Transfer Operators and SRB Measures for Axiom A Diffeomorphisms: Spectral Gap, Structural Stability, and the Gibbs Equivalence Theorem

Abstract

We develop the Ruelle transfer operator theory for Axiom A diffeomorphisms and construct Sinai-Ruelle-Bowen measures, carrying the symbolic spectral results of Part I [64] over to smooth dynamics through the Markov partition coding of Part III [66]. This Part contains four Main Theorems. The first proves structural stability of Axiom A diffeomorphisms satisfying the strong transversality condition, with an explicit Hölder exponent for the conjugating homeomorphism in terms of the hyperbolicity data, refining the classical results of Robbin and Robinson. The second establishes quasi-compactness of the transfer operator on Hölder spaces with a quantitative spectral gap bound; as consequences we obtain exponential decay of correlations with explicit rate, the central limit theorem for Hölder observables via the Nagaev-Guivarc'h spectral perturbation method, real-analyticity of the pressure, and meromorphic continuation of the Ruelle dynamical zeta function. The third constructs SRB measures on mixing basic sets as the unique equilibrium states for the geometric potential, proves absolute continuity of the unstable foliation, and derives an explicit product-formula for the conditional densities along unstable manifolds. The fourth establishes the Pesin entropy formula identifying the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy of the SRB measure with the sum of its positive Lyapunov exponents. The Gibbs Equivalence Theorem, assembling the symbolic, variational, spectral, and geometric characterizations of the equilibrium state on a mixing basic set, follows from these four Main Theorems together with the imported results of Parts I and III [64,66]. This Part constitutes Part IV of a six-part series on the thermodynamic formalism for hyperbolic dynamical systems.