Measures of maximal entropy for surface diffeomorphisms (Q2078810)

Decades ago, \textit{S. E. Newhouse} [\textit{S. E. Newhouse}, in: Proceedings of the international congress of mathematicians (ICM), August 21-29, 1990, Kyoto, Japan. Volume II. Tokyo etc.: Springer-Verlag. 1285--1294 (1991; Zbl 0745.54005)] posed the question if a \(C^\infty\) diffeomorphism on a closed surface with positive topological entropy has a finite number of ergodic measures of maximal entropy. This paper answers \textit{S. E. Newhouse}'s question affirmatively as stated in its main result: Theorem. Let \(f\) be a \(C^\infty\) diffeomorphism on a closed surface and suppose its topological entropy \(h_{\mathrm{top}}(f) > 0\). Then: (a) The number of ergodic measures of maximal entropy of \(f\) is finite; (b) If \(f\) is topologically transitive, it has a unique measure of maximal entropy; (c) If \(f\) is topologically mixing, it unique measures of maximal entropy is isomorphic to a Bernoulli scheme. The proof is a consequence of a generalization of Smale's Spectral Decomposition Theorem to \(C^\infty\) diffeomorphisms on closed surfaces with positive topological entropy, and a theorem that describes the dynamics from both the measurable and symbolic points of view, the latter being countable state Markov shifts. The methods employed in the paper to \(C^\infty\) diffeomorphisms and measures of maximal entropy on closed surfaces also apply to \(C^r\) diffeomorphisms and equilibrium measures on closed surfaces for \(r>1\). For \(M\) a closed surface and \(f:M\to M\) a \(C^r\) diffeomorphism set \(\Vert Df^n\Vert = \max\{\Vert Df^n\vert_{T_xM}\Vert:x\in M\}\), \(\lambda^u(f) = \lim_{n\to\infty}(1/n)\log \Vert Df^n\Vert\), \(\lambda^s(f) = \lim_{n\to\infty}(1/n)\Vert Df^{-n}\Vert\), and \(\lambda_{\min}(f) = {\min}\{\lambda^s(f),\lambda^u(f)\}\). An extension of the theorem above is: Theorem. Let \(f\) be a \(C^r\) diffeomorphism of a closed surface \(M\) for \(r>1\), and let \(\phi:M\to {\mathbb R}\cup\{-\infty\}\) be an admissible potential. Then: (a) For any \(\chi>\lambda_{\min}(f)/r\) there are at most finitely many ergodic equilibrium measures for \(\phi\) with entropy strictly bigger than \(\chi\); (b) Each compact invariant transitive subset of \(M\) carries at most one ergodic hyperbolic equilibrium measure \(\mu\) for \(\phi\) with the unstable dimension of \(\mu\) bigger than \(1/r\), and at most one ergodic hyperbolic equilibrium measure \(\mu\) for \(\phi\) with stable dimension bigger than \(1/r\). A consequence of this extension is: Corollary. Let \(f\) be a \(C^r\) diffeomorphism on a closed surface for \(r>1\), and let \(\phi\) be an admissible potential. Assume that \[ \sup_{\nu\in {\mathbb P}_e(f)} \left\{ h(f,\nu) + \int \phi\ d\nu\right\} > \sup\phi + \frac{\lambda_{\min}(f)}{r}, \] where \({\mathbb P}_e(f)\) is the set of \(f\)-invariant ergodic measures and \(h(f,\mu)\) is the metric entropy of \(f\) with respect to \(\nu\). Then \(f\) has at most infinitely many ergodic equilibrium measures, and if \(f\) is topologically transitive, then it has at most one.