The \(C^ 1\) Brunovsky hypothesis (Q1336317)

This paper is devoted to a proof of the \(C^ 1\) Brunovsky hypothesis: for the generic \(C^ 1\) 1-parameter family of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of class \(C^ k\) from the circle to itself, \(t \mapsto f_ t\), with \(k \geq 1\), the rotation number \(\rho(f_ t)\) is a piecewise monotone function of the parameter. Brunovsky's original proof of this result (for a \(C^ r\) 1-parameter family of \(C^ k\) diffeomorphism with \(r \geq 1\) and \(k \geq 2\)) was incorrect. The authors of this paper use some unpublished results of Douady and Yoccoz to establish their main theorem. The authors note that their method cannot hope to verify the \(C^ r\) Brunovsky hypothesis when \(r \geq 2\). In fact, the authors express doubt that the hypothesis is true in this case.