Following the works of Y. Benoist, P. Foulon and F. Labourie \cite{BFL}, and having in mind the standing conjecture about the algebricity of Anosov actions of $\mathbb{R}^k$, we propose some geometrical conditions which generalize the notion of contact structures and prove that Anosov actions associated with such structures are conjugated to an Affine action. We also construct two families of examples, the first one is algebraic in nature, and the second one imposes some dynamical conditions instead of geometrical ones.
We show that all $C^\infty$ Anosov $Z^r$-actions on tori and nilmanifolds without rank-one factor actions are, up to $C^\infty$ conjugacy, actions by automorphisms.
In this paper we classify algebraic Anosov actions of nilpotent Lie groups on closed manifolds, extending the previous results by P. Tomter. We show that they are all nil-suspensions over either suspensions of Anosov actions of Z^k on nilmanifolds, or (modified) Weyl chamber actions. We check the validity of the generalized Verjovsky conjecture in this algebraic context. We also point out an intimate relation between algebraic Anosov actions and Cartan subalgebras in general real Lie groups.
We consider Anosov actions of a Lie group $G$ of dimension $k$ on a closed manifold of dimension $k+n.$We introduce the notion of Nil-Anosov action of $G$ (which includes the case where $G$ is nilpotent) and establishes the invariance by the entire group $G$of the associated stable and unstable foliations. We then prove a spectral decomposition Theoremfor such an action when the group $G$ is nilpotent. Finally, we focus on the case where $G$ is nilpotent andthe unstable bundle has codimension one. We prove that in this case the action is a Nil-extensionover an Anosov action of an abelian Lie g…
This note illustrates the strategy of our paper on piecewise affine surface homeomorphisms by giving a new proof of the finite multiplicity of the maximum entropy measure of Anosov diffeomorphisms (here on surfaces). This approach avoids the explicit construction of Markov partitions and will be applied elsewhere to some non-uniformly hyperbolic diffeomorphisms.
We show that sufficiently irreducible totally non-symplectic Anosov actions of higher rank abelian groups on tori and nilmanifolds are smoothly conjugate to affine actions.
In this paper, we define codimension one Anosov actions of $\RR^k, k\geq 2,$ on a closed connected orientable manifold $M$. We prove that if the ambient manifold has dimension greater than $k+2$, then the action is topologically transitive. This generalizes a result of Verjovsky for codimension one Anosov flows.
We study the behavior of hyperbolic affine automorphisms of a translation surface which is infinite in area and genus that is obtained as a limit of surfaces built from regular polygons studied by Veech. We find that hyperbolic affine automorphisms are not recurrent and yet their action restricted to cylinders satisfies a mixing-type formula with polynomial decay. Then we consider the extent to which the action of these hyperbolic affine automorphisms satisfy Thurston's definition of a pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism. In particular we study the action of these automorphisms on simple closed curves…
This paper is devoted to higher dimensional Anosov flows and consists of two parts. In the first part, we investigate fiberwise Anosov flows on affine torus bundles which fiber over 3-dimensional Anosov flows. We provide a dichotomy result for such flows --- they are either suspensions of Anosov diffeomorphisms or the stable and unstable distributions have equal dimensions. In the second part, we give a new surgery type construction of Anosov flows, which yields non-transitive Anosov flows in all odd dimensions.
We consider actions of Z^k, k \ge 2, by Anosov diffeomorphisms which are uniformly quasiconformal on each coarse Lyapunov distribution. These actions generalize Cartan actions for which coarse Lyapunov distributions are one-dimensional. We show that, under certain non-resonance assumptions on the Lyapunov exponents, a finite cover of such an action is smoothly conjugate to an action by toral automorphisms.
