Invariant distributions and time averages for horocycle flows

Abstract

There are infinitely many obstructions to the existence of smooth solutions of the cohomological equation Uu=f, where U is the vector field generating the horocycle flow on the unit tangent bundle SM of a Riemann surface M of finite area and f is a given function on SM. We study the Sobolev regularity of these obstructions, construct smooth solutions of the cohomological equation, and derive asymptotics for the ergodic averages of horocycle flows.