Positive loops and \(L^{\infty}\)-contact systolic inequalities (Q2412556)

The paper studies the relation between positive loops of contactomorphisms \(\varphi=\{\varphi_t\}_{t\in S^1}\) of a closed contact manifold \((\Sigma, \xi=\ker \alpha)\) and minimal periods of Reeb orbits. The notion of positive loop of contactomorphisms was first introduced in [\textit{Y. Eliashberg} and \textit{L. Polterovich}, Geom. Funct. Anal. 10, No. 6, 1448--1476 (2000; Zbl 0986.53036)], which plays a central role in contact nonsqueezing [\textit{Y. Eliashberg} et al., ``Geometry of contact transformations and domains: orderability versus squeezing'', Geom. Topol. 10, No. 3, 1635--1747 (2006; \url{doi:10.2140/gt.2006.10.1635})]. It is defined as a loop of contactomorphisms such that its contact Hamiltonian \(h_t^\alpha\), \(t\in [0,1]\) is non-negative. A positive loop is called nontrivial if \(h_t^\alpha\) is not identically zero. For a contact Hamiltonian \(h^\alpha: \Sigma\times [0,1]\rightarrow \mathbb R\), one can define two quantities associated to it. One is \(\| h^\alpha\|_{\text{osc}}=\| h\|_+-\| h\|_-\), where \(\| h\|_+:=\int_0^1\max_{x\in\Sigma} h_t^\alpha(x)dt\), \(\| h\|_-:=\int_0^1\min_{x\in\Sigma} h_t^\alpha(x)dt\), and the other is the minimal conformal factor \(\varrho^\alpha(\varphi):=\min_{(x,t)\in \Sigma\times [0,1]} \rho_t^\alpha(x)\in (0,1]\), where \(\varphi_t^\ast\alpha=\rho_t^\alpha \alpha\). The authors show that given a loop of contactomorphisms with contact Hamiltonian satisfying \[ 0<\| h^\alpha\|_{\text{osc}}<\varrho^\alpha(\varphi)\cdot \wp(\alpha,\nu_0), \] where \(\wp(\alpha,\nu_0)\) is the minimal nontrivial contractible Reeb period, a value lying in \((0,\infty]\), there exists a closed Reeb orbit in the free homotopy class of the loop \(\varphi_t(x), t\in S^1\), for any fixed \(x\), with period \(\eta\) satisfying \[ \| h^\alpha\|_-<\eta\leq \| h^\alpha\|_+. \] In particular, if the loop \(\varphi_t\) is further a positive one, then one has \(0<\eta\leq \| h^\alpha\|_+\), so there must be a nontrivial closed Reeb orbit in the homotopy class of \(\varphi_t(x), t\in S^1\), and the \(L^\infty\)-norm \(\| h^\alpha\|_+\) is bounded below by the minimal Reeb period in that homotopy class. This is the main theorem of the paper. The authors deduce various consequences of the main theorem. One is the result that there are no \(C^0\)-small positive loops on Liouville fillable or hypertight contact manifolds. Note that non-existence of small positive loops for overtwisted 3-manifolds was proved in [\textit{R. Casals} et al., J. Symplectic Geom. 14, No. 4, 1013--1031 (2016; Zbl 1365.53072)]. There are also several results on minimal positive loops and contact systolic inequalities.