Some questions and remarks about SL(2, R) cocycles. to Anatole Katok for his 60 th birthday

Similar documents
On the smoothness of the conjugacy between circle maps with a break

(x, y) = d(x, y) = x y.

Möbius transformations Möbius transformations are simply the degree one rational maps of C: cz + d : C C. ad bc 0. a b. A = c d

Commensurability between once-punctured torus groups and once-punctured Klein bottle groups

PICARD S THEOREM STEFAN FRIEDL

Part IB Geometry. Theorems. Based on lectures by A. G. Kovalev Notes taken by Dexter Chua. Lent 2016

NAME: Mathematics 205A, Fall 2008, Final Examination. Answer Key

Fuchsian groups. 2.1 Definitions and discreteness

SPRING 2006 PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION SOLUTIONS

Course 212: Academic Year Section 1: Metric Spaces

27. Topological classification of complex linear foliations

PERIODIC POINTS OF THE FAMILY OF TENT MAPS

BRUHAT-TITS BUILDING OF A p-adic REDUCTIVE GROUP

B 1 = {B(x, r) x = (x 1, x 2 ) H, 0 < r < x 2 }. (a) Show that B = B 1 B 2 is a basis for a topology on X.

6 6 DISCRETE GROUPS. 6.1 Discontinuous Group Actions

NATIONAL BOARD FOR HIGHER MATHEMATICS. M. A. and M.Sc. Scholarship Test. September 22, Time Allowed: 150 Minutes Maximum Marks: 30

Part V. 17 Introduction: What are measures and why measurable sets. Lebesgue Integration Theory

Algebra I Fall 2007

DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY, LECTURE 16-17, JULY 14-17

Math 350 Fall 2011 Notes about inner product spaces. In this notes we state and prove some important properties of inner product spaces.

MATH 54 - TOPOLOGY SUMMER 2015 FINAL EXAMINATION. Problem 1

THE VOLUME OF A HYPERBOLIC 3-MANIFOLD WITH BETTI NUMBER 2. Marc Culler and Peter B. Shalen. University of Illinois at Chicago

MATH 722, COMPLEX ANALYSIS, SPRING 2009 PART 5

NATIONAL BOARD FOR HIGHER MATHEMATICS. M. A. and M.Sc. Scholarship Test. September 22, Time Allowed: 150 Minutes Maximum Marks: 30

Part III. 10 Topological Space Basics. Topological Spaces

Part II. Geometry and Groups. Year

arxiv: v1 [math.dg] 28 Jun 2008

THE MULTIPLICATIVE ERGODIC THEOREM OF OSELEDETS

Notes 10: Consequences of Eli Cartan s theorem.

THE FUNDAMENTAL GROUP OF THE DOUBLE OF THE FIGURE-EIGHT KNOT EXTERIOR IS GFERF

Part II. Riemann Surfaces. Year

ABSOLUTE CONTINUITY OF FOLIATIONS

Mapping Class Groups MSRI, Fall 2007 Day 2, September 6

Changing coordinates to adapt to a map of constant rank

Möbius Transformation

Junior Seminar: Hyperbolic Geometry Lecture Notes

Functional Analysis. Franck Sueur Metric spaces Definitions Completeness Compactness Separability...

Problem: A class of dynamical systems characterized by a fast divergence of the orbits. A paradigmatic example: the Arnold cat.

1 Directional Derivatives and Differentiability

On the local connectivity of limit sets of Kleinian groups

ON THE REGULARITY OF SAMPLE PATHS OF SUB-ELLIPTIC DIFFUSIONS ON MANIFOLDS

8 8 THE RIEMANN MAPPING THEOREM. 8.1 Simply Connected Surfaces

11. Periodicity of Klein polyhedra (28 June 2011) Algebraic irrationalities and periodicity of sails. Let A GL(n + 1, R) be an operator all of

Solutions to Tutorial 8 (Week 9)

Sets, Functions and Metric Spaces

Notes on Complex Analysis

Topology. Xiaolong Han. Department of Mathematics, California State University, Northridge, CA 91330, USA address:

