Strongly commuting interval maps

Abstract

Maps $f,g\colon I\to I$ are called strongly commuting if $f\circ g^{-1}=g^{-1}\circ f$. We show that strongly commuting, piecewise monotone maps $f,g$ can be decomposed into a finite number of invariant intervals (or period 2 intervals) on which $f,g$ are either both open maps, or at least one of them is monotone. As a consequence, we show that strongly commuting piecewise monotone interval maps have a common fixed point. Results of the paper also have implications in understanding dynamical properties of certain maps on inverse limit spaces.