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## Discontinuity of the topological entropy for Lozi maps

I have shown that, like diffeomorphisms, piecewise affine surface homeomorphisms are approximated in entropy by horseshoes, away from their singularities. It follows in particular that their topological entropy is lower-semicontinuous: a small perturbation cannot cause a macroscopic drop in entropy.

The continuity of the entropy for such maps had been an open problem for some time. Rigorous numerical estimates by Duncan SANDS and Yutaka ISHII seemed to suggest some discontinuous drops, but investigation at a small scale suggested these drops to be steep yet continuous variations.

Izzet B. YILDIZ has solved this question by finding for Lozi maps $f_{a,b}(x,y)=(1-a|x|+by,x)$ on $\mathbb R^2$, small numbers $\epsilon_1,\epsilon_2>0$ such that, setting $(a,b)=(1.4+\epsilon_1,0.4+\epsilon_1)$, for all $0<\epsilon<\epsilon_2$:

• $h_{top}(f_{a,b})=0$;
• $h_{top}(f_{a+\epsilon,b})>\frac14\log\frac12(\sqrt{5}+1)$.

The verification turns out to be quite simple (once you know where to look!). The non-wandering set of $f_{a,b}$ is shown to be reduced to be reduced to the fixed points of its fourth iterates, yielding the zero entropy immediately. $f_{a+\epsilon,b}$ on the other hand is shown to admit 2 disjoint closed quadrilaterals $U,V$ such that $f^4(U)$ hyperbolically crosses both $U$ and $V$ and $f^4(V)$ hyperbolically crosses $U$. This means that the sides of $U$ and $V$ can be branded alternatively s and u with the following property. The image of a u side crosses each of $U,V$ it meets, intersecting both their s sides and none of their u sides. This again yields the entropy estimate.

## What we (don’t) know about Lozi

Duncan SANDS gave a talk for the Journée Affine Par Morceaux on the dynamics of Lozi maps. These are the piecewise affine homeomorphisms of the plane of the form $(x,y)\mapsto(1-a|x|+by,x)$ where $ab\ne0$. Lozi introduced them as a toy model for the Hénon map, observing numerically some kind of strange attractor for $(a,b)=(1.7,0.5)$. SANDS and ISHII have especially studied their topological entropy. The following picture shows what is known and what is not in the parameter plane:

In the grey area the entropy is known to be zero. In the turquoise area it is known to be positive (and maximal, ie, log 2, in the hatched part). In the white area in-between, there are examples with positive entropy (on $b=-1$ for the part below the axis) but otherwise little is known.

The existence of a physical measure has been established only for a small part of the Misiurewicz triangle (for which a strange attractor is known). There is a larger triangle in which a simple trapping region exists.