Measure-theoretic degrees and topological pressure for non-expanding transformations (Q457601)

The authors consider a non-invertible \(C^2\) map \(f\) and compact locally maximal invariant hyperbolic set \(\Lambda\) without critical points and study the equilibrium measure \(\mu_\phi\) associated to a Hölder continuous potential \(\phi\). Here an equilibrium measure is an \(f\)-invariant probability measure maximizing the free energies in the variational principle for the topological pressure \(P(\phi)\) \[ P(\phi) = h_{\mu_\phi}+\int_\Lambda\phi\,d\mu_\phi = \sup_\mu\left\{h_\mu+\int_\Lambda\phi\,d\mu\right\}. \] The authors introduce the concept of \textit{measure-theoretic asymptotic degree} of \(f\) on \(\Lambda\). In the particular case of the measure of maximal entropy \(\mu_0\) of \(f|_\Lambda\), for example, it represents the average rate of growth of the number of \(n\)-preimages of a point that remain in \(\Lambda\) when \(n\to\infty\); notice that, in general, \(\Lambda\) is not totally invariant for \(f\) and that \(f\) may not be constant-to-\(1\) on \(\Lambda\). The authors present an estimate for the Jacobian of the measure \(\mu_\phi\) with respect to the iterates \(f^n\), \(n\geq2\). Further, they prove a formula for the topological pressure \(P(\phi)\). In the case where the map is topologically transitive distance-expanding and the potential is Hölder continuous, its pressure can, by nowadays standard methods, be calculated by means of an exponential growth rate of certain weighted sums on preimage sets. In the saddle hyperbolic case studied in this paper such a formula does not longer hold true and is replaced by a new formula involving also the measure-theoretic asymptotic degree with respect to \(\mu_\phi\) and the entropy \(h_{\mu_\phi}\). They apply the asymptotic degrees to obtain estimates for the Hausdorff dimension of stable slices through certain sets of a full \(\mu_\phi\)-measure set in \(\Lambda\). Finally they conclude their studies with a number of examples including solenoids with self-intersections and hyperbolic toral endomorphisms.