Lorenz attractors and the modular surface *

Abstract

Abstract We define an extension of the geometric Lorenz model, defined on the three sphere. This geometric model has an invariant one dimensional trefoil knot, a union of invariant manifolds of the singularities. It is similar to the invariant trefoil knot arising in the classical Lorenz flow near the classical parameters. We prove that this geometric model is topologically equivalent to the geodesic flow on the modular surface, once compactifying the latter.