Strictly toral dynamics (Q2449845)

This paper considers non-wandering homeomorphisms of the torus \(\mathbb{T}^2\) homotopic to the identity that have dynamical properties unique to the torus and are not present in homeomorphisms of the annulus or the plane. Such ``strictly toral'' homeomorphisms include homeomorphisms that have a rotation set with non-empty interior. The authors introduce the concept of ``essential points'', and this plays a major role in their development. A point \(x\in\mathbb{T}^2\) is essential if the orbit of every neighborhood of \(x\) is an essential subset of \(\mathbb{T}^2\) (so there is at least one loop that is not homotopically trivial). Described loosely, essential points exhibit a weak form of rotational recurrence. Inessential points are all the other points in \(\mathbb{T}^2\). The sets of essential and inessential points are invariant, and the latter set is open. The authors' main theorem implies that for strictly total non-wandering homeomorphisms, the set of inessential points is a union of bounded disks. The set of essential points is a dynamically rich chaotic region. The authors provide sharp bounds on the diffusion rates in this region.