Growth Gap vs. smoothness for diffeomorphisms of the interval

Abstract

Given a diffeomorphism of the interval, consider the uniform norm of the derivative of its n-th iteration. We get a sequence of real numbers called the growth sequence. Its asymptotic behavior is an invariant which naturally appears both in smooth dynamics and in geometry of the diffeomorphisms groups. We find sharp estimates for the growth sequence of a given diffeomorphism in terms of the modulus of continuity of its derivative. These estimates extend previous results of Polterovich and Sodin, and Borichev.