Lyapunov spectrum for geodesic flows of rank 1 surfaces (Q379847): Difference between revisions

Let \(M\) be a surface of genus \(\geq 2\) endowed with a metric of nonpositive curvature, \(g^t\) be the geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle \(T^1M\) of \(M\). In this paper the authors obtain some estimates on the fractal dimensions of the level sets of the Lyapunov exponent function \(\chi(\cdot)\) of the geodesic flow. More precisely, let \(\mathfrak{L}(\alpha)=\{v\in T^1M:\chi(v)=\alpha\}\), \(\varphi^{(u)}(v)\) be the negative of the instantaneous expansion rate at \(v\) of the geodesic flow, and \(\mathcal{P}(q)=P(q\varphi^{(u)})\) be the topological pressure of the geodesic flow with the potential \(q\varphi^{(u)}\). The graph of \(\mathcal{P}\) is convex, and it admits a supporting line of slope \(-\alpha\), say \(\mathcal{F}_{\alpha}\), for any \(\alpha\) in the range of \(\chi\). Let \(\mathcal{D}(\alpha)\) and \(\mathcal{E}(\alpha)\) be the intersections of \(\mathcal{F}_{\alpha}\) with the horizontal and vertical coordinate lines, respectively. Then the main result of this paper gives the estimates of the Hausdorff dimension and the Bowen's dimensional entropy of the level set \(\mathfrak{L}(\alpha)\): \[ \dim_H \mathfrak{L}(\alpha)\geq 1+2\mathcal{D}(\alpha),\quad h(\mathfrak{L}(\alpha))\geq\mathcal{E}(\alpha). \] Combining with \textit{R. Bowen}'s estimate in [Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 184, 125--136 (1973; Zbl 0274.54030)], the above entropy estimate turns out to be an equality: \(h(\mathfrak{L}(\alpha))=\mathcal{E}(\alpha)\). The authors also mention an interesting open problem. Note that the phase space \(T^1M\) is divided into two parts: the regular part \(\mathcal{R}\) of vectors whose geodesics enter some region of negative curvature, and the part \(\mathcal{H}\) of vectors whose geodesics avoid any region of negative curvature. It is known that \(\mathcal{R}\) is open and dense in \(T^1M\), and the geodesic flow on \(\mathcal{R}\) is nonuniformly hyperbolic and ergodic [\textit{Ja. B. Pesin}, Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 41, 1252--1288 (1977; Zbl 0376.58012)]. What is unknown is whether \(\mathcal{H}\) is of zero measure. As a supportive evidence, it follows from the above entropy estimate that \(h(\mathcal{H})=0\).