A Poincaré-Birkhoff theorem for tight Reeb flows on \(S^3\) (Q2257725)

A 1-form \(\lambda\) on a 3-manifold \(M\) is a contact 1-form if \(\lambda \wedge d \lambda\) is never zero on \(M\). A contact 1-form \(\lambda\) determines a 2-plane field \(\xi = \operatorname{Ker} \lambda\) and a Reeb vector field \(X_{\lambda}\) that is determined uniquely by the conditions \(\lambda(X_{\lambda}) \equiv 1\) and \(i_{X_{\lambda}} d \lambda \equiv 0\). A contact structure \(\xi\) determines an orientation of \(M\) in a natural way. A closed Reeb orbit is an equivalence class of pairs \((x,T)\), where \(T > 0\) and \(x\) is a \(T\)-periodic trajectory of \(X_{\lambda}\). Two pairs \((x,T)\) and \((x',T')\) are equivalent if \(T = T'\) and \(x\) has the same geometric image as \(x'\). An equivalence class \([(x,T)]\) is prime if \(T\) is the smallest period of \(x\). Every closed Reeb orbit \(P\) determines a transverse rotation number \(\rho(P)\) by looking at the rate at which the transverse linearized flow rotates around \(P\). A contact structure \(\xi\) on a 3-manifold \(M\) is ``tight'' if there does not exist an imbedded disk \(D \subset M\) such that \(T(\partial D) \subset \xi\) and \(T_{p}D \neq \xi_{p}\) for all \(p \in \partial D\). An example of a tight contact structure \(\xi_{0}\) on \(S^{3}\) is the following: Write \(S^{3} = \{(x_{0},y_{0},x_{1},y_{1}) \in \mathbb{R}^{4} : x_{0}^{2} + y_{0}^{2} + x_{1}^{2} + y_{1}^{2} = 1 \}\). Then set \(\lambda_{0} = \frac{1}{2}(x_{0} dy_{0} - y_{0} dx_{0} + x_{1} dy_{1} - y_{1} dx_{1})\). One calls \(\xi_{0} = \operatorname{Ker}~\lambda_{0}\) the standard contact structure on \(S^{3}\). Eliashberg showed that if \(\lambda\) is a tight contact structure on \(S^{3}\) that induces the same orientation on \(S^{3}\) as \(\lambda_{0}\), then there exists a diffeomorphism \(\Phi\) of \(S^{3}\) such that \(\Phi^{*}(\lambda) = f \lambda_{0}\) for some smooth, positive function \(f\) on \(S^{3}\). A ``Hopf link'' is a transverse link on \((S^{3}, \xi_{0})\) that is tranversally isotopic to \(K_{0} = L_{0} \cup L_{1}\), where \(L_{i} = \{ (x_{0},y_{0},x_{1},y_{1}) \in S^{3} : x_{i} = y_{i} = 0 \}\) for \(i = 0,1\). To state the main result the authors introduce a partial ordering on the first quadrant of \(\mathbb{R}^{2}\). Define \((s_{0}, t_{0}) < (s_{1} , t_{1})\) if \(\theta(s_{0}, t_{0}) < \theta(s_{1}, t_{1})\), where \(\theta\) denotes the standard polar coordinate angle function. The main result of the article is the following theorem. Let \(\lambda = f \lambda_{0}, f > 0\), be a tight contact 1-form on \(S^{3}\) admitting prime closed orbits \(L_{0}', L_{1}'\) which are the components of a Hopf link. Define real numbers \(\theta_{0}, \theta_{1}\) by \(\theta_{i} = \rho(L_{i}) - 1\) for \(i = 0,1\), where \(\rho\) is the transverse rotation number. Suppose that \((p,q)\) is a relatively prime pair of integers such that \((\theta_{0},1) < (p,q) < (1, \theta_{1})\) or \((1,\theta_{1}) < (p,q) < (\theta_{0} , 1)\). Then there exists a prime closed Reeb orbit \(P \subset S^{3} - (L_{0}' \cup L_{1}')\) such that \(\mathrm{link}(P, L_{0}') = p\) and \(\mathrm{link}(P, L_{1}') = q\).