N-expansive homeomorphisms on surfaces

Abstract

We exploit the techniques developed in [Le] to study N-expansive homeomorphisms on surfaces. We prove that when f is a 2-expansive homeomorphism defined on a compact boundaryless surface M without wandering points then f is expansive. This condition on the wandering set cannot be relaxed: we present an example of a 2-expansive homeomorphisms on the bitorus with wandering points that is not expansive.