The ordered-chaotic-mixed classification conjecture for invariant one-dimensional sets

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Let FF be a smooth vector field on S3S^3 with fixed points {x1,…,xn}\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\}, and let HH be a one-dimensional flow-invariant set such that each component CC of H∖{x1,…,xn}H\setminus\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\} satisfies one of the stated alternatives: CC is homeomorphic to S1S^1, CC is homeomorphic to (0,1)(0,1), or every fixed point lies in the closure of some such component. For a periodic orbit TT of FF, write i(T)i(T) for its Orbit Index. Ordered-chaotic-mixed classification conjecture. Under these assumptions, FF can be deformed relative to HH to a smooth vector field GG satisfying precisely one of the following: GG is ordered, generating finitely many attracting or repelling periodic orbits T1,…,TnT_1,\ldots,T_n with i(Tj)=1i(T_j)=1 and Ess(F)Ess(F) equal to {T1,…,Tn}\{T_1,\ldots,T_n\}; GG is chaotic, generating infinitely many periodic orbits, all with Orbit Indices −1-1 or 00, persisting under deformations relative to HH without changing knot type or collapsing together, so that Ess(F)Ess(F) is infinite; or GG is mixed, with an invariant surface SS satisfying S∩H⊆{x1,…,xn}S\cap H\subseteq\{x_1,\ldots,x_n\} such that the flow on every component of S3∖(H∪S)S^3\setminus(H\cup S) is ordered or chaotic. This conjecture proposes a Thurston–Nielsen-type classification of the dynamics obtainable after deformation relative to the invariant set; the source provides examples of finite and infinite essential classes but no proof of the classification.

References

Primary source

Eran Igra, “Essential dynamics in chaotic attractors”, arXiv:2411.08571 (2025).

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