Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society

Author(s): Michael Hutchings
Journal: Bull. Amer. Math. Soc.
MSC (2010): Primary 57R17, 57R57, 53D40
Posted: October 29, 2009
Retrieve article in: PDF

Abstract: Does every smooth vector field on a closed three-manifold, for example the three-sphere, have a closed orbit? The answer is no, according to counterexamples by K. Kuperberg and others. On the other hand, there is a special class of vector fields, called Reeb vector fields, which are associated to contact forms. The three-dimensional case of the Weinstein conjecture asserts that every Reeb vector field on a closed oriented three-manifold has a closed orbit. This conjecture was recently proved by Taubes using Seiberg-Witten theory. We give an introduction to the Weinstein conjecture, the main ideas in Taubes's proof, and the bigger picture into which it fits.

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Retrieve articles in Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society with MSC (2010): 57R17, 57R57, 53D40

Michael Hutchings
Affiliation: Mathematics Department, 970 Evans Hall, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
Email: hutching@math.berkeley.edu

DOI: 10.1090/S0273-0979-09-01282-8
PII: S 0273-0979(09)01282-8
Received by editor(s): June 11, 2009,
Received by editor(s) in revised form: August 26, 2009
Posted: October 29, 2009
Additional Notes: Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-0806037
Copyright of article: Copyright 2009, American Mathematical Society
The copyright for this article reverts to public domain after 28 years from publication.

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