Dynamical systems. An introduction (Q691551)

This book is an introductory text to the modern theory of dynamical systems, with particular focus on discrete time systems. It is written as a text book for undergraduate or beginning graduate courses. The book is almost self contained: it includes all the definitions, with examples, and the proofs of the presented results, as well as the majority of the tools in the proofs. The last section of each chapter consists of a list of exercises. The references in the bibliography are cited only in the introduction, as recommendations for further reading. The scope of the book is summarized in the table of contents: 1. Introduction. 2. Basic notions and examples. 3. Topological dynamics. 4. Low dimensional dynamics. 5. Hyperbolic dynamics I. 6. Hyperbolic dynamics II. 7. Symbolic dynamics. 8. Ergodic theory. In more detail, Chapter 2 introduces the notion of a dynamical system, as well as some motivating examples in the circle -- rotations and expanding maps -- and in the torus. Also some simple examples of continuous time dynamical systems are provided. Chapter 3 is devoted to the concepts of topological recurrence, dealing with topological transitivity and topological mixing, and the definition topological entropy. Chapter 4 presents the main examples of low dimensional dynamics. The first part covers homeomorphims and diffeomorphims of the circle. The second covers maps on the interval, with emphasis on periodic points and, particularly, Sharkovsky's theorem. The Poincaré-Bendixson theorem is included in the last part of this chapter. The next chapter is the first devoted to hyperbolic dynamics. There the notion of a hyperbolic set is introduced, with the Smale horseshoe as an example. Then a relation between hyperbolic sets and invariant families of cones is established. Finally, the stability of the hyperbolic sets is presented. Chapter 6 starts with the study of a dynamical system around a hyperbolic fixed point, providing both the Hartman-Grobman and the Hadamard-Perron theorem. Next the existence of invariant stable and unstable manifolds associated to each point of a hyperbolic set is proved. The construction is used to provide a local product structure. Finally, geodesic flows in the hyperbolic plane are considered. The notion of a hyperbolic flow is briefly introduced. Chapter 7 deals with symbolic dynamics. The authors introduce the shift map on a space of symbols and compute its topological entropy. As examples, expanding maps of the circle, quadratic maps of the interval and the Smale horseshoe are provided. It is also considered the notion of topological Markov chains and its relation with horseshoes. Chapter 8 is a brief introduction to Ergodic theory. Birkhoff's ergodic theorem is stated and proved. The concept of metric entropy is introduced, too.