Statistical limit laws for hyperbolic groups

Abstract

Using techniques from ergodic theory and symbolic dynamics, we derive statistical limit laws for real valued functions on hyperbolic groups. In particular, our results apply to convex cocompact group actions on $\text{CAT}(-1)$ spaces, and provide a precise statistical comparison between word length and displacement. After generalising our methods to the multidimensional setting, we prove that the abelianisation map satisfies a non-degenerate multidimensional central limit theorem. We also obtain local limit theorems for group homomorphisms and for the displacement function associated to certain actions.