Hyperbolicity and invariant measures for generalC ² interval maps satisfying the Misiurewicz condition

Abstract

In this paper we will show that piecewiseC ² mappingsf on [0,1] orS ¹ satisfying the so-called Misiurewicz conditions are globally expanding (in the sense defined below) and have absolute continuous invariant probability measures of positive entropy. We do not need assumptions on the Schwarzian derivative of these maps. Instead we need the conditions thatf is piecewiseC ², that all critical points off are “non-flat”, and thatf has no periodic attractors. Our proof gives an algorithm to verify this last condition. Our result implies the result of Misiurewicz in [Mi] (where only maps with negative Schwarzian derivatives are considered). Moreover, as a byproduct, the present paper implies (and simplifies the proof of) the results of Mañé in [Ma], who considers generalC ² maps (without conditions on the Schwarzian derivative), and restricts attention to points whose forward orbit stay away from the critical points. One of the main complications will be that in this paper we want to prove the existence of invariant measures and therefore have to consider points whose iterations come arbitrarily close to critical points. Misiurewicz deals with this problem using an assumption on the Schwarzian derivative of the map. This assumption implies very good control of the non-linearity off ⁿ, even for highn. In order to deal with this non-linearity, without an assumption on the Schwarzian derivative, we use the tools of [M.S.]. It will turn out that the estimates we obtain are so precise that the existence of invariant measures can be proved in a very simple way (in some sense much simpler than in [Mi]). The existence of these invariant measures under such general conditions was already conjectured a decade ago.