Fluctuations of ergodic sums for horocycle flows on $\Z^d$--covers of finite volume surfaces

We study the almost sure asymptotic behavior of the ergodic sums of $L^1$--functions, for the infinite measure preserving system given by the horocycle flow on the unit tangent bundle of a $\Z^d$--cover of a hyperbolic surface of finite area, equipped with the volume measure. We prove rational ergodicity, identify the return sequence, and describe the fluctuations of the ergodic sums normalized by the return sequence. One application is a 'second order ergodic theorem': almost sure convergence of properly normalized ergodic sums, subject to a certain summability method (the ordinary pointwise ergodic theorem fails for infinite measure preserving systems).