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Let $(G/\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>},R_a)$be an ergodic $k$-step nilsystem for $k\ge <\#comment/>2$. We adapt an argument of Parry [Topology 9 (1970), pp. 217–224] to show that $L^2\left(G/\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}\right)$decomposes as a sum of a subspace with discrete spectrum and a subspace of Lebesgue spectrum with infinite multiplicity. In particular, we generalize a result previously established by Host–Kra–Maass [J. Anal. Math.124(2014), pp. 261–295] for $2$-step nilsystems and a result by Stepin [Uspehi Mat. Nauk24(1969), pp. 241–242] for nilsystems $G/\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}$with connected, simply connected $G$. 

Let $\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}$be a countable abelian group. An (abstract) $\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}$-system $\mathrm{X}$- that is, an (abstract) probability space equipped with an (abstract) probability-preserving action of $\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}$- is said to be aConze–Lesigne systemif it is equal to its second Host–Kra–Ziegler factor ${\mathrm{Z}}^2\left(\mathrm{X}\right)$. The main result of this paper is a structural description of such Conze–Lesigne systems for arbitrary countable abelian $\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}$, namely that they are the inverse limit of translational systems $G_n/{\mathrm{\Lambda <\#comment/>}}_n$arising from locally compact nilpotent groups $G_n$of nilpotency class $2$, quotiented by a lattice ${\mathrm{\Lambda <\#comment/>}}_n$. Results of this type were previously known when $\mathrm{\Gamma <\#comment/>}$was finitely generated, or the product of cyclic groups of prime order. In a companion paper, two of us will apply this structure theorem to obtain an inverse theorem for the Gowers $U^3\left(G\right)$norm for arbitrary finite abelian groups $G$. 

Abstract The goal of this paper is to generalise, refine and improve results on large intersections from [2, 8]. We show that if G is a countable discrete abelian group and $$\varphi , \psi : G \to G$$ are homomorphisms, such that at least two of the three subgroups $$\varphi (G)$$ , $$\psi (G)$$ and $$(\psi -\varphi )(G)$$ have finite index in G , then $$\{\varphi , \psi \}$$ has the large intersections property . That is, for any ergodic measure preserving system $$\textbf {X}=(X,\mathcal {X},\mu ,(T_g)_{g\in G})$$ , any $$A\in \mathcal {X}$$ and any $$\varepsilon>0$$ , the set $$ \begin{align*} \{g\in G : \mu(A\cap T_{\varphi(g)}^{-1} A \cap T_{\psi(g)}^{-1} A)>\mu(A)^3-\varepsilon\} \end{align*} $$ is syndetic (Theorem 1.11). Moreover, in the special case where $$\varphi (g)=ag$$ and $$\psi (g)=bg$$ for $$a,b\in \mathbb {Z}$$ , we show that we only need one of the groups $aG$ , $bG$ or $(b-a)G$ to be of finite index in G (Theorem 1.13), and we show that the property fails, in general, if all three groups are of infinite index (Theorem 1.14). One particularly interesting case is where $$G=(\mathbb {Q}_{>0},\cdot )$$ and $$\varphi (g)=g$$ , $$\psi (g)=g^2$$ , which leads to a multiplicative version of the Khintchine-type recurrence result in [8]. We also completely characterise the pairs of homomorphisms $$\varphi ,\psi $$ that have the large intersections property when $$G = {{\mathbb Z}}^2$$ . The proofs of our main results rely on analysis of the structure of the universal characteristic factor for the multiple ergodic averages $$ \begin{align*} \frac{1}{|\Phi_N|} \sum_{g\in \Phi_N}T_{\varphi(g)}f_1\cdot T_{\psi(g)} f_2. \end{align*} $$ In the case where G is finitely generated, the characteristic factor for such averages is the Kronecker factor . In this paper, we study actions of groups that are not necessarily finitely generated, showing, in particular, that, by passing to an extension of $$\textbf {X}$$ , one can describe the characteristic factor in terms of the Conze–Lesigne factor and the $$\sigma $$ -algebras of $$\varphi (G)$$ and $$\psi (G)$$ invariant functions (Theorem 4.10).