Pseudo-holomorphic curves and the Weinstein conjecture (Q1971638)

A (compact, orientable) hypersurface \(S\) in a symplectic manifold \((M^{2n},\omega)\) is of ``contact type'' if there is a one-form \(\alpha\) on \(S\) such that \(d\alpha = \omega_S\) (i.e., the restriction of \(\omega\) to \(S\)) and \(\alpha(X) \not = 0\) for all vector fields \(X\) (on \(S\)) with \(i_X\omega_S = 0\) (i.e., the characteristic line bundle \(L_S\)). Letting \(\xi = \text{Ker}(\alpha)\), it can be shown that \(d\alpha\) is non-degenerate on each \(\xi_x\), thus reducing the structure group of \(\xi\) to \(U(n-1)\) and providing the bundle \(\xi\) with Chern classes. Also, from the non-degeneracy of \(d\alpha\) on \(\xi\), we have the fact that \(\alpha \wedge d\alpha^{n-1}\) is a volume form on \(S\). Hence \(S\) is a contact manifold, whence the terminology ``contact type'' arises. The most common example of such a hypersurface is a regular energy surface of a Hamiltonian \(H \: (M^{2n},\omega) \to \mathbb R\); \(S = H^{-1}(c)\), where \(c\) is a regular value. Of course, this example also generates a fundamental question: do periodic orbits of the Hamiltonian system exist? In the general case, the right type of ``orbit'' is called a ``closed characteristic'' and is simply a closed curve in \(S\) whose tangent vector always lies in \(L_S\). In 1978, A. Weinstein conjectured that if \(S\) (with \(H^1(S;\mathbb R)=0\)) is a hypersurface in \((M,\omega)\) of contact type, then \(S\) has at least one closed characteristic. \textit{C. Viterbo} gave a proof of the Weinstein conjecture for \(S \subset \mathbb R^{2n}\) [Ann. Inst. Henri Poincaré, Anal. Non Linéaire 4, 337-356 (1987; Zbl 0631.58013)]. A good overview of progress may be found in \textit{H. Hofer} and \textit{E. Zehnder} [Symplectic Invariants and Hamiltonian Dynamics, Birkhäuser Advanced Texts (1994; Zbl 0805.58003)]. In this paper, the author proves Weinstein's conjecture for (certain) \(2\)-dimensional Stein manifolds, for instance. The main results are that, if the ambient manifold \(M\) has dimension \(4\) and \(b_2^+(M) > 1\), then (with notation as above), the first Chern class, \(c_1(\xi)\), of the contact bundle \(\xi\) is Poincaré dual to a finite union of closed characteristics in \(S\) and, if \(S\) bounds a submanifold \(W\subset M\) such that \(c_1(W)\not = 0\) and \(\omega\) is exact on \(W\), then \(S\) has at least one closed characteristic. As might be expected from the condition \(b_2^+(M) > 1\), the proof requires ingredients from Seiberg-Witten theory [see \textit{C. Taubes}, Math. Res. Lett. 2, 221-238 (1995; Zbl 0854.57020)].