Asymptotic expansions for closed orbits in homology classes. (Q5955155)

The authors study the behavior of the counting function associated to the closed geodesics lying in a prescribed homology class on a compact negatively curved manifold. Let \(V\) denote a compact Riemannian manifold. Given \(\alpha\in H_1(V,\mathbb{Z})\) and a positive number \(T\) one defines \(\pi(T, \alpha)= \#\{\gamma: \ell(\gamma)\leq T,[\gamma]= \alpha\}\), where \(\gamma\) denotes a closed geodesic and \(\ell(\gamma)\) denotes its length. It is known that if \(V\) has negative sectional curvature and positive first Betti number \(b\), then as \(T\to\infty\), \(\pi(T,\alpha)\) behaves aymptotically like \(C_0 e^{hT}/T^{(1+ b/2)}\), where \(h\) is the topological entropy of the geodesic flow and \(C_0\) is some positive constant. Under the additional assumption that the sectional curvatures are quarter pinched (i.e., lie in \([k,k/4]\) for some negative number \(k\)), the authors obtain the following main result. Theorem 1: Let \(V\) be a compact Riemannian manifold with negative sectional curvature and positive first Betti number \(b\). Then, there exist constants \(C_n\), with \(C_0\) positive, such that for any positive integer \(N\) one has \[ n(T,\alpha)= e^{hT}/T^{(1+ b/2)}\Biggl\{\sum^N_{n=1} (C_n/T^{n/2})+ o(l/T^{N/2})\Biggr\}. \] This result has also been obtained by \textit{N. Anantharaman} [Ann. Sci. Éc. Norm. Supér., IV. Sér. 33, 33--56 (2000; Zbl 0992.37026)], who showed in addition that \(C_n= 0\) for \(n\) odd. The quarter pinching assumption is used to guarantee the necessary technical condition that the stable and unstable (Anosov) foliations of the geodesic flow are \(C^1\). The authors also obtain a partial generalization of Theorem 1 to Anosov flows on compact manifolds \(M\) that are homologically full; that is, every homology class in \(H_1(M,\mathbb{Z})\) is represented by a periodic orbit. Theorem 2: Let \(M\) be a compact manifold with positive first Betti number \(b\), and let \(\varphi: M\to M\) be a homologically full transitive Anosov flow. Then there exist positive constants \(C_0\), \(\delta\) and \(h^*\) with \(h^*\leq h\) such that \(\pi(T,\alpha)= (C_0 e^{h^*T}/T^{(1+ /2)})(1+ O(1/T^\delta))\). Under some additional assumptions this result can be sharpened to one similar in appearance to that in Theorem 1. The constant \(h^*\) in Theorem 2, which equals \(h\) for geodesic flows, can be described in terms of winding cycles. These are elements \(\Phi_\mu\in H_1(M,\mathbb{R})\) associated to \(\varphi\)-invariant probability measures \(\mu\) and defined by \(\Phi_\mu([\omega])= \int\omega(X)\,d\mu\), where \(\omega\) is a closed 1-form on \(M\) and \(X\) denotes the vector field on \(M\) determined by the flow \(\varphi\). One has \(h^*= \sup\{h_\mu(\varphi): \Phi_\mu=0\}\), where \(h_\mu\) denotes the \(\mu\)-metric entropy of \(\varphi\).