Minimal homeomorphisms on low-dimensional tori

Abstract

AbstractWe study minimal homeomorphisms (all orbits are dense) of the tori Tn, n≤4. The linear part of a homeomorphism φ of Tn is the linear mapping L induced by φ on the first homology group of Tn. It follows from the Lefschetz fixed point theorem that 1 is an eigenvalue of L if φ minimal. We show that if φ is minimal and n≤4, then L is quasi-unipontent, that is, all of the eigenvalues of L are roots of unity and conversely if L∈GL(n,ℤ) is quasi-unipotent and 1 is an eigenvalue of L, then there exists a C∞ minimal skew-product diffeomorphism φ of Tn whose linear part is precisely L. We do not know whether these results are true for n≥5. We give a sufficient condition for a smooth skew-product diffeomorphism of a torus of arbitrary dimension to be smoothly conjugate to an affine transformation.