Research

Overview

My main research work involves dynamical systems/ergodic theory and geometric structures, especially associated to (higher-rank) Lie groups. I am particularly interested in problems surrounding the dynamics of flows and group actions in geometric contexts. Below are some more specific keywords:

  • Higher Teichmüller-Thurston theory
  • Geodesic flows in negative curvature; geodesic currents
  • Anosov representations; discrete subgroups of Lie groups
  • Thermodynamic formalism; Hölder regularity
  • Hyperbolic groups; Gromov hyperbolic spaces

In the past, my research projects also dabbled with analytic number theory (sparse equidistribution), convex analysis, differential topology, TQFTs, and more.

My advisor is Jeff Danciger. I have been supported by the Groups & Dynamics RTG.

Research Papers and Articles

Note that all of the papers below may be found on my arXiv page as well.

Title Coauthors Journal
Weakly Mixing Systems with Dense Prime Orbits None Colloquium Mathematicum 169 (2022)
Extremizers of the $J$ functional with respect to the $d_1$ metric Sam Bachhuber
Benjamin Christophel
Tamás Darvas
Analysis Mathematica 48 (2022)
Certifying Maximal Stretch Ratios for Fuchsian Free Group Representations Joseph Hummel
Kaius Noble
Prajith Velicheti
TBD

Talks and Presentations

Please be warned that notes linked below are very rough in some cases; they're really just designed to help me prepare for the corresponding talk. Slides (or other files), on the other hand, will generally be much more polished.

Apr 2026Notes

The Green-Tao Theorem

UT M 392C — Dynamical Systems

Feb 2026Notes

The Congruence Subgroup Conjecture

UT M 392C — Open Problems in Topology

Sep 2025

Convex Real Projective Structures on Surfaces

UT Junior Geometry Seminar

Sep 2025Notes

The Nielsen Realization Theorem

UT Junior Topology Seminar

Apr 2025

Dynamics of Geodesic Flow

UT M 392C — Riemannian Geometry

Apr 2025Notes

The Eight Geometries and Thurston's Geometrization

UT Junior Topology Seminar

Apr 2025Slides

The Pressure Metric for Hitchin Components

UT Groups & Dynamics Seminar (candidacy talk)

Feb 2025Notes

Geodesic Flows and Ergodicity in Negative Curvature

UT Junior Geometry Seminar

Dec 2024Notes

Ratner's Theorem on Unipotent Flows

UT M 390C — Arithmetic Groups

Dec 2024

Symbolic Dynamics for Hyperbolic Groups

UT M 391C — Analytic Group Theory

Oct 2024Puzzles

Geometry from Ancient Greece to the Modern Day

UT Sunday Morning Math Group

Oct 2024Notes

Teichmüller Space via Hyperbolic Geometry

UT Junior Topology Seminar

Sep 2024Notes

Hyperbolic Groups and Gromov's Geodesic Flow

UT Junior Geometry Seminar

Apr 2024Notes

Measures on Homogeneous Spaces

UT M 392C — Geometry of Locally Compact Groups

Apr 2024Notes

Geodesic Currents, Laminations, and Teichmüller Space

UT Junior Topology Seminar

Nov 2023

Symmetric Spaces

UT Lie Groups Seminar

Oct 2023

Group Actions, Dynamics, and Geometry

UT Math Club

Feb 2023Riddles

Mysterious Patterns in the Primes

UT Sunday Morning Math Group

Dec 2022

Deforming Convex Real Projective Structures

UT M 392C — Geometric Structures on Manifolds

Nov 2022Notes

Sarnak's Conjecture

UT Junior Groups & Dynamics Seminar

Sep 2022

An Introduction to Dynamics and Ergodic Theory

UT Math Club

Jun 2022

Free Groups

Lewis Bowen's summer reading group

Jun 2022

Topological Entropy

Lewis Bowen's summer reading group

Feb 2022Slides

An Introduction to Ergodic Theory and Prime Orbits

UT Sophex Seminar

Dec 2021Slides

An Introduction to Prime Number Theory

UT Sophex Seminar

Dec 2020Slides

Frobenius' Theorem on Integrable Distributions

UMD Math 742 — Geometric Analysis

Dec 2020Slides

Clifford Algebras and Spinor Groups

UMD Math 744 — Lie Groups

Jul 2020Slides

Embedded Cobordisms

UVa Topology REU

May 2020Slides

Exponential Mixing for Skew Products

UMD reading course under Dr. Giovanni Forni

Sep 2019Slides

Weakly Mixing Systems with Dense Prime Orbits

Penn State Dynamics Workshop

Dec 2018Slides

A Topological Proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra

UMD DRP Presentation

Dec 2017

A Proof of the Prime Number Theorem

UMD Math 299N — Topics in Number Theory

May 2017

A Proof of the Prime Number Theorem

MBHS — Complex Analysis

Oct 2016Slides

The Historical Development of Non-Euclidean Geometries

MBHS — Logic Math

Email: abenda [at] utexas [dot] edu © 2026 Aaron Benda · Austin, TX