On topological entropy of commuting interval maps (Q1849027)

Let \(I=[0,1]\) be the unit interval. A map \(I\longrightarrow I\) is called piecewise monotonic if there are \(x_{0}=0<x_{1}<\cdots x_{n}=1\) such that \(f|_{(x_{i},x_{i+1})}\) is continuous and either non-decreasing or non-increasing. The authors study some results on topological entropy for piecewise monotonic maps as defined in [\textit{F. Hofbauer}, Probab. Theory Relat. Fields 72, 359-386 (1986; Zbl 0578.60069)] (respectively, topological entropy for continuous maps) \(f,g\) on the interval \([0,1]\) with \(f\circ g = g\circ f\). If \(h(f)\) denotes the topological entropy of a dynamical system \((I,f)\), they obtain the following: Theorem. Let \(f\), \(g\) be piecewise monotonic maps such that \(f\circ g=g\circ f\). Then \(h(f\circ g)\leq h(f)+h(g)\). As an easy consequence of the previous theorem, we have that if \(h(f)=h(g)=0\), then \(h(f\circ g)=0\). However, as the authors point out by means of an example, the conditions \(h(f)>0\) and \(h(g)>0\) do not guarantee that \(h(f\circ g)>0\). So, some further conditions are needed in order to assure the inequality \(h(f\circ g)>0\). The second result presented fits into this framework: Theorem. Let \(f,g\) continuous functions on \(I\) such that \(f\circ g=g\circ f\). Suppose that \(f\) and \(g\) share a periodic point of order \(2^{k} p\), where \(k\geq 0\) and \(p\geq 3\) is odd. Then \(h(f\circ g)>0\).