No label defined (Q3977547)

[For the entire collection see Zbl 0686.00016.] Let \(M\) be a set and \(f\) a map from \(M\) into itself. In the case in which \(M\) is an interval and \(f\) a continuous map it is well known that positive topological entropy can be characterized by certain properties of the set of periods of \(f\). A similar result has been proved in the case when \(f\) is an endomorphism of the circle. The paper deals with the case when \(f\) is an orientation-preserving \(C^ 2\) embedding of the disk. It is easy to see that in this case the period of a periodic orbit is not sufficient to say something interesting about maps possessing this orbit. A better characterization can be done introducing braid theory. From this point of view some properties of orientation-preserving \(C^ 2\) embeddings of the disk are proved. As a direct consequence the authors obtain that the periodic orbits with period 3 with certain braid type cannot occur without positive topological entropy.