Embeddings of interval exchange transformations into planar piecewise isometries

Althoughpiecewise isometries(PWIs) are higher-dimensional generalizations of one-dimensionalinterval exchange transformations(IETs), their generic dynamical properties seem to be quite different. In this paper, we consider embeddings of IET dynamics into PWI with a view to better understanding their similarities and differences. We derive some necessary conditions for existence of such embeddings using combinatorial, topological and measure-theoretic properties of IETs. In particular, we prove that continuous embeddings of minimal 2-IETs into orientation-preserving PWIs are necessarily trivial and that any 3-PWI has at most one non-trivially continuously embedded minimal 3-IET with the same underlying permutation. Finally, we introduce a family of 4-PWIs, with an apparent abundance of invariant non-smooth fractal curves supporting IETs, that limit to a trivial embedding of an IET.

Tangent-Free Property for Periodic Cells Generated by Some General Piecewise Isometries

Iterating an orientation-preserving piecewise isometryTofn-dimensional Euclidean space, the phase space can be partitioned with full measure into the union of the rational set consisting of periodically coded points, and the complement of the rational set is usually called the exceptional set. The tangencies between the periodic cells have been studied in some previous papers, and the results showed that almost all disk packings for certain families of planar piecewise isometries have no tangencies. In this paper, the authors further investigate the structure of any periodic cells for a general piecewise isometry of even dimensional Euclidean space and the tangencies between the periodic cells. First, we show that each periodic cell is a symmetrical body to a center if the piecewise isometry is irrational; this result is a generalization of the results in some previously published papers. Second, we show that the periodic cell packing induced by an invertible irrational planar piecewise rotation, such as the Sigma-Delta map and the overflow map, has no tangencies. And furthermore, we generalize the result to general even dimensional Euclidean spaces. Our results generalize and strengthen former research results on this topic.

Invariant measures with bounded variation densities for piecewise area preserving maps

We investigate the properties of absolutely continuous invariant probability measures (ACIPs), especially those measures with bounded variation densities, for piecewise area preserving maps (PAPs) on ℝd. This class of maps unifies piecewise isometries (PWIs) and piecewise hyperbolic maps where Lebesgue measure is locally preserved. Using a functional analytic approach, we first explore the relationship between topological transitivity and uniqueness of ACIPs, and then give an approach to construct invariant measures with bounded variation densities for PWIs. Our results ‘partially’ answer one of the fundamental questions posed in [13]—to determine all invariant non-atomic probability Borel measures in piecewise rotations. When restricting PAPs to interval exchange transformations (IETs), our results imply that for non-uniquely ergodic IETs with two or more ACIPs, these ACIPs have very irregular densities, i.e. they have unbounded variation.