The ideal boundary and the accumulation lemma

Abstract

Let $S$ be a connected surface possibly with boundary, $\mu$ a finite Borel measure which is positive on open sets and $f:S\to S$ a homeomorphism preserving $\mu$. We prove that if $K$ is a compact connected subset of $S$ and $L$ is a branch of a hyperbolic periodic point if $f$ then $L\cap K\ne\emptyset$ implies $L\subset K$. This is called the accumulation lemma. For this we develop a classification of connected surfaces with boundary and a characterization of residual domains of compact subsets with finitely many connected components in a connected surface with boundary.