We prove global smooth classification results for TNS totally Anosov Z^k actions on general compact manifolds, under each one of the following conditions: joint integrability, resonance-free or Lyapunov pinching condition. Unlike the previous results, we do not require any uniform quasiconformality or pinching condition of action elements on coarse Lyapunov distributions, nor do we have any restriction on the dimension of coarse Lyapunov distributions. The main novelty is in proving a new standard form of the derivative cocycle for any TNS totally Anosov Z^k action on general manifold. A main …
We prove that every smooth diffeomorphism group valued cocycle over certain abelian Anosov actions on tori (and more generally on infranilmanifolds), is a smooth coboundary on a finite cover, if the cocycle is center bunched and trivial at a fixed point. For smooth cocycles which are not trivial at a fixed point, we have smooth reduction of cocycles to constant ones, when lifted to the universal cover. These results on cocycle trivialisation apply, via the existing global rigidity results, to maximal Cartan actions by Anosov diffeomorphisms (with at least one transitive), on any compact smooth…
We consider a totally nonsymplectic Anosov action of Z^k which is either uniformly quasiconformal or pinched on each coarse Lyapunov distribution. We show that such an action on a torus is C^\infty--conjugate to an action by affine automorphisms. We also obtain similar global rigidity results for actions on an arbitrary compact manifold assuming that the coarse Lyapunov foliations are jointly integrable.
In this paper, we consider codimension one Anosov actions of IR^k, k ? 1, on closed connected orientable manifolds of dimension n+k with n? 3. We show that the fundamental group of the ambient manifold is solvable if and only if the weak foliation of codimension one is transversely affine. We also study the situation where one 1-parameter subgroup of IR^k admits a cross-section, and compare this to the case where the whole action is transverse to a fibration over a manifold of dimension n. As a byproduct, generalizing a Theorem by Ghys in the case k=1, we show that, under some assumptions abou…
We give a topological stability result for the action of the fundamental group of a compact manifold of negative curvature on its boundary at infinity: any nearby action of this group by homeomorphisms of the sphere is semi-conjugate to the standard boundary action. Using similar techniques we prove a global rigidity result for the "slithering actions" of 3-manifold groups that come from skew-Anosov flows. As applications, we construct hyperbolic 3-manifolds that admit arbitrarily many topologically inequivalent Anosov flows, answering a question from Kirby's problem list, and also give a more…
With the goal to study and better understand algebraic Anosov actions of $\mathbb R^k$, we develop a higher codimensional analogue of the contact distribution on odd dimensional manifolds, call such structure a generalized $k$-contact structure. We show that there exist an $\mathbb R^k$-action associated with this structure, afterwards, we relate this structure with the Weyl chamber actions and a few more general algebraic Anosov actions, proving that such actions admits a compatible generalized $k$-contact structure.
Let $BS(1,n)= <a,b : a b a ^{-1} = b ^n>$ be the solvable Baumslag-Solitar group, where $n \geq 2$. We study representations of $BS(1, n)$ by homeomorphisms of closed surfaces with (pseudo-)Anosov elements. That is, we consider a closed surface $S$, and homeomorphisms $f, h: S \to S$ such that $h f h^{-1} = f^n$, for some $ n\geq 2$. It is known that $f$ (or some power of $f$) must be homotopic to the identity. Suppose that $h$ is pseudo-Anosov with stretch factor $λ>1$. We show that $<f,h>$ is not a faithful representation of $BS(1, n)$ if $λ> n$. Moreover, we show that there are no faithful …
An infra-nilmanifold is a manifold which is constructed as a quotient space $Γ\backslash G$ of a simply connected nilpotent Lie group $G$, where $Γ$ is a discrete group acting properly discontinuously and cocompactly on $G$ via so called affine maps. The manifold $Γ\backslash G$ is said to be modeled on the Lie group $G$. This class of manifolds is conjectured to be the only class of closed manifolds allowing an Anosov diffeomorphism. However, it is far from obvious which of these infra--nilmanifolds actually do admit an Anosov diffeomorphism. In this paper we completely solve this question fo…
Let $Γ$ be a Zariski dense Anosov subgroup of a connected semisimple real algebraic group $G$. For a maximal horospherical subgroup $N$ of $G$, we show that the space of all non-trivial $NM$-invariant ergodic and $A$-quasi-invariant Radon measures on $Γ\backslash G$, up to proportionality, is homeomorphic to ${\mathbb R}^{\text{rank}\,G-1}$, where $A$ is a maximal real split torus and $M$ is a maximal compact subgroup which normalizes $N$. One of the main ingredients is to establish the $NM$-ergodicity of all Burger-Roblin measures.
