Variation estimates for averages along primes and polynomials

Abstract

We prove $q$-variation estimates, $q>2$, on $\ell^{p}$ spaces for averages along primes (with $1<p<\infty$) and polynomials (with $\big| \frac1p - \frac12 \big| < \frac{1}{2(d+1)}$, where $d$ is the degree of the polynomial). This improves the pointwise ergodic theorems for these averages in the corresponding ranges of $L^{p}$ spaces.