Positive paths in diffeomorphism groups of manifolds with a contact distribution

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
1. Verfasser: Hedicke, Jakob
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866909961581232128
author Hedicke, Jakob
author_facet Hedicke, Jakob
contents Given a cooriented contact manifold $(M,ξ)$, it is possible to define a notion of positivity on the group $\mathrm{Diff}(M)$ of diffeomorphisms of $M$, by looking at paths of diffeomorphisms that are positively transverse to the contact distribution $ξ$. We show that, in contrast to the analogous notion usually considered on the group of diffeomorphisms preserving $ξ$, positivity on $\mathrm{Diff}(M)$ is completely flexible. In particular, we show that for the standard contact structure on $\mathbb{R}^{2n+1}$ any two diffeomorphisms are connected by a positive path. This result generalizes to compactly supported diffeomorphisms on a large class of contact manifolds. As an application we answer a question about Legendrians in thermodynamic phase space posed by Entov, Polterovich and Ryzhik in the context of thermodynamic processes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_07279
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Positive paths in diffeomorphism groups of manifolds with a contact distribution
Hedicke, Jakob
Symplectic Geometry
Mathematical Physics
Differential Geometry
53D10, 57S05
Given a cooriented contact manifold $(M,ξ)$, it is possible to define a notion of positivity on the group $\mathrm{Diff}(M)$ of diffeomorphisms of $M$, by looking at paths of diffeomorphisms that are positively transverse to the contact distribution $ξ$. We show that, in contrast to the analogous notion usually considered on the group of diffeomorphisms preserving $ξ$, positivity on $\mathrm{Diff}(M)$ is completely flexible. In particular, we show that for the standard contact structure on $\mathbb{R}^{2n+1}$ any two diffeomorphisms are connected by a positive path. This result generalizes to compactly supported diffeomorphisms on a large class of contact manifolds. As an application we answer a question about Legendrians in thermodynamic phase space posed by Entov, Polterovich and Ryzhik in the context of thermodynamic processes.
title Positive paths in diffeomorphism groups of manifolds with a contact distribution
topic Symplectic Geometry
Mathematical Physics
Differential Geometry
53D10, 57S05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07279