We prove a classification theorem for transitive Anosov and pseudo-Anosov flows on closed 3-manifolds, up to orbit equivalence. In many cases, flows on a 3-manifold $M$ are completely determined by the set of free homotopy classes of their (unoriented) periodic orbits. The exceptional cases are flows with a special structure in their orbit space called a ``tree of scalloped regions"; in these cases the set of free homotopy classes of unoriented periodic orbits together with the additional data of a choice of sign for each $π_1(M)$-orbit of tree gives a complete invariant of orbit equivalence c…
In this article we prove global rigidity results for hyperbolic actions of higher-rank lattices. Suppose $Γ$ is a lattice in semisimple Lie group, all of whose factors have rank $2$ or higher. Let $α$ be a smooth $Γ$-action on a compact nilmanifold $M$ that lifts to an action on the universal cover. If the linear data $ρ$ of $α$ contains a hyperbolic element, then there is a continuous semiconjugacy intertwining the actions of $α$ and $ρ$, on a finite-index subgroup of $Γ$. If $α$ is a $C^\infty$ action and contains an Anosov element, then the semiconjugacy is a $C^\infty$ conjugacy. As a coro…
We consider $f, h$ homeomorphims generating a faithful $BS(1,n)$-action on a closed surface $S$, that is, $h f h^{-1} = f^n$, for some $ n\geq 2$. According to \cite{GL}, after replacing $f$ by a suitable iterate if necessary, we can assume that there exists a minimal set $Λ$ of the action, included in $Fix(f)$. Here, we suppose that $f$ and $h$ are $C^1$ in neighbourhood of $Λ$ and any point $x\inΛ$ admits an $h$-unstable manifold $W^u(x)$. Using Bonatti's techniques, we prove that either there exists an integer $N$ such that $W^u(x)$ is included in $Fix(f^N)$ or there is a lower bound for th…
We study the smooth untwisted cohomology with real coefficients for the action on [SL(2, R) \times \cdot \cdot \cdot \times SL(2, R)]/Γ by the subgroup of diagonal matrices, where Γ is an irreducible lattice. In the top degree, we show that the obstructions to solving the coboundary equation come from distributions that are invariant under the action. In intermediate degrees, we show that the cohomology trivializes. It has been conjectured by A. and S. Katok that, for a standard partially hyperbolic R^d- or Z^d-action, the obstructions to solving the top-degree coboundary equation are given by…
Combining microlocal methods and a cohomological theory developped by J. Taylor, we define for $\mathbb{R}^κ$-Anosov actions a notion of joint Ruelle resonance spectrum. We prove that these Ruelle-Taylor resonances fit into a Fredholm theory, are intrinsic and form a discrete subset of $\mathbb{C}^κ$, with $λ=0$ being always a leading resonance. The joint resonant states at $0$ give rise to some new measures of SRB type and the mixing properties of these measures are related to the existence of purely imaginary resonances. The spectral theory developed in this article applies in particular to …
We are motivated by a conjecture of A. and S. Katok to study the smooth cohomologies of a family of Weyl chamber flows. The conjecture is a natural generalization of the Livshitz Theorem to Anosov actions by higher-rank abelian groups; it involves a description of top-degree cohomology and a vanishing statement for lower degrees. Our main result, proved in Part II, verifies the conjecture in lower degrees for our systems, and steps in the "correct" direction in top degree. In Part I we study our "base case": geodesic flows of finite-volume hyperbolic manifolds. We describe obstructions (invari…
The goal of this paper is to study ergodic and rigidity properties of smooth actions of the discrete Heisenberg group $\H$. We establish the decomposition of the tangent space of any $C^\infty$ compact Riemannian manifold $M$ for Lyapunov exponents, and show that all Lyapunov exponents for the center elements are zero. We obtain that if an $\H$ group action contains an Anosov element, then under certain conditions on the element, the center elements are of finite order. In particular there is no faithful codimensional one Anosov Heisenberg group action on any manifolds, and no faithful codimen…
