The structure of minimal attraction centers of trajectories of continuous maps of the interval (Q1890606)

The topological structure of minimal attracting centers for trajectories of continuous maps \(f\) of the interval \(I\) into itself is studied. For \(x \in I\) the minimal attraction center (or \(\sigma\)-limit set) determines statistical properties of the trajectory behavior of \(x\) and, roughly speaking, is the smallest closed set such that the trajectory through \(x\) moves near this set almost all the time. The main result of the paper is the following theorem. Theorem. A closed subset \(S \subset I\) is the minimal attraction center for a trajectory of a continuous map of the interval into itself if and only if \(S\) is either nowhere dense or is a finite collection of mutually disjoint nondegenerate closed intervals. An analogous result relative to the topological structure of \(\omega\)- limit sets for maps of the interval was obtained earlier by \textit{A. N. Sharkovskij} [Sov. Math., Dokl. 6, 268-270 (1965); translation from Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR 160, 1036-1038 (1965; Zbl 0174.544)] and by \textit{S. J. Agronsky}, \textit{A. M. Bruckner}, \textit{J. G. Ceder} and \textit{T. L. Pearson} [Real Anal. Exch. 15, No. 2, 483-510 (1990; Zbl 0728.26006)].