For a $C^{1+\alpha }$ diffeomorphism f of a compact smooth manifold, we give a necessary and sufficient condition that guarantees that if the set of hyperbolic Lyapunov–Perron regular points has positive volume, then f preserves a smooth measure. We use recent results on symbolic coding of $\chi $ -non-uniformly hyperbolic sets and results concerning the existence of SRB measures for them.

We prove some new results on quasi-regular Dirichlet forms. These include results on perturbations of Dirichlet forms, change of speed measure, and tightness. The tightness implies the existence of an associated right continuous strong Markov process. We also discuss applications to a number of examples including cases with possibly degenerate (sub)-elliptic part, diffusions on loop spaces, and certain Fleming- Viot processes.