Smooth Livsic regularity for piecewise expanding maps

Abstract

We consider the regularity of measurable solutions $\chi$ to the cohomological equation \[ \phi = \chi \circ T -\chi, \] where $(T,X,\mu)$ is a dynamical system and $\phi \colon X\rightarrow \R$ is a $C^k$ valued cocycle in the setting in which $T \colon X\rightarrow X$ is a piecewise $C^k$ Gibbs--Markov map, an affine $\beta$-transformation of the unit interval or more generally a piecewise $C^{k}$ uniformly expanding map of an interval. We show that under mild assumptions, bounded solutions $\chi$ possess $C^k$ versions. In particular we show that if $(T,X,\mu)$ is a $\beta$-transformation then $\chi$ has a $C^k$ version, thus improving a result of Pollicott et al.~\cite{Pollicott-Yuri}.