Existence of common zeros for commuting vector fields on 3‐manifolds II. Solving global difficulties

Abstract

We address the following conjecture about the existence of common zeros for commuting vector fields in dimension three: if $X,Y$ are two $C^1$ commuting vector fields on a $3$-manifold $M$, and $U$ is a relatively compact open such that $X$ does not vanish on the boundary of $U$ and has a non vanishing Poincar\'e-Hopf index in $U$, then $X$ and $Y$ have a common zero inside $U$. We prove this conjecture when $X$ and $Y$ are of class $C^3$ and every periodic orbit of $Y$ along which $X$ and $Y$ are collinear is partially hyperbolic. We also prove the conjecture, still in the $C^3$ setting, assuming that the flow $Y$ leaves invariant a transverse plane field. These results shed new light on the $C^3$ case of the conjecture.