A Symplectic Dynamics Proof of the Degree–Genus Formula

We classify global surfaces of section for the Reeb flow of the standard contact form on the 3-sphere (defining the Hopf fibration), with boundaries oriented positively by the flow. As an application, we prove the degree-genus formula for complex projective curves, using an elementary degeneration process inspired by the language of holomorphic buildings in symplectic field theory.

The symplectic structure for renormalization of circle diffeomorphisms with breaks

The main goal of this paper is to reveal the symplectic structure related to renormalization of circle maps with breaks. We first show that iterated renormalizations of [Formula: see text] circle diffeomorphisms with [Formula: see text] breaks, [Formula: see text], with given size of breaks, converge to an invariant family of piecewise Möbius maps, of dimension [Formula: see text]. We prove that this invariant family identifies with a relative character variety [Formula: see text] where [Formula: see text] is a [Formula: see text]-holed torus, and that the renormalization operator identifies with a sub-action of the mapping class group [Formula: see text]. This action allows us to introduce the symplectic form which is preserved by renormalization. The invariant symplectic form is related to the symplectic form described by Guruprasad et al. [Group systems, groupoids, and moduli spaces of parabolic bundles, Duke Math. J. 89(2) (1997) 377–412], and goes back to the earlier work by Goldman [The symplectic nature of fundamental groups of surfaces, Adv. Math. 54(2) (1984) 200–225]. To the best of our knowledge the connection between renormalization in the nonlinear setting and symplectic dynamics had not been brought to light yet.

From Pseudo-Rotations to Holomorphic Curves via Quantum Steenrod Squares

In the context of symplectic dynamics, pseudo-rotations are Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms with finite and minimal possible number of periodic orbits. These maps are of interest in both dynamics and symplectic topology. We show that a closed, monotone symplectic manifold, which admits a nondegenerate pseudo-rotation, must have a deformed quantum Steenrod square of the top degree element and hence nontrivial holomorphic spheres. This result (partially) generalizes a recent work by Shelukhin and complements the results by the authors on nonvanishing Gromov–Witten invariants of manifolds admitting pseudo-rotations.

Odd-symplectic forms via surgery and minimality in symplectic dynamics

We construct an infinite family of odd-symplectic forms (also known as Hamiltonian structures) on the $3$-sphere $S^{3}$ that do not admit a symplectic cobordism to the standard contact structure on $S^{3}$. This answers in the negative a question raised by Joel Fish motivated by the search for minimal characteristic flows.