Topological properties

MTG 5316/4302 FALL 2018 REVIEW FINAL

MET Workshop: Exercises

Lyapunov exponents of Teichmüller flows

Topological properties of Z p and Q p and Euclidean models

Chapter 2 Metric Spaces

Singular Perturbations in the McMullen Domain

Physical measures of discretizations of generic diffeomorphisms

Metric Spaces and Topology

z, w = z 1 w 1 + z 2 w 2 z, w 2 z 2 w 2. d([z], [w]) = 2 φ : P(C 2 ) \ [1 : 0] C ; [z 1 : z 2 ] z 1 z 2 ψ : P(C 2 ) \ [0 : 1] C ; [z 1 : z 2 ] z 2 z 1

MH 7500 THEOREMS. (iii) A = A; (iv) A B = A B. Theorem 5. If {A α : α Λ} is any collection of subsets of a space X, then

NATIONAL BOARD FOR HIGHER MATHEMATICS. Research Scholarships Screening Test. Saturday, January 20, Time Allowed: 150 Minutes Maximum Marks: 40

(x 1, y 1 ) = (x 2, y 2 ) if and only if x 1 = x 2 and y 1 = y 2.

Definitions. Notations. Injective, Surjective and Bijective. Divides. Cartesian Product. Relations. Equivalence Relations

LECTURE 10: THE ATIYAH-GUILLEMIN-STERNBERG CONVEXITY THEOREM

Ratner fails for ΩM 2

INTRODUCTION TO REAL ANALYTIC GEOMETRY

Maths 212: Homework Solutions

Definition We say that a topological manifold X is C p if there is an atlas such that the transition functions are C p.

HYPERBOLIC SETS WITH NONEMPTY INTERIOR

Part IB GEOMETRY (Lent 2016): Example Sheet 1

S-adic sequences A bridge between dynamics, arithmetic, and geometry

SOME EXAMPLES OF NONUNIFORMLY HYPERBOLIC COCYCLES. L.-S. Young 1

Lozi-like maps. M. Misiurewicz and S. Štimac. May 13, 2017

01. Review of metric spaces and point-set topology. 1. Euclidean spaces

APPLICATION OF HOARE S THEOREM TO SYMMETRIES OF RIEMANN SURFACES

b 0 + b 1 z b d z d

Trace Class Operators and Lidskii s Theorem

The Zorich Kontsevich Conjecture

Some notes on Coxeter groups

Differential Topology Final Exam With Solutions

Note: all spaces are assumed to be path connected and locally path connected.

Declaration. Heidelberg, June 13, 2016

2. Metric Spaces. 2.1 Definitions etc.

Random Walks on Hyperbolic Groups III

Hyperbolicity of Renormalization for C r Unimodal Maps

Introduction. Chapter 1. Contents. EECS 600 Function Space Methods in System Theory Lecture Notes J. Fessler 1.1

Lecture 16 Symbolic dynamics.

Revisiting Poincaré's Theorem on presentations of discontinuous groups via fundamental polyhedra

ON KLEIN-MASKIT COMBINATION THEOREM IN SPACE I

Math 730 Homework 6. Austin Mohr. October 14, 2009

arxiv: v2 [math.ds] 19 Jul 2012

Mathematical Analysis Outline. William G. Faris

A Complex Gap Lemma. Sébastien Biebler

1. If 1, ω, ω 2, -----, ω 9 are the 10 th roots of unity, then (1 + ω) (1 + ω 2 ) (1 + ω 9 ) is A) 1 B) 1 C) 10 D) 0

RANDOM HOLOMORPHIC ITERATIONS AND DEGENERATE SUBDOMAINS OF THE UNIT DISK

CHAPTER 7. Connectedness

Introduction to Real Analysis Alternative Chapter 1

1.3 Group Actions. Exercise Prove that a CAT(1) piecewise spherical simplicial complex is metrically flag.

Small cancellation theory and Burnside problem.

The complex periodic problem for a Riccati equation

Isomorphisms between pattern classes

Topological dynamics: basic notions and examples

Transcription:

