Reeb dynamics inspired by Katok's example in Finsler geometry (Q1709788)

The authors of this paper describe two constructions that were inspired by the work of \textit{A. B. Katok} [Math. USSR, Izv. 7, 535--571 (1974; Zbl 0316.58010); translation from Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR, Ser. Mat. 37, 539--576 (1973)]. The two parts of the paper are largely independent. Katok had created deformations of the Riemannian metric on spheres and projective spaces using non-reversible Finsler metrics. \textit{A. Harris} and \textit{G. P. Paternain} [Ann. Global Anal. Geom. 34, No. 2, 115--134 (2008; Zbl 1149.53045)] followed and gave a contact-geometric interpretation of the Katok metric on the two-sphere, showing that the geodesic flow on the unit tangent bundle of \(S^2\) was a Reeb flow. In turn, \textit{G. Benedetti} [Bull. Lond. Math. Soc. 48, No. 5, 855--865 (2016; Zbl 1370.37107)] interpreted magnetic flows on \(S^2\) as Reeb flows. Magnetic flows are Hamiltonian flows on the cotangent-bundle of a manifold with respect to a symplectic form that is the sum of the canonical form and a closed two form lifted from the base. In the first part of this paper, the authors consider Benedetti's work and show that his example with magnetic flows can be interpreted as quaternionic rotates of a well-known example of a Reeb flow with only two periodic orbits on the three-sphere. In the course of their argument, the authors review the Hopf fibration of \(S^3\), quaternions and the forms they induce, as well as structure forms on \(S^2\). In the second part, they construct Reeb and Hamiltonian flows with a large number of periodic orbits. They also consider closed characteristics of hypersurfaces in symplectic manifolds \((M,\omega)\). These are defined as integral curves of \(\ker(\omega|_{TM})\). The authors show that for \(n\geq 2\) and \(k\geq 0\) there is a closed, connected hypersurface in \(\mathbb{R}^{2n+2}\) with exactly \(k\) closed characteristics, and that in \(\mathbb{R}^4\) any number \(k\geq 2\) can be realized.