An orientation preserving fixed point free homeomorphism of the plane which admits no closed invariant line

Abstract

Though fixed point free homeomorphisms of the plane would appear to exhibit the simplest dynamical behavior, we show that the minimal sets can be quite complex. Every homeomorphism which is conjugate to a translation must have a closed invariant line. However we construct an orientation preserving fixed point free homeomorphism of the plane which admits no closed invariant line. We verify that no such line exists by considering the `fundamental regions" of our example. Fundamental regions, studied first by Stephen Andrea, are equivalence classes of points in the plane associated with a given homeomorphism. Two points are said to be in the same equivalence class if they can be connected by an arc which diverges to infinity under both the forward and backward iterates of the homeomorphism. Our example contains no invariant fundamental regions.