Partially ordered groups and geometry of contact transformations
Symplectic Geometry
2007-05-23 v1 Differential Geometry
Dynamical Systems
Group Theory
Abstract
We prove, for a class of contact manifolds, that the universal cover of the group of contact diffeomorphisms carries a natural partial order. It leads to a new viewpoint on geometry and dynamics of contactomorphisms. It gives rise to invariants of contactomorphisms which generalize the classical notion of the rotation number. Our approach is based on tools of Symplectic Topology.
Cite
@article{arxiv.math/9910065,
title = {Partially ordered groups and geometry of contact transformations},
author = {Yakov Eliashberg and Leonid Polterovich},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:math/9910065},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
Latex, 35 pages, preliminary version