On the existence of an energy function for Morse-Smale diffeomorphisms on 3-manifolds (Q653012)

The authors introduce the notion of a dynamically ordered Morse-Lyapunov function for a Morse-Smale diffeomorphism on a \(3\)-manifold, which is a condition somewhat analogous to the notion of self indexing for a Morse function. Every Morse-Smale diffeomorphism on a \(3\)-manifold possess a dynamically ordered Morse-Lyapunov function but not necessarily a dynamically ordered Morse-Lyapunov energy function. A Morse-Lyapunov function is called an energy function for a Morse-Smale diffeomorphism if the set of critical points of the function coincides with the set of non-wandering points of the diffeomorphism. The authors announce the following results relating the existence of a dynamically ordered Morse-Lyapunov energy function to how the one dimensional attractors and repellers of the diffeomorphism embed into the ambient manifold. Let \(M\) be a smooth closed orientable \(3\)-manifold. Theorem 1. If a Morse-Smale diffeomorphism \(f:M \rightarrow M\) possesses a dynamically ordered energy function, then all one-dimensional attractors and repellers of \(f\) are tightly embedded. Theorem 2. Let \(f:M \rightarrow M\) be a Morse-Smale diffeomorphism. If all one-dimensional attractors and repellers of \(f\) are strongly tightly embedded, then \(f\) possesses a dynamically ordered energy function. Theorem 3. A Morse-Smale diffeomorphism \(f:S^3 \rightarrow S^3\) without heteroclinic curves possesses a dynamically ordered energy function if and only if each one-dimensional attractor and repeller is tightly embedded.