Translated points and Rabinowitz Floer homology (Q360543)

Let \((\Sigma^{2n-1},\xi)\) be a closed contact manifold, where \(\xi= d\alpha\), \(\alpha\) is a 1-form on \(\Sigma\). The Reeb vector field of \(\alpha\) and its flow are denoted by \(R_\alpha\) and \(\phi^\alpha_t\), respectively. For a contactomorphism \(\psi\), a point \(x\in\Sigma\) is said to be a translated point for \(\psi\) if there exists \(\tau\in\mathbb{R}\) such that \[ \psi(x)= \phi^\alpha_r(x),\quad \rho(x)= 1,\quad \psi^*\alpha= \rho\alpha. \] In this paper, assuming \((\Sigma,\xi)\) admits an exact filling, several existence results of translated points are obtained. \((\Sigma,\xi)\) is said to admit an exact filling if there exists a compact symplectic manifold \((M, d\lambda_M)\) such that \(\Sigma= \partial M\) and \(\alpha= \lambda_M|_E\). If \((\Sigma, \xi)\) admits an exact filling \((X,\lambda)\), \(X= M\bigcup_\Sigma\{\Sigma\times [1,\infty)\}\), \(\lambda= \lambda_M\) on \(M\) and \(\lambda= r\alpha\) on \(\Sigma\times [1,\infty)\), is an exact symplectic manifold and the Rabinowitz Floer homology \(\text{RFH}(\Sigma, X)\) of the pair \((\Sigma, X)\) [\textit{K. Cieliebak} and \textit{U. Frauenfelder}, Pac. J. Math. 239, No. 2, 251--316 (2009; Zbl 1221.53112)] is well defined. \(x\in\Sigma\) is called a leafwise intersection point for \((\Sigma,\phi)\) if there exists \(\tau\in\mathbb{R}\) such that \(\phi(x, 1)= (\phi^\alpha_\tau(x), 1)\). Then, it is known that the existence problem for translated points of \(\psi\) is reduced to the existence problem of leafwise intersections for \(\phi\), the symplectization of \(\psi\) (Lemma 1.9., cf. [\textit{S. Sandon}, Int. J. Math. 23, No. 2, Article ID 1250042, 14 p. (2012; Zbl 1243.53131)]). In [J. Topol. Anal. 2, No. 1, 77--98 (2010; Zbl 1196.53050)], the first author and \textit{U. Frauenfelder} gave a variational characterization of the leafwise intersection problem using the Rabinowitz action functional \({\mathcal A}\), which is defined by a contact Hamiltonian \(H(t,x,r)= rh(t, x)\), \[ h(t, x)= \alpha_{\psi_t(x)}(W(\psi_t(x))), \] where \(W(x)\) is the infinitesimal generator of a contact isotopy \(\{\psi_t\}\). Since there exists a surjection from the set of critical points of \({\mathcal A}\) to the set of translated points of \(\psi\) (Lemma 2.2), translated points of a contactomorphism which is contact isotopic to the identity on a contact manifold admitting an exact filling can be studied via the study of the Rabinowitz action functional, and the following is shown: Theorem 1.4. If \((\Sigma,\xi)\) admits an exact filling, and \(\psi\) is contact isotopic to the identity, then the following holds.{\parindent=0.5cm\begin{itemize}\item[1.] If \(\psi\) is not the identity but a local contactomorphism, then \(\psi\) has a translated point \(x\in\text{int}(\text{supp}(\psi))\).\item[2.] If \(\text{RFH}(\Sigma, X)\) does not vanish, then every \(\psi\) has a translated point.\item[3.] If \(\text{RFH}(\Sigma, X)\) is infinite-dimensional, then either \(\psi\) has infinitely many translated points or it has a translated point lying on a closed leaf of \(R_\alpha\).\item[4.] If \(\dim\Sigma\geq 3\) and \(\Sigma\) is nondegenerate, then a generic \(\psi\) has no translated point lying on a leaf of \(R_\alpha\).\item[5.] For a generic \(\psi\), if \(x\in\Sigma\) is a translated point of \(\psi^n,\) then \(x\) is not a translated point of \(\psi,\psi^2,\dots, \psi^{n-1}\). \end{itemize}} As a corollary, on \(\mathbb{R}^{2n-1}\) with the standard contact structure, a generic \(\psi\) admits infinitely many geometrically distinct iterated translated points all of which lie in \(\text{int}(\text{supp}(\psi))\) (Corollary 1.7).