Mather invariant, distortion, and conjugates for diffeomorphisms of the interval (Q1982485)

Let \(\mathrm{Diff}^{r, \Delta}_+([0,1])\) denote the space of orientation-preserving \(C^r\) interval diffeomorphisms, with no fixed point in \((0,1)\) (this explains the meaning of the \(\Delta\)). The authors' first main result is that the asymptotic distortion of a map \(f \in\mathrm{Diff}^{2, \Delta}_+([0,1])\) vanishes if and only if the endpoints are parabolic fixed points of \(f\) and the Mather invariant of \(f\) is trivial. They also prove that the asymptotic distortion is continuous on \(\mathrm{Diff}^{1+\mathrm{bv}, \Delta}_+([0,1])\) (bv stands for bounded variation) but it is not continuous on the spaces \(\mathrm{Diff}^{1+\mathrm{bv}}_+([0,1])\) and \(\mathrm{Diff}^{\infty}_+([0,1])\). Another important result is that if \(f\) and \(g\) are \(C^2\) diffeomorphisms of a compact 1-manifold conjugate by a \(C^1\) diffeomorphism, then \(f\) and \(g\) have the same asymptotic distortion. Some applications are given.