Topological entropy of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms: a persistence homology and Floer theory perspective

Abstract

We study topological entropy of compactly supported Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms from a perspective of persistence homology and Floer theory. We introduce barcode entropy, a Floer-theoretic invariant of a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism, measuring exponential growth under iterations of the number of not-too-short bars in the barcode of the Floer complex. We prove that the barcode entropy is bounded from above by the topological entropy and, conversely, that the barcode entropy is bounded from below by the topological entropy of any hyperbolic invariant set, e.g., a hyperbolic horseshoe. As a consequence, we conclude that for Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms of surfaces the barcode entropy is equal to the topological entropy.