Some questions and remarks about SL(2, R cocycles to Anatole Katok for his 6 th birthday. There have been many deep results about cocycle maps in recent years, especially in the quasiperiodic case with the achievements of Eliasson ([E], Bourgain ([B], [B-G] and Krikorian ([K], [K2] amongst others. The questions that we address here are much more elementary : most of the time, we will be interested in locally constant cocycles with values in SL(2, R over a transitive subshift of finite type ; we want to determine whether this cocycle map is uniformly hyperbolic and how it can bifurcate from uniform hyperbolicity. In our setting, parameter space is finite-dimensional, and we would like to describe it in the same way that one does for polynomials or rational maps, where hyperbolic components play a leading role in the picture. It appears that even in this very much simplified situation, several interesting questions appear. I am very much indebted to Artur Avila, who explained to me the statement and the proof of proposition 6 below. I thank Raphael Krikorian for many helpful conversations, and also several participants from the July 23 Oberwolfach meeting in Dynamical Systems, Artur Avila, Bassam Fayad, Federico Hertz, for fruitful discussions. This is in a sense very appropriate, since Anatole Katok has been for the last twenty years a most illuminating presence in this series of meetings which happen every odd year.. Recall that a matrix A SL(2, R is said to be positive hyperbolic (resp. negative hyperbolic, resp. hyperbolic, resp. positive parabolic, resp. negative parabolic, resp. parabolic, resp. elliptic if tra > 2 (resp. tra < 2, resp. tra > 2, resp. tra = 2, resp. tra = 2, resp. tra = 2, resp. tra < 2. If f : X X is a continuous map and A : X SL(2, R is another continuous map, the cocycle (f, A defined by these data is the map : (f, A : X R 2 X R 2 (x, v (f(x, A(xv.

We have (f, A n = (f n, A n for n, where A n (x = A(f n (x... A(x. We will use the same symbol (f, A to denote the quotient map at the projective level from X P (R to itself. Assume that X is compact. A cocycle map (f, A is said to be uniformly hyperbolic if there exists a (necessarily unique continuous section e s : X P (R x e s (x which is invariant and repelling (in the P (R direction. This is equivalent to satisfy the usual cone condition. When f is an homeomorphism, one also obtains another continuous section e u which is invariant and contracting, with e u (x e s (x for all x X. We will say that two cocycle maps associated to A,  are conjugated if there exists a continuous map B : X SL(2, R such that i.e. ( X, B (f, A ( X, B = (f, Â, Â(x = B(f(xA(x(B(x, x X. 2. The following result is reminiscent of a classical theorem of Gottschalk and Hedlund ([G-H], [H]. Assume that f : X X is a minimal homeomorphism of the compact metric space X. Let A : X SL(2, R a continuous map. PROPOSITION Assume that, for some x X, the sequence of matrices (A n (x n is bounded. Then (f, A is conjugated to a cocycle map (f,  with  taking values in SO(2, R. Proof Consider the upper half-plane H with the usual SL(2, R action and define the fibered map F (x, z := (f(x, A(x.z from X H to itself. We equip H with its hyperbolic metric. The map A takes its values in SO(2, R iff the constant section z i is invariant. We have to show that F leaves invariant 2

some continuous section σ : X H. The hypothesis in the proposition means that the positive orbit (F n (x, i n is relatively compact in X H. Therefore we may choose a minimal compact non empty invariant subset L contained in the closure of this orbit. For x X, denote by L x H the fiber of L over x. This is a compact subset of H. As f is minimal, L x is non empty for all x X. We have, for all x X : A(xL x = L f(x. Consider the function x diam L x. As f is minimal and SL(2, R acts on H by isometries, this function is contant. If the constant value is, L is the graph of a continuous section σ and we obtain the required result. We nous assume that we have diam L x D >. Set then L (2 is compact, each L (2 x L (2 x = {(z, z L x L x, d H (z, z = D}, L (2 = {(x, z, z X H 2, (z, z L (2 x } ; is compact non empty and we have (A(x A(x (L (2 x = L (2 f(x, x X. Denote by m(z, z the midpoint of the geodesic segment [z, z ]. Define L x = m(l (2 x, L = {(x, w X H, w L x}. Then L is compact, each L x is compact, non empty, contained in the convex closure ˆL x of L x, and we have (as SL(2, R acts by isometries A(x (L x = L f(x, x X. 3

