Iterates of piecewise monotone mappings on an interval (Q1188503)

Let C(I) be the set of all continuous functions f: \(I\to I\) which map interval \(I=[a,b]\) into itself. For \(f\in C(I)\) one can define the n-th iterate of f inductively \(f^ n(x)=f(f^{n-1}(x))\), \(f^ 0(x)=x\), \(f^ 1(x)=f(x)\). The set of iterates \(\{f^ n\}^{\infty}_{n=0}\) of mapping f is an example of a dynamical system. This system can be thought of as describing some process, whose states are represented by the points of the interval I, and which is observed at discrete time intervals. If the process is originally in the state x (at time 0), then it will be in the state \(f^ n(x)\) at the time n. The orbit \(\{f^ n(x)\}^{\infty}_{n=0}\) of x describes the successive states of the process. Dynamical systems of this type have been used as models in biological and physical sciences. The main purpose of the present notes is to study the iterates of piecewise monotone mappings in C(I). A mapping \(f\in C(I)\) is called piecewise monotone if there exists \(N\geq 0\) and \(a=d_ 0<d_ 1<...<d_ N<d_{N+1}=b\) such that f is strictly monotone on \([d_ k,d_{k+1}]\) for each \(k=0,1,...,N\). The set of all these mappings will be denoted by M(I). If \(f\in M(I)\), then \(w\in (a,b)\) is said to be a turning point of f if f is not monotone in any neighbourhood of w. The analysis of iterates \(\{f^ n\}^{\infty}_{n=0}\) for a general mapping \(f\in M(I)\) is carried out in two stages. The main result of the first stage is the following theorem: if \(f\in M(I)\), then one of the following three things happens to the orbit \(\{f^ n(x)\}^{\infty}_{n=0}:\) (1) The orbit eventually ends up in an f-invariant subset \(C\subset I\), C consisting of finitely many closed intervals, on which f acts topologically transitively (which means that the orbit of some point of C is dense in C). (2) The orbit is attracted to an f-invariant Cantor-like set \(R\subset I\), on which f acts minimally (which means that the orbit of each point in R is dense in R). (3) The orbit is contained in an f-invariant open set \(Z\subset I\), which is such that on each of its connected components \(f^ n\) is monotone for each \(n\geq 0.\) This theorem is a generalization of a previous result of the author. The second stage of the analysis concerns the structure of the set of points \(x\in I\) for which none of the conditions (1)-(3) holds. By the above theorem this set is ``small''. However, it turns out that the global complexity of the iterates of f can be strongly influenced by the behaviour of f on this set.