SearcharxivSearch

arXiv subjects

Alex Clark

Publications and source records attributed to Alex Clark.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

On roundness of rotation sets

Motivated by the question whether a round disk can be realized as the rotation set of a torus diffeomorphism, we study the roundness of rotation sets of a parametric family of torus diffeomorphisms $F_\rho$, where the parameter $\rho$ ranges over irrational numbers in $(0,1)$. Each $F_\rho$ is a Kwapisz-like diffeomorphism with a 2-dimensional non-polygonal rotation set $$\Lambda'_\rho = \operatorname{conv}\left(\left\{(\pm\frac{\lceil m\rho \rceil}{m+n+1}, \pm\frac{\lceil n\rho \rceil}{m+n+1}): m, n \in \mathbb{N} _0, \lceil m\rho\rceil - m\rho<\rho,\lceil n\rho\rceil - n\rho<\rho\right\}\right)$$ whose extreme point set contains exactly four (two-sided) accumulation points. We define the roundness of $\Lambda'_\rho$ as the ratio $R_\rho=\frac{\operatorname{Area}(\Lambda'_\rho)}{\pi\rho^2}$, and give its upper and lower bounds in terms of $\rho$. $R_\rho$ is neither monotone nor continuous.

math.DS

Knotting Minimal Sets

We consider the ways minimal sets of flows in $S^3$ may be embedded. We prove that given any $C^2$ flow on $S^3$ with positive entropy, there is an uncountable collection $\mathcal{M}$ of topologically distinct minimal sets such that for each $M\in \mathcal{M}$ there are infinitely many embedded copies of $M$ in the flow, each copy with a distinct knot type, thus extending work of Franks and Williams for periodic orbits.

math.DS

A Complete Invariant for Flow Equivalence

Minimal flow spaces of dimension 1 are among the most fundamental limit sets in dynamical systems. These invariant sets occur as the typical minimal sets in surface flows, the minimal sets of suspensions of subshifts (for example, in Lorenz template models of the Lorenz attractor) and the hulls of repetitive tilings of dimension one. Here we establish a complete invariant for the flow equivalence of such objects. The invariant takes values in a category of `positive trope' classes of inverse sequences of free groups and positive maps, or alternatively within a certain category of symbolic systems. Moreover, every such symbolic system is realised by a flow space, and we thus have a one to one correspondence between flow equivalence classes of minimal flow spaces and positive trope classes of such systems. At the same time, this provides a complete invariant both for flow equivalence of minimal Z-Cantor dynamical systems and for germinal equivalence of minimal Z-Cantor systems. Our work thus greatly extends that of Barge and Diamond on their complete invariant of primitive substitution tilings, and provides counterpoint to the work of Giordano, Putnam and Skau on orbit equivalence of Z-Cantor systems.

math.DS

Pro-groups and generalizations of a theorem of Bing

A matchbox manifold is a generalized lamination, which is a continuum whose path components define the leaves of a foliation of the space. A matchbox manifold is M-like if it has the shape of a fixed topological space M. When M is a closed manifold, in a previous work, the authors have shown that if $\frak M$ is a matchbox manifold which is M-like, then it is homeomorphic to a weak solenoid. In this work, we associate to a weak solenoid a pro-group, whose pro-isomorphism class is an invariant of the homeomorphism class of $\frak M$. We then show that an M-like matchbox manifold is homeomorphic to a weak solenoid whose base manifold has fundamental group which is non co-Hopfian; that is, it admits a non-trivial self-embedding of finite index. We include a collection of examples illustrating this conclusion.

math.AT

Manifold--like matchbox manifolds

A matchbox manifold is a generalized lamination, and is a continuum whose arc-components define the leaves of a foliation of the space. The main result of this paper implies that a matchbox manifold which is manifold-like must be homeomorphic to a weak solenoid.

math.DS

A compact minimal space $Y$ such that its square $Y\times Y$ is not minimal

The following well known open problem is answered in the negative: Given two compact spaces $X$ and $Y$ that admit minimal homeomorphisms, must the Cartesian product $X\times Y$ admit a minimal homeomorphism as well? A key element of our construction is an inverse limit approach inspired by combination of a technique of Aarts & Oversteegen and the construction of Slovak spaces by Downarowicz & Snoha & Tywoniuk. This approach allows us also to prove the following result. Let $\phi\colon M\times\mathbb{R}\to M$ be a continuous, aperiodic minimal flow on the compact, finite--dimensional metric space $M$. Then there is a generic choice of parameters $c\in\mathbb{R}$, such that the homeomorphism $h(x)=\phi(x,c)$ admits a noninvertible minimal map $f\colon M\to M$ as an almost 1-1 extension.

