A Conley-type Lyapunov function for the strong chain recurrent set (Q2072116)

For a continuous flow \(\phi\colon X\times \mathbb{R}\to X\) defined in a compact metric space \(X\), the set \(\mathcal{SCR}_d(\phi)\) consists of all the strongly chain recurrent points of \(\phi\). In this paper, extending the famous Fundamental Theorem of Dynamical Systems by \textit{C. Conley} [Isolated invariant sets and the Morse index. Providence, RI: American Mathematical Society (AMS) (1978; Zbl 0397.34056)], the authors prove that when \(\phi\) is uniformly Lipschitz on the compact subsets of \([0,+\infty)\) there exists a Lipschitz continuous Lyapunov function \(h\) for \(\phi\) which is strictly decreasing outside \(\mathcal{SCR}_d(\phi)\), that is, a Lipschitz continuous function \(h\colon X\to \mathbb{R}\) such that \(h(\phi_t(x))\leq h(x)\) for all \(t\geq 0\) and \(x\in X\), and \([0,+\infty)\ni t \mapsto h(\phi_t(x))\in \mathbb{R}\) is strictly decreasing for \(x\in X\setminus \mathcal{SCR}_d(\phi)\). From their proofs, one can see that their results hold for semiflows as well.