On \(C^1\)-robust transitivity of volume-preserving flows (Q959852)

Let \(M\) be a compact connected and Riemannian manifold without boundary, with dimension \(\geq 4\), and let \(\mu\) be the induced Lebesgue measure. A vector field \(X\) is said to be divergence free if its divergence is zero (equivalently the measure \(\mu\) is invariant for the associated flow \(X^t\), \(t\in\mathbb{R}\)). \(X\) is said to be transitive if its flow \(X^t\) has a dense orbit in \(M\), and robustly transitive if there exists a \(C^1\)-neigborhood of \(X\) in \({\mathcal X}^1\) such that all of its elements are transitive (\({\mathcal X}^r_\mu(M)\), \(r\geq 1\), is the space of all \(C^r\) divergence-free vector fields of \(M\) with the usual \(C^1\)-topology). It is shown: If \(X\in{\mathcal X}^1_\mu(M)\) is a \(C^1\)-robustly transitive vector field, then \(X\) has no singularities. Moreover, if the vector field is smooth enough, it exhibits some type of weak hyperbolicity. In particular, the linear Poincaré flow associated to it admits a dominated splitting over \(M\). These results parallel those of \textit{C. Bonatti}, \textit{N. Gourmelon} and \textit{T. Vivier} for dissipative systems [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 26, No. 5, 1307--1337 (2006; Zbl 1175.37027)] (and others), and have their origins in a result of \textit{R. Mané} [Ann. Math. (2) 116, 503--540 (1982; Zbl 0511.58029)].