math.DS

New exotic minimal sets from pseudo-suspensions of Cantor systems

We develop a technique, pseudo-suspension, that applies to invariant sets of homeomorphisms of a class of annulus homeomorphisms we describe, Handel-Anosov-Katok (HAK) homeomorphisms, that generalize the homeomorphism first described by Handel. Given a HAK homeomorphism and a homeomorphism of the Cantor set, the pseudo-suspension yields a homeomorphism of a new space that admits a homeomorphism that combines features of both of the original homeomorphisms. This allows us to answer a well known open question by providing examples of hereditarily indecomposable continua that admit homeomorphisms of intermediate complexity. Additionally, we show that such examples occur as minimal sets of volume preserving smooth diffeomorphisms of 4-dimensional manifolds. We also use our techniques to exhibit the first examples of minimal, uniformly rigid and weakly mixing homeomorphisms in dimension $1$, and these can also be realized as invariant sets of smooth diffeomorphisms of a 4-manifold. Until now the only known examples of spaces that admit minimal, uniformly rigid and weakly mixing homeomorphisms were modifications of those given by Glasner and Maon in dimension at least $2$.

math.DS

The homology core and invariant measures

Here we shall consider the topology and dynamics associated to a wide class of matchbox manifolds, including a large selection of tiling spaces and all minimal matchbox manifolds of dimension one. For such spaces we introduce topological invariants related to their expansions as an inverse sequence of simplicial complexes. These invariants are related to corresponding inverse sequences of groups arising from applying the top--dimension homology to these sequences. In many cases this leads to a computable invariant based on an inverse sequence of matrices. Significantly, we show that when the space is obtained by suspending a topologically transitive action of the fundamental group $\G$ of a closed orientable on a zero--dimensional compact space this invariant at the same time corresponds to the space of Borel measures on the Cantor set which are invariant under the action of $\G$. This leads to connections between the rank of homology groups we consider and the number of invariant, ergodic Borel probability measures for such actions. We illustrate with several examples how these invariants can be calculated and used for topological classification and how it leads to an understanding of the invariant measures.

math.DS

Small cocycles, fine torus fibrations, and a ${\mathbb Z}^2$ subshift with neither

Following an earlier similar conjecture of Kellendonk and Putnam, Giordano, Putnam and Skau conjectured that all minimal, free ${\mathbb Z}^d$ actions on Cantor sets admit "small cocycles." These represent classes in $H^1$ that are mapped to small vectors in ${\mathbb R}^d$ by the Ruelle-Sullivan (RS) map. We show that there exist ${\mathbb Z}^d$ actions where no such small cocycles exist, and where the image of $H^1$ under RS is ${\mathbb Z}^d$. Our methods involve tiling spaces and shape deformations, and along the way we prove a relation between the image of RS and the set of "virtual eigenvalues," i.e. elements of ${\mathbb R}^d$ that become topological eigenvalues of the tiling flow after an arbitrarily small change in the shapes and sizes of the tiles.

math.DS

Ultra-compact optical auto-correlator based on slow-light enhanced third harmonic generation in a silicon photonic crystal waveguide

The ability to use coherent light for material science and applications is directly linked to our ability to measure short optical pulses. While free-space optical methods are well-established, achieving this on a chip would offer the greatest benefit in footprint, performance, flexibility and cost, and allow the integration with complementary signal processing devices. A key goal is to achieve operation at sub-Watt peak power levels and on sub-picosecond timescales. Previous integrated demonstrations require either a temporally synchronized reference pulse, an off-chip spectrometer, or long tunable delay lines. We report the first device capable of achieving single-shot time-domain measurements of near-infrared picosecond pulses based on an ultra-compact integrated CMOS compatible device, with the potential to be fully integrated without any external instrumentation. It relies on optical third-harmonic generation in a slow-light silicon waveguide. Our method can also serve as a powerful in-situ diagnostic tool to directly map, at visible wavelengths, the propagation dynamics of near-infrared pulses in photonic crystals.

physics.optics

Classifying matchbox manifolds

Matchbox manifolds are foliated spaces with totally disconnected transversals. Two matchbox manifolds which are homeomorphic have return equivalent dynamics, so that invariants of return equivalence can be applied to distinguish non-homeomorphic matchbox manifolds. In this work we study the problem of showing the converse implication: when does return equivalence imply homeomorphism? For the class of weak solenoidal matchbox manifolds, we show that if the base manifolds satisfy a strong form of the Borel Conjecture, then return equivalence for the dynamics of their foliations implies the total spaces are homeomorphic. In particular, we show that two equicontinuous $\mT^n$--like matchbox manifolds of the same dimension are homeomorphic if and only if their corresponding restricted pseudogroups are return equivalent. At the same time, we show that these results cannot be extended to include the "\emph{adic}-surfaces", which are a class of weak solenoids fibering over a closed surface of genus 2.

