On the dynamics of sup-norm non-expansive maps

Abstract

We present several results for the periods of periodic points of sup-norm non-expansive maps. In particular, we show that the period of each periodic point of a sup-norm non-expansive map $f\colon M\to M$, where $M\subset \mathbb{R}^n$, is at most $\max_k\, 2^k \big(\begin{smallmatrix}n\\ k\end{smallmatrix}\big)$. This upper bound is smaller than 3ⁿ and improves the previously known bounds. Further, we consider a special class of sup-norm non-expansive maps, namely topical functions. For topical functions $f\colon\mathbb{R}^n\to\mathbb{R}^n$ Gunawardena and Sparrow have conjectured that the optimal upper bound for the periods of periodic points is $\big(\begin{smallmatrix}n\\ \lfloor n/2\rfloor\end{smallmatrix}\big)$. We give a proof of this conjecture. To obtain the results we use combinatorial and geometric arguments. In particular, we analyse the cardinality of anti-chains in certain partially ordered sets.