Denjoy \(C^1\) diffeomorphisms of the circle and McDuff's question (Q2258856)

The author lists some basic theory of orientation-preserving \(C^1\) diffeomorphisms of the circle. After that, the author presents D. McDuff's theorem. Let \(f: S^1\to S^1\) be a Denjoy \(C^1\) diffeomorphism with unique minimal set \(K\). The set \(\Lambda\) of the connected components of \(S^1\backslash K\) is countable and \(\sum_{I\in \Lambda}\lambda(I)<1\), where \(\lambda\) denotes the normalized Lebesgue measure on \(S^1\). Let \(\{\lambda_n\}\) be a sequence of real numbers such that (1) \(\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\lambda_n \leqslant 1\); (2) \(\lambda_{n+1}<\lambda_n\) for \(n\in \mathbb{N}\); (3) for every \(n\in \mathbb{N}\), there exists some \(I\in \Lambda\) such that \(\lambda_n=\lambda(I)\). McDuff's theorem can be stated as follows: the sequence of ratios \(\{\frac{\lambda_n}{\lambda_{n+1}}\}\) is bounded and has \(1\) as a limit point. McDuff's question is whether \(\lim_{\lambda\to+\infty}\frac{\lambda_n}{\lambda_{n+1}}=1\). This is still an open problem. It is shown in the present paper that an affirmative answer to McDuff's question is implied by the solvability of a cohomological equation on \(K\).