A symmetry of sphere map implies its chaos*

Abstract

A well-known example, given by Shub, shows that for any |d| ≥ 2 there is a self-map of the sphere S n , n ≥ 2, of degree d for which the set of non-wandering points consists of two points. It is natural to ask which additional assumptions guarantee an infinite number of periodic points of such a map. In this paper we show that if a continuous map f : S n → S n commutes with a free homeomorphism g : S n → S n of a finite order, then f has infinitely many minimal periods, and consequently infinitely many periodic points. In other words the assumption of the symmetry of f originates a kind of chaos. We also give an estimate of the number of periodic points.