Claim One has diam L x D < D with chd = chd chd/2. Proof of claim In a triangle in hyperbolic space with a right angle, adjacent sides d, d and opposite side h, we have Pythagoras theorem : ch(h = ch(dch(d Let (z ε, z ε L (2 x, ε =, and w ε = m(z ε, z ε. From d H (z, z D, d H (z, z D, we have d H (w, z D. Similarly we have d H (w, z D. This gives chd ch(max(d H (w, Z, d H (w, Z chd/2 chd(w, w. Let L ( be a minimal non empty compact invariant subset of L ; the fibers L ( x are contained in ˆL x and their constant diameter satisfy D ( < D. Among all minimal non empty compact invariant subsets L, whose fibers L x are contained in ˆL x, choose one for which the (constant diameter of the fibers is minimal. By the argument above, this diameter has to be and we find the required invariant section. 3. The following elementary result is probably well-known, but I could not find a reference. Let f : X X be a continuous self-map of the compact metric space X and let A : X SL(2, R be continuous. PROPOSITION 2 The cocycle map (f, A is uniformly hyperbolic iff the matrices A n (x are uniformly exponentially increasing : there exists c >, λ > such that for all n, x X. A n (x cλ n Proof If (f, A is uniformly hyperbolic, A n is uniformly exponentially increasing. Let us show the converse. The norm of matrices is the operator norm for matrices acting on the Euclidean plane. For a matrix M SL(2, R with M > (i.e. M / SO(2, R, we denote by e(m the (unique maximally dilated direction. We have the LEMMA Let M, M SL(2, R, C > such that 4

C M M C M, M >, M M >. The angle between e(m, e(m M is C M M, with C depending only on C. Proof It is sufficient to consider the case where M = ( λ λ M = ( λ λ ( cos θ sin θ sin θ cos θ, where λ = M, λ = M. Then we have ( λ M M = λ cos θ λ λ sin θ λλ sin θ λ λ cos θ If M M is not large ( C π, there is nothing to prove. Otherwise we have M M = λλ cos θ + O(. ( cos ω Maximizing the square norm of M M sin ω to the required result. Let n >, x X, C = max A(x ; choose m > such that x C A n (x A m (f n (x C A n (x. over ω is now an easy computation leading We have then C 3 A n+ (x A m (f n+ (x C 3 A n+ (x. From the lemma, there exists C > such that angle(e(a n (x, e(a m+n (x C A m+n (x, angle(e(a n+ (x, e(a m+n (x C A m+n (x 5

if n is large enough (to have cλ n >. We conclude that angle(e(a n (x, e(a n+ (x 2C (Cλ n The sequence of continuous sections x e(a n (x, n n, x X converges uniformly exponentially fast to a continuous section x e (x. The direction e s (x orthogonal to e (x is easily checked to be the required stable direction. 4. In the rest of the paper, we will concentrate on more specific cocycles. Let A be a finite alphabet and let X A Z be a transitive subshift of finite type (Most of the time, we will be satisfied with the case of the full shift on two letters,. We will restrict our discussion to maps A : X SL(2, R which only depend on the letter in position. Such a map is thus determined by a family (A α α A (SL(2, R A. This last space is the parameter space for the cocycle maps we are interested in. We denote by H (SL(2, R A the open set of parameters for which the associated cocycle map is uniformly hyperbolic. The finite group {+, } A acts on the parameter space through and H is invariant under this action. (ε α (A α = (ε α A α 5. We denote by P X the set of periodic orbits of X. Let (A α H, π P X, x π, n the minimal period of π. The matrix A n (x is hyperbolic and its trace depends only on π, not on the choice of x π. We thus define a map τ : H {+, } P X (A α (sgn(tr(a n (x π PX which is constant on each connected component of H. This map is covariant with the actions of {+, } a if one defines (ε α α a (τ π π PX = ( α ε nα(π α τ π π PX, where n α (π is the number of times the letter α appears in one period of π. 6

