Recurrent points

Kishalay Sarkar
December 2022

Let T be a continuous map on X then x ∈ X is called a recurrent point for

T if for any neighborhood V of x there exists n ≥ 1 such that T n (x) ∈ V .
{T n (x) : n ≥ 1} is called orbit of x.
Theorem 1. Let X be a compact topological space and T : X → X be a
continuous map,then X has a recurrent point w.r.t. T .

Proof. Let F = {V ⊂ X : ϕ ̸= V is closed and T (V ) ⊂ V } (All T -invariant

non-empty closed subsets of X)
Order the elements of F by inclusion i.e. consider (F, ⊂)
Since,X is compact,so any collection of closed sets having FIP has a non-
empty intersection.So,any chain in F has a lower bound( i.e. the intersec-
tion).Now consider the reverse inclusion relation on F with respect to which
the chain is again a chain and the intersection is a lower bound(Note that in-
tersection is again in F ),so by Zorn’s lemma (F, ⊃) has a maximal element
which is the minimal element of (F, ⊂).Call it Y0 .let y ∈ Y0 .We claim that
Y0 = {T n (y) : n ≥ 1}.Suppose A = {T n (y) : n ≥ 1} and Y = A.Since y ∈ Y0
and Y0 ∈ F so Y0 is a T -invariant closed set,hence Y ⊂ Y0 .If we can show that
Y ∈ F then by minimality of Y0 we have Y = Y0 .Now Y is by definition closed
and it suffices to show that Y is T -invariant.Now for an element of Y if it is
of the form T n (y) then its image is in A ⊂ Y .Now let θ be a limit point of
A,we want to show that T (θ) is a limit point of A.Let W be a neighborhood of
T (θ),then consider T −1 (W ) which is a neighborhood of θ,then T −1 (W ) contains
a point of A say T r (y) then the point T r+1 (y) ∈ W ,so T (θ) is a limit point of
A hence T (θ) ∈ Y .So we have Y = Y0 .So, y is a recurrent point of X w.r.t.
T .,thus our claim is proved.