IP-sets and polynomial recurrence

Abstract

Abstract We combine recurrence properties of polynomials and IP-sets and show that polynomials evaluated along IP-sequences also give rise to Poincaré sets for measure-preserving systems, that is, sets of integers along which the analogue of the Poincaré recurrence theorem holds. This is done by applying to measure-preserving transformations a limit theorem for products of appropriate powers of a commuting family of unitary operators.