Question : Is the quotient map τ from π (H into {+, } P X essentially injective? We will see in the sequel that τ is not always injective : there may exist a component U and a matrix A GL(2, R, deta <, such that the component A U (A = U is distinct from U. Then U and U have the same image under τ. Is this the only reason for the lack of injectivity of τ? Problem : Describe the image of τ. 6. Let A be a positive hyperbolic matrix. The parameter such that A α = A for all α A belongs to H. The open subset of SL(2, R formed by the positive hyperbolic matrices is connected. We call principal component the connected component of H which contains these uniformly hyperbolic parameters. The image of this component under τ satisfies τ π = + for all π P X. Question : Is there another component with the same image under τ? When X is the full shift A Z, it is possible to give a nice description of the principal component and its boundary. We assume till further notice, that X = A Z. Then, a necessary condition for the parameter (A α α A to be uniformly hyperbolic is that each matrix A α should be hyperbolic. If (A α α A belongs to the principal component, we conclude that each A α should be positive hyperbolic. Denote by e s (A (resp. e u (A the stable (resp. unstable direction of an hyperbolic matrix A. PROPOSITION 3 A parameter (A α α A belongs to the principal component iff the following conditions are satisfied (i each A α is positive hyperbolic ; (ii there exist two disjoint intervals I s, I u in P (R such that e s (A α I s, e u (A α I u for every α A. Remark : When X is not a full shift, it may happen that (A α α A is uniformly hyperbolic but not all A α are hyperbolic. Consider for instance A = {,, 2}, A =, A = A 2 = A hyperbolic, and X the subshift of A Z which allows all transitions except consecutive s. Proof of proposition We first observe that conditions (i and (ii imply uniform hyperbolicity : indeed, condition (ii allows to define a constant cone field which is sent strictly inside itself by each A α, α A. It is also very easy to check that the open set of parameters U defined by conditions (i, (ii is connected. 7

To end the proof, we will show that any point in the boundary U cannot belong to H. let (A α α A U. If A α is not positive hyperbolic for some α A, it is positive parabolic. The fixed point... ααα... of X = A Z then prevents uniform hyperbolicity. Assume now that A α is positive hyperbolic for each α A. Then condition (ii is not satisfied by (A α α A but is satisfied by some arbitrarily small perturbations ; this means that there exist distinct α, β A with e s (A α = e u (A β. Looking at the heteroclinic orbit... βββααα..., it is clear that the parameter is not uniformly hyperbolic. The proof has also shown the PROPOSITION 4 Let (A α α A be a parameter on the boundary of the principal component of H. Either some A α is positive parabolic or there exist distinct α, β A with e u (A β = e s (A α (or both. Problem 2 : Describe the principal component and its boundary when X is a general subshift of finite type. 7. In this section and the next one, we assume that X = {, } Z is the full shift on two letters. We will describe components of H (SL(2, R 2 which are not principal (nor deduced from the principal one by the action of {+, } 2!. Let (A, A (SL(2, R 2 such that ( A, A are positively hyperbolic and A A (and thus also A A is negatively hyperbolic. PROPOSITION 5 Condition (* defines the union of two connected components of H. Remark : As A A is negatively hyperbolic while A, A are positively hyperbolic, we see that these components are not principal nor deduced from the principal one by the action of an element of {, +} 2. Proof Let U be the open subset of (SL(2, R 2 defined by (*. We first observe that for (A, A U, the directions e u (A, e u (A, e s (A, e s (A are always distinct : indeed otherwise A, A would have a common eigenvector ; as A, A are positive hyperbolic, the corresponding eigenvalues would be positive ; but then A A would also be positive parabolic or hyperbolic. For the cyclic order of P (R, we may only have ( or (2 e u (A < e s (A < e u (A < e s (A < e u (A e u (A < e s (A < e u (A < e s (A < e u (A, 8

the other possibilities being forbidden by proposition 3. By symmetry, it is sufficient to consider the first of the two cases above. Choose vectors e, e in the directions of e u (A, e u (A such that (e, e is an oriented basis of R 2. In the basis (e, e, the matrices A, A are rewritten as (3 (4 We have then ( Ã λ u = λ ( λ Ã = u λ, λ >, u >, λ >, u < T r(ã Ã = λ λ + λ λ + u u and the condition that A A is negatively hyperbolic is equivalent to (5 u u > λ λ + λ λ + 2. It is now clear that conditions (, (3, (4, (5 define a connected subset of (SL(2, R 2, and therefore that U has two connected components associated to the cases (, (2 above. Let A (λ = ( λ λ λ ( λ, A (λ = λ λ For λ > 2, (A (λ, A (λ belongs to the component of U associated to (. We have A (λa (λ = A (λa (λ = ( λ 2 λ 2 ( λ 2 λ 2 Computing the stable and unstable directions, we obtain, for the cyclic order of P (R :. (6 e u (A (λ < e u (A (λa (λ < e s (A (λa (λ < e s (A (λ < e u (A (λ < < e u (A (λa (λ < e s (A (λa (λ < e s (A (λ < e u (A (λ. This cyclic ordering of directions must be valid in all the component of U associated to ( : indeed, we have seen that in U, A and A cannot have a common eigenvector and therefore A A or A A cannot have an eigenvector which is also an eigenvector of A or A. Therefore all inequalities in (6 must remain strict through the component of U. 9

