On backward attractors of interval maps

DOI10.1088/1361-6544/AC23B6MaRDI QIDQ6345561zbMATH OpenFDO

Authors Jana Hantáková, Samuel Roth

Publication date 21 July 2020

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Notions of recurrence and recurrent behavior in topological dynamical systems (37B20) Dynamical systems involving maps of the interval (37E05) Iteration of real functions in one variable (26A18)

Abstract: Special $alpha$-limit sets ($salpha$-limit sets) combine together all accumulation points of all backward orbit branches of a point $x$ under a noninvertible map. The most important question about them is whether or not they are closed. We challenge the notion of $salpha$-limit sets as backward attractors for interval maps by showing that they need not be closed. This disproves a conjecture by Kolyada, Misiurewicz, and Snoha. We give a criterion in terms of Xiong's attracting center that completely characterizes which interval maps have all $salpha$-limit sets closed, and we show that our criterion is satisfied in the piecewise monotone case. We apply Blokh's models of solenoidal and basic $omega$-limit sets to solve four additional conjectures by Kolyada, Misiurewicz, and Snoha relating topological properties of $salpha$-limit sets to the dynamics within them. For example, we show that the isolated points in a $salpha$-limit set of an interval map are always periodic, the non-degenerate components are the union of one or two transitive cycles of intervals, and the rest of the $salpha$-limit set is nowhere dense. Moreover, we show that $salpha$-limit sets in the interval are always both $F_{s}igma$ and $G_{d}elta$. Finally, since $salpha$-limit sets need not be closed, we propose a new notion of $$-limit sets to serve as backward attractors. The $$-limit set of $x$ is the smallest closed set to which all backward orbit branches of $x$ converge, and it coincides with the closure of the $salpha$-limit set. At the end of the paper we suggest several new problems about backward attractors.

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