Random Hamiltonians II: A central limit theorem and the Hofer geometry of random walks

Abstract

This paper investigates the global geometry of the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms $\operatorname{Ham}(M,ω)$ using random walks. On a large class of symplectic manifolds, we show that the expected Hofer norm of such a random walk grows at least as fast as the square root of the number of steps. Furthermore, we show that if the random walk is restricted to an abelian subgroup, then the growth rate is also bounded from above by the square root of the number of steps. We also provide some numerical evidence suggesting that this upper bound fails away from commutative subgroups. This provides, for subgroups of the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms, a probabilistic version of the flatness observed in commutative finite-dimensional Lie groups. En route, we show that the class of probability measures introduced in the prequel is a class of Borel measures with respect to the $C^\infty$-topology on $\operatorname{Ham}(M,ω)$, show the measurability of the stable commutator length, and show a central limit theorem for Hofer-Lipschitz quasimorphisms on $\operatorname{Ham}(M,ω)$.