From (6, it is easy to see that parameters in the component of U associated to ( are uniformly hyperbolic : choose directions e, e, e, e such that e s (A < e < A (e < e u (A, e s (A < e < A (e < e u (A, e u (A A < A (e < e < e s (A A, e u (A A < A (e < e < e s (A A, (observe that A (e u (A A = e u (A A,.... Set we have C = {e < e < e }, C = {e < e < e }, A C C C, A C C C, and thus we can construct conefields which satisfy the conditions of uniform hyperbolicity. On the other hand, it is obvious that a parameter on the boundary of U cannot be uniformly hyperbolic. The proof of the proposition is complete. On the boundary of any of the two components of H defined by (*, one of the three matrices A, A, A A must be parabolic. This is in sharp contrast with the boundary of the ( ( principal component : let A λ λ = λ, A =, with λ λ, λ > and log λ log λ irrational. Then (A, A is on the boundary of the principal component of H, but there is no periodic orbit of {, } Z for which the corresponding product is parabolic. Let A be any matrix in GL(2, R with negative determinant. Then A conjugates each of the two components of H contained in U to the other (see the comment after question. The two components have the same image under τ, that we will now determine. Let π be a periodic orbit of the shift, which is not a fixed point ; let n be its period. We can choose x π such that the period of π starting at x is m n m 2 n 2... m l n l (with n = m + n +... + m l + n l. An easy calculation shows that, for A ε = A ε (λ as in the proof of proposition 5, we have T r A n (x, λ = ( l λ n + (λ n 2.

We conclude that the image of U under τ is given by τ π = ( l. 8. We describe in a shorter way another pair of components of H when X is the full shift on two letters. For (A, A (SL(2, R 2, we now consider the condition ( A, A, A A are positive hyperbolic, A (A 2 is negative hyperbolic. This open set is made of two symmetric parts corresponding to cyclic orderings ( or (2. We consider the case where ( holds. After conjugacy in SL(2, R, we can replace A, A by à = ( λ u λ, à = ( λ u λ with λ, λ >, u, u >. Condition ( is then equivalent to ( λ λ + λ λ 2 > u u > λ λ 2 + λ λ 2 + 2 λ + λ. One checks that this last relation defines a connected set in {λ >, λ >, u >, u > }. Set A (λ = ( λ 2 λ 2, A (λ = ( λ λ. For λ >, λ+λ > 4, this value of parameter satisfies ( (or (. One then computes, for large λ, the cyclic ordering of the stable and unstable directions for A, A, A A, A A, A (A 2, A A A, (A 2 A (we did not indicate the dependance on λ. One obtains e u (A < e u (A (A 2 < e s (A (A 2 < e s (A < e u (A < < e u ((A 2 A < e s ((A 2 A < e s (A < e s (A A < e u (A A < < e u (A A A < e s (A A A < e s (A A < e u (A A < e u (A.

Condition ( implies that A, A cannot have a common eigenvector. This implies that none of the following pairs can have a common eigenvector : (A, A (A 2, (A (A 2, A, (A, (A 2 A, ((A 2 A, A, (A, A A, (A A, A A A, (A A A, A A, (A A, A. This implies in turn that the cyclic ordering above is valid through the connected set defined by ( and (. The cyclic ordering as above allows to construct cone fields with the properties required for uniform hyperbolicity. One chooses e, e, e, e, e, e such that e s (A < e < A (e < e u (A, e s (A A < e < A (e < e u (A A, e s (A A < e < A (e < e u (A A, e s ((A 2 A < e < A (e < e u ((A 2 A, e s (A A A < e < A (e < e u (A A A, e s (A (A 2 < e < A (e < e u (A (A 2. Next we set with the following properties C = {e < e < e }, C = {e < e < e }, C = {e < e < e }, C = {e < e < e }, A C C, A C C, C C, A C C, C C, A C C, C C. For x = (x n n Z {, } Z, we set 2

