Positive expansive flows (Q2437658)

In the subject of discrete-time dynamical systems, a homeomorphism \(f:X\to X\) on a compact metric space \((X,d)\) is said to be ``positive expansive'' if there is \(\alpha >0\) such that if \(d(f^n(x),f^n(y))<\alpha\) for all \(n\geq 0\) then \(x=y\). It is well known that if \(X\) admits a positive expansive homeomorphism then \(X\) is finite see [\textit{S. Schwartzman}, On transformation groups, Dissertation, Yale University, (1952)]. In the present paper, the author shows the corresponding result for flows, giving an affirmative answer to a problem raised by \textit{A. Kocsard} in [Toward the classification of cohomology-free vector fields. Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada (PhD Thesis) (2007; \url{arXiv:0706.4053})]. Namely, he shows that if \(X\) admits a positive expansive flow then \(X\) is a finite union of circles and isolated points. Recall that a continuous flow \(\Phi:\mathbb{R}\times X\to X\) on a compact metric space \((X,d)\) is called positive expansive if for every \(\varepsilon >0\) there is \(\delta>0\) such that if \(d(\Phi_t(x),\Phi_{h(t)}(y))<\delta\) for all \(t\in\mathbb{R}\) and some increasing homeomorphism \(h:\mathbb{R}\to\mathbb{R}\) with \(h(0)=0\) then \(y=\Phi_s(x)\) with \(|s|<\varepsilon\). Note that the proof in the discrete case can not be directly adapted to the case of flows because expansiveness of flows is defined using reparametrizations of time.