Symbolic dynamics for three-dimensional flows with positive topological entropy

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate a parametric topological entropy for impulsive differential inclusions on tori. In this way, besides other matters, we would like to extend our recent results concerning impulsive differential equations as well as those on “nonparametric” topological entropy to impulsive differential inclusions. Parametric topological entropy, which is usually called a topological entropy for nonautonomous dynamical systems, is considered here via the compositions of associated multivalued Poincaré translation operators with the single-valued time-dependent impulsive maps. On compact polyhedra and, in particular on tori, parametric topological entropy for families of admissible multivalued maps can be estimated from below by means Ivanov-type inequality in terms of the asymptotic Nielsen and Lefschetz numbers which are, unlike the topological entropy, homotopy invariants. In the scalar case, an effective criterion for a positive parametric topological entropy can be given by topological degree arguments for equi-continuous impulsive maps. In a single-valued nonparametric case, a positive topological entropy usually signifies topological chaos. Some simple illustrative examples are provided.

We establish a relation between the growth of the cylindrical contact homology of a contact manifold and the topological entropy of Reeb flows on this manifold. We show that if a contact manifold $(M,\xi)$ admits a hypertight contact form $\lambda_0$ for which the cylindrical contact homology has exponential homotopical growth rate, then the Reeb flow of every contact form on $(M,\xi)$ has positive topological entropy. Using this result, we provide numerous new examples of contact 3-manifolds on which every Reeb flow has positive topological entropy.

We consider a semi-Riemannian metric whose associated geodesic flow either contains a non-hyperbolic periodic orbit or has infinitely many hyperbolic periodic orbits. Under some conditions, we show that the metric can be C 2 C^2 -perturbed such that the geodesic flow exhibits positive topological entropy, there are infinitely many non-lightlike closed geodesics, and their number grows exponentially with respect to the length.

Topological entropy of a dynamical system is an upper bound for the sum of positive Lyapunov exponents; in practice, it is strongly indicative of the presence of mixing in a subset of the domain. Topological entropy can be computed by partition methods, by estimating the maximal growth rate of material lines or other material elements, or by counting the unstable periodic orbits of the flow. All these methods require detailed knowledge of the velocity field that is not always available, for example, when ocean flows are measured using a small number of floating sensors. We propose an alternative calculation, applicable to two-dimensional flows, that uses only a sparse set of flow trajectories as its input. To represent the sparse set of trajectories, we use braids, algebraic objects that record how trajectories exchange positions with respect to a projection axis. Material curves advected by the flow are represented as simplified loop coordinates. The exponential rate at which a braid stretches loops over a finite time interval is the Finite-Time Braiding Exponent (FTBE). We study FTBEs through numerical simulations of the Aref Blinking Vortex flow, as a representative of a general class of flows having a single invariant component with positive topological entropy. The FTBEs approach the value of the topological entropy from below as the length and number of trajectories is increased; we conjecture that this result holds for a general class of ergodic, mixing systems. Furthermore, FTBEs are computed robustly with respect to the numerical time step, details of braid representation, and choice of initial conditions. We find that, in the class of systems we describe, trajectories can be re-used to form different braids, which greatly reduces the amount of data needed to assess the complexity of the flow.

Positive topological entropy and Δ-weakly mixing sets

We consider piecewise monotone (not necessarily, strictly) piecewise C2 maps on the interval with positive topological entropy. For such a map f we prove that its topological entropy htop(f) can be approximated (with any required accuracy) by restriction on a compact strictly f-invariant hyperbolic set disjoint from some neighborhood of prescribed set consisting of periodic attractors, nonhyperbolic intervals and endpoints of monotonicity intervals. By using this result we are able to generalize main theorem from [1] on chaotic behavior of multidimensional perturbations of solutions for difference equations which depend on two variables at nonperturbed value of parameter.

On topological entropy (chaos) realized far from fixed point

Expansiveness, entropy and polynomial growth for groups acting on subshifts by automorphisms

Following Knieper and Weiss [9] we exhibit explicit real analytic metrics onS2 andRP2 with positive curvature and positive topological entropy using the dynamics of the rigid body.

