Switched server systems are mathematical models of manufacturing, traffic and queueing systems that have being studied since the early 1990s. In particular, it is known that typically the dynamics of such systems is asymptotically periodic: each orbit of the system converges to one of its finitely many limit cycles. In this article, we provide an explicit example of a switched server system with exotic behaviour: each orbit of the system converges to the same Cantor attractor. To accomplish this goal, we bring together recent advances in the understanding of the topological dynamics of piecewise contractions and interval exchange transformations (IETs) with flips. The ultimate result is a switched server system whose Poincaré map is semiconjugate to a minimal and uniquely ergodic IET with flips.

It is proved that a symplectic twist map of the cotangent bundle $T^{\ast }\mathbb{T}^{d}$ of the $d$-dimensional torus that is without conjugate points is $C^{0}$-integrable, that is  $T^{\ast }\mathbb{T}^{d}$ is foliated by a family of invariant $C^{0}$ Lagrangian graphs.

An elastic graph is a graph with an elasticity associated to each edge. It may be viewed as a network made out of ideal rubber bands. If the rubber bands are stretched on a target space there is an elastic energy. We characterize when a homotopy class of maps from one elastic graph to another is loosening, that is, decreases this elastic energy for all possible targets. This fits into a more general framework of energies for maps between graphs.

Quasi-Sturmian words, which are infinite words with factor complexity eventually $n+c$ share many properties with Sturmian words. In this article, we study the quasi-Sturmian colorings on regular trees. There are two different types, bounded and unbounded, of quasi-Sturmian colorings. We obtain an induction algorithm similar to Sturmian colorings. We distinguish them by the recurrence function.

An isotopic to the identity map of the 2-torus, that has zero rotation vector with respect to an invariant ergodic probability measure, has a fixed point by a theorem of Franks. We give a version of this result for nilpotent subgroups of isotopic to the identity diffeomorphisms of the 2-torus. In such a context we guarantee the existence of global fixed points for nilpotent groups of irrotational diffeomorphisms. In particular, we show that the derived group of a nilpotent group of isotopic to the identity diffeomorphisms of the 2-torus has a global fixed point.

Let $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}>1$ be an integer or, generally, a Pisot number. Put $T(x)=\{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}x\}$ on $[0,1]$ and let $S:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ be a piecewise linear transformation whose slopes have the form $\pm \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}^{m}$ with positive integers $m$. We give a sufficient condition for $T$ and $S$ to have the same generic points. We also give an uncountable family of maps which share the same set of generic points.

We study continuous countably (strictly) monotone maps defined on a tame graph, i.e. a special Peano continuum for which the set containing branch points and end points has countable closure. In our investigation we confine ourselves to the countable Markov case. We show a necessary and sufficient condition under which a locally eventually onto, countably Markov map $f$ of a tame graph $G$ is conjugate to a map $g$ of constant slope. In particular, we show that in the case of a Markov map $f$ that corresponds to a recurrent transition matrix, the condition is satisfied for a constant slope $e^{h_{\text{top}}(f)}$, where $h_{\text{top}}(f)$ is the topological entropy of $f$. Moreover, we show that in our class the topological entropy $h_{\text{top}}(f)$ is achievable through horseshoes of the map $f$.

We show that the stable and unstable sets of non-uniformly hyperbolic horseshoes arising in some heteroclinic bifurcations of surface diffeomorphisms have the value conjectured in a previous work by the second and third authors of the present paper. Our results apply to first heteroclinic bifurcations associated with horseshoes with Hausdorff dimension ${<}22/21$ of conservative surface diffeomorphisms.

We study 2-generated subgroups $\langle f,g\rangle <\operatorname{Homeo}^{+}(I)$ such that $\langle f^{2},g^{2}\rangle$ is isomorphic to Thompson’s group $F$, and such that the supports of $f$ and $g$ form a chain of two intervals. We show that this class contains uncountably many isomorphism types. These include examples with non-abelian free subgroups, examples which do not admit faithful actions by $C^{2}$ diffeomorphisms on 1-manifolds, examples which do not admit faithful actions by $PL$ homeomorphisms on an interval, and examples which are not finitely presented. We thus answer questions due to Brin. We also show that many relatively uncomplicated groups of homeomorphisms can have very complicated square roots, thus establishing the behavior of square roots of $F$ as part of a general phenomenon among subgroups of $\operatorname{Homeo}^{+}(I)$.

