Slow convergence almost everywhere of ergodic averages

Abstract: For an ergodic action of the group $Z^n$ on a probability space and a given arbitrarily slowly decreasing to zero sequence, there exists an integrable function such that the standard ergodic time averages for it converge almost everywhere to the spatial average of the function at a rate that is not asymptotically majorized by this sequence. This generalizes the Krengel effect about the absence of universal estimates for the rate of convergence in Birkhoff's ergodic theorem. The proof uses a weakened version of Rokhlin's lemma for ergodic $Z^n$-actions. It ensures the existence of the required sequence of asymptotically almost invariant sets with given measures. A feature of the construction of such a sequence is that the choice of the next almost invariant set depends on the original function and on the choice of the previous invariant sets. A significant deviation of the ergodic averages from the mean of a positive function can be uniformly realized over extremely large time intervals. The deviation can be greater than a positive constant and differ little from it on arbitrary long time intervals. We not only can achieve the specified deviations arbitrarily far, but the sequence of such deviations from the average can be realized as a sequence wanishing arbitrarily slowly.