arXiv2026
For any $t\in\mathbb{R}$, consider the Affine twist map $\rm{Aff_t}:\mathbb{T}^2\to\mathbb{T}^2$ given by $$\rm{Aff_t}(x,y)=(x+y \text{ mod 1}, y+t \text{ mod 1}).$$ The map $\rm{Aff_t}$ clearly possesses an invariant foliation by horizontal curves. If $t$ is rational, each leaf is periodic, and if $t$ is irrational, the orbit of each leaf is dense in the torus. In both cases, the vertical rotation set of the proper lift of $\rm{Aff_t}$ to the vertical cylinder is reduced to $\{t\}.$ Now, for $k\in\mathbb{R},$ define $$f_{k,t}(x,y):=(x+y+k\sin (2πx)\text{ mod 1},y+k\sin (2πx)+t\text{ mod 1}).$$ We show that: 1) when $t=p/q$ for integers $p$ and $q>0$, KAM theory implies the existence of a constant $k_{p/q}>0$ such that for $|k|<k_{p/q}$, the vertical rotation set of an adequate lift of $f_{k,p/q}$ is just $\{p/q\}.$ 2) when $t$ is irrational, for any $k\neq 0$ the vertical rotation set of the adequate lift of $f_{k,t}$ is a non-degenerate interval which contains $t$ in its interior. In other words, it is not easy to build area-preserving twist maps whose vertical rotation sets are reduced to a single irrational number. From Theorem A of \cite{eujul}, such a map needs to have an invariant foliation by Lipschitz graphs over the horizontal coordinate. In particular, all its iterates must satisfy a twist condition. This is precisely what does not hold for $f_{k,t}$, for all non-zero values of $k$.