic theorem for laminations

Abstract

Given a lamination endowed with a Riemannian metric we introduce the notion of a multiplicative cocycle. Next, we define the Lyapunov exponents of such a cocycle with respect to a harmonic probability measure directed by the lamination. We also prove an Oseledec multiplicative ergodic theorem in this context. This theorem implies the existence of an Oseledec decomposition almost everywhere which is holonomy invariant. Moreover, in the case of differentiable cocycles we establish effective integral estimates for the Lyapunov exponents. These results find applications in the geometric and dynamical theory of laminations. They are also applicable to (not necessarily closed) laminations with singularities. Interesting holonomy properties of a generic leaf of a foliation are obtained. The main ingredients of our method are the theory of Brownian motion, the analysis of the heat diffusions on Riemannian manifolds, the ergodic theory in discrete dynamics and a geometric study of laminations. Classification AMS 2010: Primary: 37A30, 57R30; Secondary: 58J35, 58J65, 60J65.