Locally Maximal Attractors of Expanding Dynamical Systems

We study locally maximal attractors of expanding dynamical systems. Our main result is a representation of these attractors with the help of topological Markov chains corresponding to the Markov partitions of these attractors, which allows us to describe the dynamics of system on them.

Ya. G. Sinai was the first who constructed and used Markov partitions for Anosov’s diffeomorphisms [Funk. Anal. Prilozh., 2, No 1, 64; No 3, 70 (1968); English translation: Funct. Anal. Appl., 2, No 1, 61; No 3, 245 (1968)]. Expanding endomorphisms regarded as the simplest representatives of endomorphisms were first studied by M. Shub [Amer. J. Math., 91, No 1, 175 (1969)]. To construct Markov partitions for expanding endomorphisms, we update Sinai’s approach in the proper way.

A more detailed historical overview can be found in the work by O. M. Sharkovsky [Ukr. Mat. Zh., 74, No. 12, 1709 (2023); English translation: Ukr. Math. J., 74, No. 12, 1950 (2023)]. In this work, Sharkovsky indicated that the methods used to prove the main results presented in [Dokl. Akad. Nauk SSSR, 170, No. 6, 1276 (1966); English translation: Sov. Math. Dokl., 7, No. 5, 1384 (1966)] were, in fact, published in the collection of papers “Dynamical systems and the problems of stability of solutions of differential equations” (1973) issued by the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. This collection is difficultly accessible and was never translated into English. Note that, in the indicated paper, these methods were applied to somewhat different objects. To the best of our knowledge, there is no information about publications of similar results. In view of the outlined history and importance of the described approach (based on Markov partitions and topological Markov chains) for the description of construction of the attractors, it seems reasonable to publish these results anew.