## Tag Archives: devil’s staircase

### Collections

10. Let $f_a:S^1\to S^1$, $a\in[0,1]$ be a strictly increasing family of homeomorphisms on the unit circle, $\rho(a)$ be the rotation number of $f_a$. Poincare observed that $\rho(a)=p/q$ if and only if $f_a$ admits some periodic points of period $q$. In this case $f_a^q$ admits fixed points.

Note that $a\mapsto \rho(a)$ is continuous, and non-decreasing. However, $\rho$ may not be strictly increasing. In fact, if $\rho(a_0)=p/q$ and $f^q\neq Id$, then $\rho$ is locked at $p/q$ for a closed interval $I_{p/q}\ni a_0$. More precisely, if $f^q(x) > x$ for some $x$, then $\rho(a)=p/q$ on $[a_0-\epsilon,a_0]$ for some $\epsilon > 0$; if $f^q(x) 0$; while $a_0\in \text{Int}(I_{p/q})$ if both happen.

Also oberve that if $r=\rho(a)\notin \mathbb{Q}$, then $I_r$ is a singelton. So assuming $f_a$ is not unipotent for each $a\in[0,1]$, the function $a\mapsto \rho(a)$ is a Devil’s staircase: it is constant on closed intervals $I_{p/q}$, whose union $\bigcup I_{p/q}$ is dense in $I$.

9. Let $X:M\to TM$ be a vector field on $M$, $\phi_t:M\to M$ be the flow induced by $X$ on $M$. That is, $\frac{d}{dt}\phi_t(x)=X(\phi_t(x))$. Then we take a curve $s\mapsto x_s\in M$, and consider the solutions $\phi_t(x_s)$. There are two ways to take derivative:

(1) $\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}\phi_t(x_s)=X(\phi_t(x_s))$.

(2) $\displaystyle \frac{d}{ds}\phi_t(x_s)=D\phi_t(\frac{d}{ds}x_s))$, which induces the tangent flow $D\phi_t:TM\to TM$ of $\phi_t:M\to M$.

Combine these two derivatives together:

$\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}D_x\phi_t(x_s')=\frac{d}{dt}\frac{d}{ds}\phi_t(x_s) =\frac{d}{ds}\frac{d}{dt}\phi_t(x_s)=\frac{d}{ds}X(\phi_t(x_s)) =D_{\phi_t(x)}X\circ D_x\phi_t(x_s').$

This gives rise to an equation $\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}D_x\phi_t=D_{\phi_t(x)}X\circ D_x\phi_t.$

Formally, one can consider the differential equation along a solution $x(t)$:
$\displaystyle \frac{d}{dt}D(t)=D_{\phi_t(x)}X\circ D(t)$, $D(0)=Id$. Then $D(t)$ is called the linear Poincare map along $x(t)$. Suppose $x(T)=x(0)$. Then $D(T)$ determines if the periodic orbit is hyperbolic or elliptic. Note that the path $D(t)$, $0\le t\le T$ contains more information than the above characterization.