No label defined (Q4164074)

In the decade since the publication of \textit{S. Smale}'s survey of ``Differentiable Dynamical Systems'' [Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 73, 747--817 (1967; Zbl 0202.55202)], much of the program outlined in that paper has been oompleted and many new areas of interest, have opened up. This brief (45 pages) set of lecture notes attempts to describe some of these areas and the recent advances in them. The notes grew out of a series of lectures given by the author at an NSF-CBMS regional conference held at North Dakota State University in June, 1977. We note with sadness that Rufus Bowen passed away soon after these notes appeared. We feel that they will provide a suitable testimonial to his creativity as a mathematician and his great skill as a lecturer and expositor. The notes consist of ten separate sections, the first two of which summarize the basic properties of Axiom A systems as obtained in the Smale survey. Each of the remaining sections deals with a specific topic of current interest in dynamical systems. There are, of course, some omissions. For example, there is no mention of the recent advances in the bifurcation theory of Axiom A systems, nor is there any discussion of structural stability. By the author's admission, however, there is a ``tendency to concentrate on what one knows best'' and to present only the problems which one likes best. This seems to be what Bowen has done. Almost every section of the book contains a major theorem due to Bowen or to one of his students. -- Before detailing the contents of the various sections, we wish to point out several interesting features of the book. First of all, each section concludes with a detailed bibliography relating to the topic of that section. We find the references to be complete summary of the current status of that field. Also, each section concludes with several open problems. These problems have already stimulated quite a bit of activity, as evidenced by the number of ``notes added in proof''. Finally, the notes contain one of the most complete collections of the basic examples in dynamical systems. Included are the ``classical'' Axiom A systems: The Smale horse-shoe, the Williams solenoid, gradient systems, and the hyperbolic toral automorphisms. More recent examples are also treated in detail: We mentlon in particular the quadratic maps of the interval, horocycle flows, and the Loranz attractor. Section 3 is devoted to an outline of symbolic dynamics; the author defines subshifts of finite type and shows how they arise naturally in Axiom A systems. This leads to the introduction of Markov partitions, and the author constructs the partitions for the classical systems. -- The next two sections deal with topological entropy and the entropy conjecture. Roughly speaking, the topologioal entropy \(h(f)\) of a map is a measure of how many different orbits \(f\) has, or of how ``complicated'' the dynamics of \(f\) are. Using pseudo-orbits, the entropy of an infinite basic act is shown to be positive, and that \[ h(f)=\limsup_{n\to\infty} (n^{-1}\log N_n(f)) \] where \(N_n(f)=\text{card\,Fix}(f^n)\). Much work in recent years has been devoted to the entropy conjecture. This problem relates the entropy of a mapping to the algebraic properties of the Induced mapping on homology. More precisely, is \(h(f)\geq \max\log |\lambda|\) where \(\lambda\) is an eigenvalue of the induced mapping on the \(k\)-th homology group? The author summarizes the many partial results obtained in recent years. Section 6 is devoted to the ergodic theory of Axiom A systems, while section 7 extends most of the previous results to flows. Section 8 is a short introduction to horocycle flows: These are continuous flows along the one diemensional unstable manifolds of an Axiom A attractor. These flows are described completely for the solenoid and the hyperbolic toral automorphisms. The final two sections deal with specific non-Axiom A systems which have received a great deal of attention recently. Section 9 discusses certain classes of maps of the unit interval. The symbolic dynansics of section 3 is modified to give a good global picture of the dynamics of these maps. One can obtain in this way the results of \textit{T. X. Li} and \textit{J. A. Yorke} [Amer. math. Monthly 82, 985--992 (1975; Zbl 0351.92021)] as well as the complete ordering of the periodid points obtained by Sharkovskii. The final section is a collection, of other non-Axiom A systems. The Abraham-Smale diffeomorphism of \(S^3\times T^2\) ls presented: This was the first counter-example to the genericity of Axiom A and \(\Omega\)-stability. Also, the Lorena attractor is described, using the branched manifold approach of Williams. The Henon attractor, linked twist mappings, and the Rikitake two-disc dynamo are also treated briefly. Presumably, these examples will eventually lead to a concept of an ``almost Axiom A'' system whose dynamics may be adequately described. The author closes with a suggested definition: \(f\) is almost Axiom A if for every \(\varepsilon>0\), there is a compact hyperbolic \(f\)-invariant set \(\Lambda_\varepsilon\) with \(h(f\mid \Lambda_\varepsilon)>h(f)-\varepsilon\).