For a non-generic, yet dense subset of $C^{1}$ expanding Markov maps of the interval we prove the existence of uncountably many Lyapunov optimizing measures which are ergodic, fully supported and have positive entropy. These measures are equilibrium states for some Hölder continuous potentials. We also prove the existence of another non-generic dense subset for which the optimizing measure is unique and supported on a periodic orbit. A key ingredient is a new $C^{1}$ perturbation theorem which allows us to interpolate between expanding Markov maps and the shift map on a finite number of symbols.

For $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in (1,2]$ the $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$-transformation $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}:[0,1)\rightarrow [0,1)$ is defined by $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}(x)=\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}x\hspace{0.6em}({\rm mod}\hspace{0.2em}1)$. For $t\in [0,1)$ let $K_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}(t)$ be the survivor set of $T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$ with hole $(0,t)$ given by

$$\begin{eqnarray}K_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}(t):=\{x\in [0,1):T_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}^{n}(x)\not \in (0,t)\text{ for all }n\geq 0\}.\end{eqnarray}$$

$E_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$

$t\in [0,1)$

$t\mapsto K_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}(t)$

$E_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in (1,2)$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in (1,2)$

$E_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in (1,2)$

$E_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$

$E_{2}$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in (1,2)$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$

$K_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}(t)$

$t<\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}}\leq 1-(1/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD})$

$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}\in (1,2)$

We describe how to approximate fractal transformations generated by a one-parameter family of dynamical systems $W:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ constructed from a pair of monotone increasing diffeomorphisms $W_{i}$ such that $W_{i}^{-1}:[0,1]\rightarrow [0,1]$ for $i=0,1$. An algorithm is provided for determining the unique parameter value such that the closure of the symbolic attractor $\overline{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FA}}$ is symmetrical. Several examples are given, one in which the $W_{i}$ are affine and two in which the $W_{i}$ are nonlinear. Applications to digital imaging are also discussed.

We prove the one-dimensional almost sure invariance principle with essentially optimal rates for slowly (polynomially) mixing deterministic dynamical systems, such as Pomeau–Manneville intermittent maps, with Hölder continuous observables. Our rates have form $o(n^{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}}L(n))$, where $L(n)$ is a slowly varying function and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$ is determined by the speed of mixing. We strongly improve previous results where the best available rates did not exceed $O(n^{1/4})$. To break the $O(n^{1/4})$ barrier, we represent the dynamics as a Young-tower-like Markov chain and adapt the methods of Berkes–Liu–Wu and Cuny–Dedecker–Merlevède on the Komlós–Major–Tusnády approximation for dependent processes.

We show that if there exists a counter example for the rational case of the Franks–Misiurewicz conjecture, then it must exhibit unbounded deviations in the complementary direction of its rotation set.

We prove the connectedness of the Prym eigenforms loci in genus four (for real multiplication by some order of discriminant $D$), for any $D$. These loci were discovered by McMullen in 2006.

We describe in this article the dynamics of a one-parameter family of affine interval exchange transformations. This amounts to studying the directional foliations of a particular dilatation surface introduced in Duryev et al [Affine surfaces and their Veech groups. Preprint, 2016, arXiv:1609.02130], the Disco surface. We show that this family displays various dynamical behaviours: it is generically dynamically trivial but for a Cantor set of parameters the leaves of the foliations accumulate to a (transversely) Cantor set. This study is achieved through analysis of the dynamics of the Veech group of this surface combined with a modified version of Rauzy induction in the context of affine interval exchange transformations.

Let $X$ be a compact, metric and totally disconnected space and let $f:X\rightarrow X$ be a continuous map. We relate the eigenvalues of $f_{\ast }:\check{H}_{0}(X;\mathbb{C})\rightarrow \check{H}_{0}(X;\mathbb{C})$ to dynamical properties of $f$, roughly showing that if the dynamics is complicated then every complex number of modulus different from 0, 1 is an eigenvalue. This stands in contrast with a classical inequality of Manning that bounds the entropy of $f$ below by the spectral radius of $f_{\ast }$.