C(x = C if x =, C if x =, x =, C if x = x =, x 2 =, C if x = x = x 2 =. The required properties are satisfied. The open connected set defined by ( and ( is a component of H. On the boundary of this component, one of the matrices A, A, A A, A (A 2 has to be parabolic. The image under τ of this component is as follows : let π be a periodic orbit ; write its minimal period, after cyclic permutation if necessary, as m n m n... m l n l with m i, n i > (we assume that π is not a fixed point ; let l be the number of indices i such that n i >. We have τ π = ( l The verification is left to the reader. 9. Consider again general transitive subshifts of finite type. For the components of H that we have considered, the boundary points are of one (at least of the two following types ( parabolic periodic there exists a periodic orbit π in X for which the associated product matrix is parabolic ; ( heteroclinic connexion there exist periodic points x +, x (not necessarily distinct, a point x W s (x + W u loc(x and a large integer M such that A M (xe u (x = e s (x +. Each of the two phenomena obviously prevents uniform hyperbolicity. Question 2 : Are there boundary points of H which are not of one of these two types? There are many other questions relative to the boundary points of H. 3

Question 3 : Let (A α α A be a boundary point of H. Does there exist a component of H, and a neighbourhood of this boundary point, such that the intersection of H with this neighbourhood is contained in the component? A weaker version of this question is : Question 3 : Is any boundary point of H a boundary point of a connected component of H? Let E be the set of parameters such that there exists a periodic point x in X for which the matrix A n (x is elliptic (n being the period of x. This is an open subset disjoint of H. Question 4 : Does one have H = E = (H E c? A point in H of the parabolic periodic type belongs to E ; we will also see in the last section some evidence in the heteroclinic connexion case. The following result was explained to me by Artur Avila [A]. PROPOSITION 6 H E is dense in parameter space. More precisely, one has H c = Ē. Proof Let A be a matrix in SL(2, C with tra C [ 2, 2]. Then A has two eigenvalues λ u and λ s = λ u satisfying λ u > > λ s. As a Möbius transformation of the Riemann sphere, A has two fixed points with multipliers λ 2 u, λ 2 s. The eigenvalues λ u, λ s depend holomorphically on A ; therefore, if A = A (θ depend holomorphically on a complex parameter θ, the function θ log λ u (A (θ is positive harmonic. These considerations apply to prove the following : LEMMA 2 Let A,..., A n SL(2, R ; for θ R, define R θ = cos θ sin θ and sin θ cos θ A (θ = A R θ A 2 R θ... A n R θ. Assume that, for some θ >, A (θ is hyperbolic for all θ < θ. Then we have A ( exp ( 2 3 θ n. Proof of lemma 2 Consider the action of SL(2, R on the Poincaré disk ; then R θ acts by w e 2iθ w. For Imθ >, R θ SL(2, C still acts by w e 2iθ w and thus contracts the Poincaré metrics by a factor equal or smaller than exp( 2 Im θ. On the other hand, A,..., A n act by isometries ; therefore, the Poincaré metrics is contracted by a factor equal or 4

smaller than exp( 2n Im θ by A (θ ; the multiplier λ 2 s then satisfies λ 2 s exp( 2n Im θ, and we obtain log λ u (A (θ n Im θ. Similarly, one obtains log λ u (A (θ n Im θ for Im θ <. The matrix A (θ satisfies T r(a (θ / [ 2, +2] in the disk { θ < θ } C. Harmonicity of log λ u now gives log A ( log λ u (A ( = 2π 2π 2 3 θ n. log λ u (A (θ e it dt Let now (A α α A be a parameter which is not in the closure of E. We show, using proposition 2, that it belongs to H. Set A α (θ = A α R θ ; by hypothesis, there exists θ such that (A α (θ α A does not belong to the closure of E for θ < θ. Let y be a periodic point of X, of period n. A rotation number argument shows that A n (y, θ must be hyperbolic for θ < θ ; then by the lemma, we get A n (y exp ( 2 3 θ n From this inequality, we immediately deduce that there exists c > such that, for all x X, n : A n (x c exp ( 2 3 θ n. We now give some further evidence for a positive answer to questions 3, 4. We assume again that X is the full shift on two letters,. The principal component of the locus of uniform hyperbolicity H was described in proposition 3, and its boundary in proposition 4. Here we want to consider a parameter (A, A on 5

