Summary.
Periodic behaviour in dynamical systems (for example, the way in which
planets orbit the Sun regularly) is known to be important in
understanding how physical systems evolve over time. In mathematics we
study abstract models of dynamical systems. This project deals with
one aspect of a kind of dynamical system in which evolution over time
is replaced by a higher-dimensional action. Thus it makes sense to let
our abstract model system evolve (like running a planetary orbit
forward for thousands of years) in any one of infinitely many
different directions. From studying examples, we think we have some
ideas about how periodic orbits in our abstract system (points that
return to themselves exactly under the dynamics) behave in different
directions of 'time'. This project is designed to give a complete
picture of how this periodic behaviour changes as the direction is
changed. We expect that the results from this project will be used as
part of the research efforts by many different people who study the
same type of abstract dynamical systems. These abstract dynamical
systems are of interest in themselves, and as testing grounds for
developing what we think will be true of more complicated
systems. They also have many connections to other parts of
mathematics.