Entropy for three-dimensional vector fields (Q6893799)

The main result of the paper establishes that if \(X\) is a \(C^1\) three-dimensional vector field with positive topological entropy, \(h_{\mathrm{top}}(X)>0\), then for any \(\varepsilon>0\) and any neighbourhood \(\mathcal{U}\) of \(X\) in the \(C^1\)-topology it is possible to find a vector field \(Y\in\mathcal{U}\) such that \(Y\) exhibits a horseshoe \(\Lambda\) and \(\left|h_{\mathrm{top}}(Y|_{\Lambda})-h_{\mathrm{top}}(X)\right|<\varepsilon\). This approximation property has a precedent in [\textit{W. Wu} and \textit{J. Liu}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 148, No. 1, 223--233 (2020; Zbl 1432.37069)], where the analogous result was established for \(C^1\)-surface diffeomorphisms.\N\NTo prove the main result, one key is to give suitable sequences of vector fields \(\{X_n\}\) and periodic orbits \(\{\mathcal{O}_n\}\) associate to \(X_n\), for which the authors discuss if there exists or not a uniformly dominated splitting over \(\mathcal{O}_n\); in the affirmative case, they use ideas coming from [\textit{A. Katok}, Publ. Math., Inst. Hautes Étud. Sci. 51, 137--173 (1980; Zbl 0445.58015); \textit{M. Li} et al., Isr. J. Math. 240, No. 2, 791--819 (2020; Zbl 1483.37029)], but adapted to the vector field setting; in the case of a no uniformly dominated splitting, they use [\textit{J. Buzzi} et al., Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 370, No. 9, 6685--6734 (2018; Zbl 1402.37026)] to provide the existence of vector fields \(Y\) exhibiting horseshoes with a large topological entropy, and then finally use the property of intermediate entropy of horseshoes.