math.DS

Shape of matchbox manifolds

In this work, we develop shape expansions of minimal matchbox manifolds without holonomy, in terms of branched manifolds formed from their leaves. Our approach is based on the method of coding the holonomy groups for the foliated spaces, to define leafwise regions which are transversely stable and are adapted to the foliation dynamics. Approximations are obtained by collapsing appropriately chosen neighborhoods onto these regions along a "transverse Cantor foliation". The existence of the "transverse Cantor foliation" allows us to generalize standard techniques known for Euclidean and fibered cases to arbitrary matchbox manifolds with Riemannian leaf geometry and without holonomy. The transverse Cantor foliations used here are constructed by purely intrinsic and topological means, as we do not assume that our matchbox manifolds are embedded into a smooth foliated manifold, or a smooth manifold.

math.DS

Photon Pair Generation in Silicon Micro-Ring Resonator with Reverse Bias Enhancement

Photon sources are fundamental components for any quantum photonic technology. The ability to generate high count-rate and low-noise correlated photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion using bulk crystals has been the cornerstone of modern quantum optics. However, future practical quantum technologies will require a scalable integration approach, and waveguide-based photon sources with high-count rate and low-noise characteristics will be an essential part of chip-based quantum technologies. Here, we demonstrate photon pair generation through spontaneous four-wave mixing in a silicon micro-ring resonator, reporting a maximum coincidence-to-accidental (CAR) ratio of 602 (+-) 37, and a maximum photon pair generation rate of 123 MHz (+-) 11 KHz. To overcome free-carrier related performance degradations we have investigated reverse biased p-i-n structures, demonstrating an improvement in the pair generation rate by a factor of up to 2, with negligible impact on CAR.

physics.optics

Voronoi tessellations for matchbox manifolds

Matchbox manifolds ${\mathfrak M}$ are a special class of foliated spaces, which includes as special examples exceptional minimal sets of foliations, weak solenoids, suspensions of odometer and Toeplitz actions, and tiling spaces associated to aperiodic tilings with finite local complexity. Some of these classes of examples are endowed with an additional structure, that of a transverse foliation, consisting of a continuous family of Cantor sets transverse to the foliated structure. The purpose of this paper is to show that this transverse structure can be defined on all minimal matchbox manifolds. This follows from the construction of uniform stable Voronoi tessellations on a dense leaf, which is the main goal of this work. From this we define a foliated Delaunay triangulation of ${\mathfrak M}$, adapted to the dynamics of ${\mathcal F}$. The result is highly technical, but underlies the study of the basic topological structure of matchbox manifolds in general. Our methods are unique in that we give the construction of the Voronoi tessellations for a complete Riemannian manifold $L$ of arbitrary dimension, with stability estimates.

math.DS

Tiling Spaces, Codimension One Attractors and Shape

We show that any codimension one hyperbolic attractor of a diffeomorphism of a (d+1)-dimensional closed manifold is shape equivalent to a (d+1)-dimensional torus with a finite number of points removed, or, in the non-orientable case, to a space with a 2 to 1 covering by such a torus-less-points. Furthermore, we show that each orientable attractor is homeomorphic to a tiling space associated to an aperiodic tiling of Rd, but that the converse is generally not true. This work allows the definition of a new invariant for aperiodic tilings, in many cases finer than the cohomological or K-theoretic invariants studied to date.

math.DS

Intrinsically narrowband pair photon generation in microstructured fibres

In this paper we study the tailoring of photon spectral properties generated by four-wave mixing in a birefringent photonic crystal fibre (PCF). The aim is to produce intrinsically narrow-band photons and hence to achieve high non-classical interference visibility and generate high fidelity entanglement without any requirement for spectral filtering, leading to high effective detection efficiencies. We show unfiltered Hong-Ou-Mandel interference visibilities of 77% between photons from the same PCF, and 80% between separate sources. We compare results from modelling the PCF to these experiments and analyse photon purities.

quant-ph

The Schreier continuum and ends

Blanc showed in his thesis that a compact minimal foliated space with a residual subset of 2-ended leaves can contain only 1 or 2 ended leaves. In this paper we give examples of compact minimal foliated spaces where a topologically generic leaf has 1 end, there is an uncountable set of leaves with 2 ends and a leaf with 2n ends, for a given n>1. The examples we present are weak solenoids, which allows us to represent the graph of the group action on the fibre as the inverse limit of finite coverings of a finite graph, which we call the Schreier continuum, which we use to obtain the result. While in certain cases the problem can be reduced to the study of a self-similar action of an automorphism group of a regular tree, our geometric technique is more general, as it applies to cases where the action is not self-similar.

math.DS

Homogeneous matchbox manifolds

We prove that a homogeneous matchbox manifold of any finite dimension is homeomorphic to a McCord solenoid, thereby proving a strong version of a conjecture of Fokkink and Oversteegen. The proof uses techniques from the theory of foliations that involve making important connections between homogeneity and equicontinuity. The results provide a framework for the study of equicontinuous minimal sets of foliations that have the structure of a matchbox manifold.

math.DS