Anosov diffeomorphisms on closed Riemannian manifolds are a type of dynamical systems exhibiting uniform hyperbolic behavior. Therefore their properties are intensively studied, including which spaces allow such a diffeomorphism. It is conjectured that any closed manifold admitting an Anosov diffeomorphism is homeomorphic to an infra-nilmanifold, i.e. a compact quotient of a 1-connected nilpotent Lie group by a discrete group of isometries. This conjecture motivates the problem of describing which infra-nilmanifolds admit an Anosov diffeomorphism. So far, most research was focused on the restr…
We consider smooth partially hyperbolic volume preserving Z^k actions on smooth manifolds, with uniformly compact center foliation. We show that under certain irreducibility condition on the action, bunching and uniform quasiconformality conditions, the action is a smooth fiber bundle extension of an Anosov action, or the center foliation is pathological. We obtain several corollaries of this result. For example, we prove a global dichotomy result that any smooth conservative circle extension over a maximal Cartan action is either essentially a product of an action by rotations and a linear An…
In this paper, we investigate the ergodic and rigidity properties of weakly hyperbolic group actions. Motivated by classical theorems describing Anosov diffeomorphisms, we obtain two main results: First, all C^2 volume preserving weakly hyperbolic actions on closed manifolds are ergodic. This result generalizes Anosov's classical theorem on ergodicity of Anosov diffeomorphisms to the wider class of weakly hyperbolic group actions. To state the second main result, suppose that A denotes a weakly hyperbolic action of a higher rank lattice (such as SL(n,Z) for n>2) by C^2 volume preserving diffeo…
We consider the action of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class on $\mathcal{PML}(S)$. This action has north-south dynamics and so, under iteration, laminations converge exponentially to the stable lamination. We study the rate of this convergence and give examples of families of pseudo-Anosov mapping classes where the rate goes to one, decaying exponentially with the word length. Furthermore we prove that this behaviour is the worst possible.
We show that for a parabolic R^d-action on a compact quotient of PSL(2,R)^d, the cohomologies in degrees 1 through d-1 trivialize, and we give the obstructions to solving the degree-d coboundary equation, along with bounds on Sobolev norms of primitives. In previous papers we have established these results for certain Anosov systems. The present work extends the methods of those papers to systems that are not Anosov. The main new idea is in Section 4, where we define special elements of representation spaces that allow us to modify the arguments from the previous papers. In Section 7 we discus…
In this paper we study topological rigidity of affine actions on compact connected metrizable abelian groups. We also classify one-parameter flows of translations upto orbit equivalence and discrete group actions by translations upto topological conjugacy.
We show that ergodic affine abelian discrete actions on the torus, that have a rank-one factor in their linear part, are locally rigid in a KAM sense if and only if the rank one factor is trivial and the action is higher-rank transversally to this factor. Since it has been proved by Damjanovic and Katok that affine actions with higher-rank linear part are locally rigid, our result completes the local rigidity picture for affine actions on the torus.
We show the following dichotomy for a linear parabolic $\mathbb Z^2$-action $ρ_L$ on the torus with at least one step-2 generator: (i) Any affine $\mathbb Z^2$-action with linear part $ρ_L$ has a $\mathbb Z$-factor that is either identity or genuinely parabolic, and is thus not KAM-rigid, or (ii) Almost every affine $\mathbb Z^2$-action with linear part $ρ_L$ is KAM-rigid under volume preserving perturbations.
We discuss conditions under which an affine automorphism of a compact nilmanifold is almost automorphic, and the structure of such automorphisms from a dynamical point of view.
