Closed Reeb orbits on the sphere and symplectically degenerate maxima (Q356533)

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Closed Reeb orbits on the sphere and symplectically degenerate maxima
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    Closed Reeb orbits on the sphere and symplectically degenerate maxima (English)
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    26 July 2013
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    By assuming the existence of one symplectically degenerated maximum (SDM) Reeb orbit, the authors show that the Reeb flow has infinitely many periodic orbits. They use this result to give a different proof of a theorem in [\textit{D. Cristofaro-Gardiner} and \textit{M. Hutchings}, ``From one Reeb orbit to two'', Preprint, \url{arXiv: 1102.3723}] asserting that every Reeb flow on the standard contact 3-sphere has at least three periodic orbits. They adapted the tools formely used for proving the Hamiltonian Conley conjecture into the contact setting. \noindent{Theorem 1} (Main Theorem): Let \(\alpha\) be a contact form on \(S^{3}\) such that \(\operatorname{ker}(\alpha)\) is the standard contact structure. Then the Reeb flow of \(\alpha\) has at least two closed orbits. \noindent{Theorem 2}: Let \((M^{2n-1},\operatorname{ker}(\alpha))\) be a contact manifold admitting a strong symplectic filling \((W,\omega)\) such that \(\omega\) is aspherical and \(c_{1}(TM)=0\). Assume that \(H_{_1}(M,\mathbb{Z})\) is torsion-free and that the Reeb flow of \(\alpha\) has an isolated simple closed Reeb orbit which is a symplectically degenerated maximum (SDM) with respect to some symplectic trivialization of \(\operatorname{ker}(\alpha|_{x})\). Then the Reeb flow of \(\alpha\) has infinitely many periodic orbits. The authors call attention for the hypothesis of being SDM. They say that it plays a central role in the proof and also that it is their believe that a different approach would be required to tackle the question without it. Furthermore, they observe that a Riemannian or Finsler manifold has also infinitely many closed geodesics whenever it has one prime closed SDM geodesic. In particular, they provide the most Floer-theoretical proof of the existence of infinitely many closed geodesics on \(S^{2}\). Theorem 2 remains true when the SDM orbit is replaced by a symplectically degenerate minimum (SDMin) The main tools used in the paper are the contact homology groups \(HC_{*}(x)\) and \(HF_{*}(\phi_{x})\) associated to a closed Reeb orbit \(x=y^{k}\) of \(\alpha\), where \(y\) is a simple closed Reeb orbit, a Poincaré return map \(\phi_{x}\) of \(x\), and some equivariant versions of them. Theorem 1 follows as a consequence of Theorem 2 and a technical result established in: \noindent{Theorem 3:} Let \(x=y^{k}\) be an isolated closed Reeb orbit. Then we have \(HC_{*+n-3}(x)=HF^{\mathbb{Z}_{k}}_{*}(x)\). Here, \(HF^{\mathbb{Z}_{k}}_{*}(x)\) is defined as the \(\mathbb{Z}_{k}\)-equivariant Floer homology.
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    periodic orbits
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    Reeb flows
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    Floer and contact homology
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    Conley conjecture
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