the boundary such that A, A are positive hyperbolic and e u (A = e s (A. After conjugating in GL(2, R, we can assume that ( A λ = λ, A = ( λ ū λ, with λ, λ > and ū. We assume that A, A do not commute, i.e. ū >. PROPOSITION 7 The boundary of the principal component of H is locally near (A, A an hypersurface which is the complement of H E in a neighbourhood of (A, A. In other terms, a half-neighbourhood of (A, A is contained in E. Proof Let (A, A be close to (A, A. In the basis (e u (A, e u (A, we have A = ( λ u λ, A = ( λ u λ with λ close to λ, λ close to λ, u close to ū and u close to. If u >, the parameter (A, A is uniformly hyperbolic and belongs to the principal component of H. If u =, it belongs to the boundary of this component. We will show that for u <, u small enough, the parameter (A, A belongs to E. LEMMA 3 Let m, n, m, n. The trace of (A m (A n (A m (A n is equal to P + u u Q + u 2 u 2 R, with P = λ m +m λ (n +n + λ (m +m λ n +n, R = λm λ m λ λ Q = λ m λ n + λ m λ n + λ m λ n + λ m λ n λ m λ m λ λ λ m λ m λ λ λ m λ m λ λ λ m λ m λ λ λ m λ m λ λ λ n λ n λ λ λ n λ n λ λ λ n λ n λ λ λ n λ n λ λ λ n λ n λ λ λ n λ n λ λ, Proof Compute! Set u = u u (λ λ (λ λ. We rewrite P + u u Q + u 2 u 2 R as P + Qu + Ru 2 with 6

Q = Q(λ λ (λ λ Set R = (λ m λ m (λ m λ m (λ n λ n (λ n λ n. Q = λ m +m λ n +n + λ m +m λ n n + λ m +m λ n +n + λ m m λ n +n, R = λ m +m λ n +n. For λ m, λ m, λ n, λ n > 2, one obtains ( 3 4 2 Q < Q < Q, ( 3 4 4 R < R < R. (7 We assume now that Then, we have, with ˆQ = λ m m λ n +n λ m min(λm, λ n, λ n. ˆQ Q ( + 3. 4 ˆQ. We will choose m, m, n, n in order to have (7 and also (8 which is equivalent to (9 Then we obtain : /2 < λ m +m λ (n +n < 2, 2 P < 5/2. Ru 2 R u 2 2. 4 λ 4m u 2, by (7, (8 ; Q u ( + 3. 4 ˆQ u 2( + 3. 4 λ 2m u, by (8 ; Q u ( 3 4 2 2 λ2m u, by (8. We conclude that, for ( 4(P 2λ 2m u λ 2m, 7

the matrix (A m (A n (A m (A n is elliptic. The last step in the proof of the proposition is the : Claim For every ε >, there exists m (ε such that, for m m (ε, one can find m, n, n such that λ m > 2, P < 2 + ε and (7 is satisfied. Choose m(ε such that, for any m Z, there exists n Z, m Z with m m < m + m(ε and < λ m λ n < + ε. Let m such that λ m > 2 and m (ε >> m + m(ε. For m m (ε, one can find n > and m [m, m + m(ε such that < λ m +m λ n < + ε. It is now sufficient to write n as n + n with n n. Take ε λ 2. For any m large enough, one can find m, n, n such that the matrix (A m (A n (A m (A n is elliptic for λ (2m +2 u λ 2m. This ends the proof of the proposition. References [A] Avila Artur, private communication. [B] Bourgain Jean, Green s function estimates for lattice Schrödinger operators and applications, pp -72, Ann. of Math. Stud., to appear. [B-G] Bourgain J. ; Goldstein M., On nonperturbative localization with quasiperiodic potential, Ann. of Math. (2 52 (2, n 3, 835-879. [E] Eliasson Hakan, Floquet solutions for the -dimensional quasiperiodic Schrödinger equation, Comm. in Math. Phys., 46 (992 n 3, 447-482. [G-H] Gottschalk W. H. ; Hedlund G. A., Topological dynamics, AMS Coll. Publ. 36 (955. [H] Herman Michael Robert, Sur la conjugaison différentiable des difféomorphismes du cercle à des rotations, Publ. Math. I.H.E.S n 49 (979, 5-234. [K] Krikorian Raphael, Global density of reducible quasiperiodic cocycles on T SU(2, Ann. of Math. (2, 54, (2, n 2, 269-326. [K2] Krikorian Raphael, Reducibility, differentiable rigidity and Lyapunov exponents for quasiperiodic cocycles on T SL(2, R, preprint. 8