We study convergence of return- and hitting-time distributions of small sets $E_{k}$ with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}(E_{k})\rightarrow 0$ in recurrent ergodic dynamical systems preserving an infinite measure $\unicode[STIX]{x1D707}$. Some properties which are easy in finite measure situations break down in this null-recurrent set-up. However, in the presence of a uniform set $Y$ with wandering rate regularly varying of index $1-\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ with $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}\in (0,1]$, there is a scaling function suitable for all subsets of $Y$. In this case, we show that return distributions for the $E_{k}$ converge if and only if the corresponding hitting-time distributions do, and we derive an explicit relation between the two limit laws. Some consequences of this result are discussed. In particular, this leads to improved sufficient conditions for convergence to ${\mathcal{E}}^{1/\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}{\mathcal{G}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$, where ${\mathcal{E}}$ and ${\mathcal{G}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$ are independent random variables, with ${\mathcal{E}}$ exponentially distributed and ${\mathcal{G}}_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}}$ following the one-sided stable law of order $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}$ (and ${\mathcal{G}}_{1}:=1$). The same principle also reveals the limit laws (different from the above) which occur at hyperbolic periodic points of prototypical null-recurrent interval maps. We also derive similar results for the barely recurrent $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FC}=0$ case.

In this paper we prove that the set of translation structures for which the corresponding vertical translation flows are disjoint with its inverse contains a $G_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}}$-dense subset in every non-hyperelliptic connected component of the moduli space ${\mathcal{M}}$. This is in contrast to hyperelliptic case, where for every translation structure the associated vertical flow is reversible, i.e., it is isomorphic to its inverse by an involution. To prove the main result, we study limits of the off-diagonal 3-joinings of special representations of vertical translation flows. Moreover, we construct a locally defined continuous embedding of the moduli space into the space of measure-preserving flows to obtain the $G_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}}$-condition. Moreover, as a by-product we get that in every non-hyperelliptic connected component of the moduli space there is a dense subset of translation structures whose vertical flow is reversible.

In this paper we consider $C^{\infty }$-generic families of area-preserving diffeomorphisms of the torus homotopic to the identity and their rotation sets. Let $f_{t}:\text{T}^{2}\rightarrow \text{T}^{2}$ be such a family, $\widetilde{f}_{t}:\mathbb{R}^{2}\rightarrow \mathbb{R}^{2}$ be a fixed family of lifts and $\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}(\widetilde{f}_{t})$ be their rotation sets, which we assume to have interior for $t$ in a certain open interval $I$. We also assume that some rational point $(p/q,l/q)\in \unicode[STIX]{x2202}\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}(\widetilde{f}_{\overline{t}})$ for a certain parameter $\overline{t}\in I$, and we want to understand the consequences of the following hypothesis: for all $t>\overline{t}$, $t\in I$, $(p/q,l/q)\in \text{int}(\unicode[STIX]{x1D70C}(\widetilde{f}_{t}))$. Under these very natural assumptions, we prove that there exists a $f_{\overline{t}}^{q}$-fixed hyperbolic saddle $P_{\overline{t}}$ such that its rotation vector is $(p/q,l/q)$. We also prove that there exists a sequence $t_{i}>\overline{t}$, $t_{i}\rightarrow \overline{t}$, such that if $P_{t}$ is the continuation of $P_{\overline{t}}$ with the parameter, then $W^{u}(\widetilde{P}_{t_{i}})$ (the unstable manifold) has quadratic tangencies with $W^{s}(\widetilde{P}_{t_{i}})+(c,d)$ (the stable manifold translated by $(c,d)$), where $\widetilde{P}_{t_{i}}$ is any lift of $P_{t_{i}}$ to the plane. In other words, $\widetilde{P}_{t_{i}}$ is a fixed point for $(\widetilde{f}_{t_{i}})^{q}-(p,l)$, and $(c,d)\neq (0,0)$ are certain integer vectors such that $W^{u}(\widetilde{P}_{\overline{t}})$ do not intersect $W^{s}(\widetilde{P}_{\overline{t}})+(c,d)$, and these tangencies become transverse as $t$ increases. We also prove that, for $t>\overline{t}$, $W^{u}(\widetilde{P}_{t})$ has transverse intersections with $W^{s}(\widetilde{P}_{t})+(a,b)$, for all integer vectors $(a,b)$, and thus one may consider that the tangencies above are associated to the birth of the heteroclinic intersections in the plane that do not exist for $t\leq \overline{t}$.