Smooth Markov partitions and toral automorphisms

Abstract

AbstractWe show that the only hyperbolic toral automorphisms f for which there exist Markov partitions with piecewise smooth boundary are those for which a power fk is linearly covered by a direct product of automorphisms of the 2-torus. Only a finite number of shapes occur in a certain natural set of cross-sections of the partition boundary. The behavior of the stratified structure of a piecewise smooth boundary under the mapping forces these shapes to be self-similar. This, together with expanding properties of the mapping, means that a piecewise smooth partition is in fact piecewise linear. Orbits of affine disks in the boundary are used to construct a basis of 2-dimensional invariant toral subgroups, and then the product decomposition of a covering follows easily.