Abnormal escape rates from nonuniformly hyperbolic sets

Abstract

Consider a $C^{1+\epsilon}$ diffeomorphism $f$ having a uniformly hyperbolic compact invariant set $\Omega$, maximal invariant in some small neighbourhood of itself. The asymptotic exponential rate of escape from any small enough neighbourhood of $\Omega$ is given by the topological pressure of $-\log |J^u f|$ on $\Omega$ (Bowen–Ruelle in 1975). It has been conjectured (Eckmann–Ruelle in 1985) that this property, formulated in terms of escape from the support $\Omega$ of a (generalized Sinai–Ruelle–Bowen (SRB)) measure, using its entropy and positive Lyapunov exponents, holds more generally. We present a simple $C^\infty$ two-dimensional counterexample, constructed by a surgery using a Bowen-type hyperbolic saddle attractor as the basic plug.