A characterization of annularity for area-preserving toral homeomorphisms (Q2454415)

Let \(T^2\) denote the two-dimensional torus and let \(f:T^2 \to T^2\) be an area-preserving homeomorphism homotopic to identity. A lift \(\hat f:R^2\to R^2\) has bounded displacement in the direction \(v\in R^2\) at a point \(z\in R^2\) if there is \(M>0\) such that for all \(n\) \(|p_v(\hat f^n(z)-z)|\leq M\). Here, \(p_v\) denotes the orthogonal projection onto the direction \(v\). Similarly, \(f\) has uniformly bounded displacement if there exists an \(M\) independent of \(z\in R^2\). A subset \(A\subset T^2\) homeomorphic to an open annulus is called essential annulus if it contains a homotopically nontrivial loop. The main result of the paper states that if some lift \(\hat f\) of \(f\) has a rotation set \(\rho (\hat f)=\{0\}\times [a,b]\), then \(f\) has uniformly bounded displacement in the horizontal direction and there exists an invariant essential annulus.