Entropy formula for surface diffeomorphisms

Abstract

Let $f$ be a $C^r$ ($r>1$) diffeomorphism on a compact surface $M$ with $h_{\rm top}(f)\geq\frac{\lambda^{+}(f)}{r}$ where $\lambda^{+}(f):=\lim_{n\to+\infty}\frac{1}{n}\max_{x\in M}\log \left\|Df^{n}_{x}\right\|$. We establish an equivalent formula for the topological entropy: $$h_{\rm top}(f)=\lim_{n\to+\infty}\frac{1}{n}\log\int_{M}\left\|Df^{n}_{x}\right\|\,dx.$$ We also characterize the topological entropy via the volume growth of curves and several applications are presented. Our approach builds on the key ideas developed in the works of Buzzi-Crovisier-Sarig (\emph{Invent. Math.}, 2022) and Burguet (\emph{Ann. Henri Poincar\'e}, 2024) concerning the continuity of the Lyapunov exponents.