A generalization of imaginary parts of eigenvalues for matrices: chain rotation numbers (Q996220)

For linear autonomous differential equations \(\dot{x}(t)=Ax(t)\) in \(\mathbb R^d\), the real part of the eigenvalues of the matrix \(A\) contains valuable information about the stability behavior of the solutions. Generalizations of the real parts of eigenvalues are also well understood by many authors. However, the situation for the imaginary parts of the eigenvalues when interpreted for the solutions of linear autonomous differential equations in dimension 2, is different. The imaginary part measures the rotation of the solution in the plane. For a generalization of this idea to higher dimensions and to nonautonomous systems \(\dot{x}(t)=Ax(t)\), some authors proposed a concept of rotation numbers by measuring how an orthonormal 2-frame of vectors \(({u}, {v})\) rotate under the flow \(\Phi:{\mathbb R} \times{\mathbb R^d}\rightarrow{\mathbb R^d}\) in the oriented plane \({u}\wedge_{+}{v}\) [see \textit{L. San Martin}, Rotation numbers in higher dimensions, Institut für Dynamische Systeme, Universität Bremen (1988)]. While all generalizations of the real parts of eigenvalues reduces nicely to exactly the real parts for constant square matrices, this is not true for rotation numbers and imaginary parts. Further, the rotation numbers are in general not invariant under linear conjugation of the matrix \(A\). The author of the paper under review uses chain rotation numbers, a fundamental concept proposed by \textit{F. Colonius, R. Fabbri}, and \textit{R. Johnson} [Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 27, No.~5, 1509--1524 (2007; Zbl 1134.37003)], to treat these facts. Colonius showed that the set of chain rotation numbers on every chain recurrent component in the oriented Grassmann manifold is a compact interval whose boundary points are rotation numbers; thus, every rotation number lies in one of these compact intervals. The author of the paper under review shows that those intervals are either symmetric intervals around zero, whose boundary points are largest imaginary parts of the eigenvalues corresponding to the chain recurrent components, or discrete values, which are imaginary parts of the eigenvalues corresponding to the chain recurrent components. Furthermore, the set of chain rotation numbers are invariant under linear conjugation.