Syndetically proximal pairs

We study the dynamics of the geodesic flow for a class of non-complete Riemannian metrics on a negatively curved surface M . These finite area surfaces are composed of finitely many “singular” surfaces of revolutions of the form y = x, r > 1 for 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 (thin pieces), together with connecting surfaces of bounded negative curvature (thick pieces). The curvature at every point is negative and bounded away from zero, but is unbounded in the “cusps.” The geodesic flow is non-complete because geodesics corresponding to singular unit tangent vectors pointing into the origin hit the cusps in finite time and then cease to be defined. Such singular unit tangent vectors are dense in the unit tangent bundle. Our main result is ergodicity of the geodesic flow (Theorem 5.1). It immediately follows that these metrics have dense geodesics in the unit tangent bundle SM . We also prove that the closed geodesics are dense in the unit tangent bundle (Theorem 6.1) The motivation for considering these metrics arises from studying the geodesic flow for the Weil-Petersson (WP) metric on two dimensional moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces., e.g., the moduli space for the once punctured torus. In several fundamental ways the geodesic flow we consider provides a good model for the WP geodesic flow. For example, Wolpert showed that the WP metric is also non-complete, has finite area, has negative curvature bounded away from zero, and is unbounded in the ”cusps.” Also, various authors have shown that the cusps can be approximated by singular surface of revolutions. At present, there is only a single technical obstruction (additional estimates on the derivatives of the GF in the cusp) that prevent us from applying this general method to prove ergodicity of the WP geodesic flow. See Section 7. The geometric properties of both types of flows imply that the geodesic flow is a uniformly hyperbolic dynamical system with singularities. The non-completeness causes pathologies in the stable and unstable manifolds, as for many billiard flows. For example, stable and unstable manifolds at a point, if they exist, may intersect a cusp point, and thus have only finite length. One needs extensions of “Pesin theory” to systems with singularities to study these geodesic flows. Another challenging aspect is that these surfaces may be simply connected, making the use of any of the traditional arguments involving boundaries of the covering spaces inapplicable. Studying the dynamics requires the development of new approches. Our strategy to prove ergodicity of the geodesic flow is to first establish non-uniform hyperbolicity, i.e., the Lyapunov exponents are non-zero at almost every point. We then prove that there

In this paper we unify and extend many of the known results on the dimension of deterministic and random Cantor-like sets in ℝ n , and apply these results to study some problems in dynamical systems. In particular, we verify the Eckmann-Ruelle Conjecture for equilibrium measures for Hölder continuous conformal expanding maps and conformal Axiom A# (topologically hyperbolic) homeomorphims. We also construct a Hölder continuous Axiom A# homeomorphism of positive topological entropy for which the unique measure of maximal entropy is ergodic and has different upper and lower pointwise dimensions almost everywhere. this example shows that the non-conformal Hölder continuous version of the Eckmann-Ruelle Conjecture is false. The Cantor-like sets we consider are defined by geometric constructions of different types. The vast majority of geometric constructions studied in the literature are generated by a finite collection ofp maps which are either contractions or similarities and are modeled by the full shift onp symbols (or at most a subshift of finite type). In this paper we consider much more general classes of geometric constructions: the placement of the basic sets at each step of the construction can be arbitrary, and they need not be disjoint. Moreover, our constructions are modeled by arbitrary symbolic dynamical systems. The importance of this is to reveal the close and nontrivial relations between the statistical mechanics (and especially the absence of phase transitions) of the symbolic dynamical system underlying the geometric construction and the dimension of its limit set. This has not been previously observed since no phase transitions can occur for subshifts of finite type. We also consider nonstationary constructions, random constructions (determined by an arbitrary ergodic stationary distribution), and combinations of the above.

Topological dynamics of the Weil–Petersson geodesic flow

This paper provides a systematic analysis of glider dynamics and interactions in rule 62, including a catalog of glider collisions. Based on these empirical observations, it is proved that rule 62 defines a subsystem with complicated dynamical properties in the bi-infinite symbolic sequence space, such as topologically mixing and positive topological entropy. Meanwhile, the phenomena of glider collisions provide an intriguing and valuable bridge for researching the symbolic dynamics of rule 62 in the bi-infinite case, especially for proving that the union of period-3 attractor and Bernoulli attractors is not the global attractor.

Chaotic properties of elementary cellular automata with majority memory