Coisotropic intersections (Q2458991)

A fundamental result in symplectic topology asserts that a Lagrangian submanifold necessarily intersects its image under a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism that is in some sense close to the identity, e.g., has sufficiently small energy. Depending on the notion of closeness and on the requirements imposed on the manifolds, various forms on the Lagrangian intersection property have been proved by many authors [e.g., by \textit{Yu. V. Chekanov}, Hofer's symplectic energy and Lagrangian intersections. Contact and symplectic geometry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Publ. Newton Inst. 8, 296--306 (1996; Zbl 0867.58026), Duke Math. J. 95, 213--226 (1998; Zbl 0977.53077), \textit{A. Floer}, J. Differ. Geom. 28, 513--547 (1988; Zbl 0674.57027); Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 41, 775--813 (1988; Zbl 0633.53058) and Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 42, 335--356 (1989; Zbl 0683.58017); Commun. Math. Phys. 120, 575--611 (1989; Zbl 0755.58022); \textit{M. Gromov}, Invent. Math. 82, 307--347 (1985; Zbl 0592.53025); \textit{F. Laudenbach} and \textit{J.-C. Sikorav}, Invent. Math. 82, 349--357 (1985; Zbl 0592.58023); \textit{Y.-G. Oh}, Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 46, 949--994 (1993; Zbl 0795.58019), Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 46, 995--1012 (1993; Zbl 0795.58020); in: Contact and Symplectic Geometry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Publ. Newton Inst. 8, 201--267 (1996; Zbl 0868.57030); Math. Res. Lett. 4, 895--905 (1997; Zbl 0899.58020), \textit{A. Weinstein}, Ann. Math. (2) 98, 377--410 (1973; Zbl 0271.58008); the paper in: Géométrie symplectique et de contact: autour du théorème de Poincaré-Birkhoff, Journ. lyonnaises Soc. Math. France 1983, Sémin. sud-rhodanien Géom. III, 140--144 (1984; Zbl 0598.58013)]. A submanifold \(M\) of a symplectic manifold \((W^{2n},\omega)\) is said to be coisotropic if for every \(p\in M\), the \(\omega\)-orthogonal \((T_{p}M)^{\omega}\) to the tangent space \(T_{p}M\) is contained in \(T_{p}M\) (this implies \(\dim M\geq n\)). For instance, a Lagrangian submanifold of \((W^{2n},\omega)\) is coisotropic as is any hypersurface in \((W^{2n},\omega)\). If \(M\) is a closed coisotropic submanifold in \((W^{2n},\omega)\), the distribution \(\ker(\omega| _{M})\) is integrable and defines the so-called characteristic foliation \(\mathcal{F}\) on \(M\). The main purpose of this very interesting paper is to establish persistence of coisotropic intersections under Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms for a class of coisotropic submanifolds satisfying a certain additional stability requirement, introduced by \textit{P. Bolle} [Math. Z. 227, 211--230 (1998; Zbl 0894.53035)] and similar to the stability of hypersurfaces [see \textit{Y. Eliashberg, S. S. Kim} and \textit{L. Polterovich}, Geom. Topol. 10, 1635--1748 (2006; Zbl 1134.53044); \textit{H. Hofer} and \textit{E. Zehnder}, Symplectic invariants and Hamiltonian dynamics. Birkhäuser Advanced Texts. Basel: Birkhäuser (1994; Zbl 0805.58003)]. Under some natural and not-too-restrictive assumptions on the ambient manifold \(W\), for such a submanifold \(M\) the author establishes a lower bound on the Hofer norm of a displacing Hamiltonian diffeomorphism, and hence he proves that \(M\) has positive displacement energy. Despite the fact that the stability condition is quite restrictive, the author's results combined with the examples given in this paper appear to provide enough evidence to conjecture that the coisotropic intersection property holds in general. Moreover, when \(M\) is displaceable, the author proves the existence of a loop, tangent to \(\mathcal{F}\), contractible in \(W\), and bounding a positive (hence nonzero) symplectic area. In particular, if \(\omega\) is exact, i.e., \(\omega=d\lambda\), then the restriction \(\lambda| _{\mathcal{F}}\) of \(\lambda\) to \(\mathcal{F}\) is leafwise closed, and the foliated Liouville class \([\lambda| _{\mathcal{F}}]\) (i.e., the cohomology class of \(\lambda| _{\mathcal{F}}\) in the foliated de Rham cohomology) is nonzero. This generalizes the results of \textit{P. Bolle} [C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris Sér. I Math. 322, 83--86 (1996; Zbl 0847.58023); Math. Z. 227, 211--230 (1998; Zbl 0894.53035)] for submanifolds of \(\mathbb{R}^{2n}\). The proofs of the author's main theorems are based on an auxiliary result asserting the existence of a Floer connecting trajectory descending from a one-periodic orbit to the maximum of a (nondegenerate or degenerate) Hamiltonian and having energy bounded from above by the displacement energy of the support of the Hamiltonian, provided that the maximum is large enough and the Hamiltonian is slow near its maximum. If \(M\) is a connected closed hypersurface of restricted contact type, bounding a domain \(U\) in a subcritical Stein manifold \(W\), the author also shows that for a compactly supported Hamiltonian diffeomorphism \(\varphi_{H}:W\rightarrow W\) with energy \(\| H\| \) smaller than the homological capacity of \(U\), there exists a leaf \(F\) of the characteristic foliation \(\mathcal{F}\) on \(M\) such that \(\varphi_{H}(F)\cap F\neq\emptyset\). For \(W=\mathbb{R}^{2n}\), this result was proved by \textit{H. Hofer} [Proc. R. Soc. Edinb., Sect. A 115, 25--38 (1990; Zbl 0713.58004)].