Absolute continuity and singularity of spectra for flows $T_t\otimes T_{at}$

Abstract

Answering the question of V.I. Oseledets, we present a random variable $\xi$ such that the sum $\xi(x)+a\xi(y)$ has a singular distribution for a set of parameters $a$ dense in $(1, +\infty)$, but for another dense set of parameters, this sum has an absolutely continuous distribution. We prove the following assertion: given $C,D$, countable non-intersecting dense subsets of the ray $(1,+\infty)$, there is a measure-preserving flow $T_t$ (acting on the infinite Lebesgue space) such that automorphisms $T_1\otimes T_{c}$ have simple singular spectra for every $c\in C$, and $T_1\otimes T_{d}$ have Lebesgue spectra for all $d\in D$. The spectral measure of this flow plays the role of the distribution of our random variable $\xi$.