The study of the path-connectedness of the space of $C^{r}$ actions of $\mathbb{Z}^{2}$ on the interval [0,1] plays an important role in the classification of codimension 1 foliations on 3 manifolds. One way to deform actions is by conjugation. If an action can be brought arbitrarily close to the trivial one by conjugation, it is said to be quasi-reducible. In this talk, we will present and compare obstructions to quasi-reducibility in different regularity classes, and draw conclusions concerning the initial connectedness problem.[-]

Smooth parametrization consists in a subdivision of mathematical objects under consideration into simple pieces, and then parametric representation of each piece, while keeping control of high order derivatives. The main goal of the talk is to provide a short overview of some results and open problems on smooth parametrization and its applications in several apparently separated domains: Smooth Dynamics, Diophantine Geometry, and Approximation Theory. The structure of the results, open problems, and conjectures in each of these domains shows in many cases a remarkable similarity, which I'll try to stress. Sometimes this similarity can be easily explained, sometimes the reasons remain somewhat obscure, and it motivates some natural questions discussed in the talk. I plan to present also some new results, connecting smooth parametrization with “Remez-type” (or “Norming”) inequalities for polynomials restricted to analytic varieties.[-]

These lectures will address the dynamics of vector fields or diffeomorphisms of compact manifolds. For the study of generic properties or for the construction of examples, it is often useful to be able to perturb a system. This generally leads to delicate problems: a local modification of the dynamics may cause a radical change in the behavior of the orbits. For the $C^1$-topology, various techniques have been developed which allow to perturb while controlling the dynamics: closing and connection of orbits, perturbation of the tangent dynamics... We derive various applications to the description of $C^1$-generic diffeomorphisms.[-]

Smooth parametrizations of semi-algebraic sets were introduced by Yomdin in order to bound the local volume growth in his proof of Shub's entropy conjecture for C∞ maps. In this minicourse we will present some refinement of Yomdin's theory which allows us to also control the distortion. We will give two new applications: - for any C∞ surface diffeomorphism f with positive entropy the saddle periodic points with Lyapunov exponents $\delta$-away from zero for $\delta \in]0,htop(f)[$ are equidistributed along measures of maximal entropy. - for C∞ maps the entropy is physically greater than or equal to the top Lyapunov exponents of the exterior powers.[-]

Smooth parametrizations of semi-algebraic sets were introduced by Yomdin in order to bound the local volume growth in his proof of Shub's entropy conjecture for C∞ maps. In this minicourse we will present some refinement of Yomdin's theory which allows us to also control the distortion. We will give two new applications: - for any C∞ surface diffeomorphism f with positive entropy the saddle periodic points with Lyapunov exponents $\delta$-away from zero for $\delta \in]0,htop(f)[$ are equidistributed along measures of maximal entropy. - for C∞ maps the entropy is physically greater than or equal to the top Lyapunov exponents of the exterior powers.[-]

Smooth parametrizations of semi-algebraic sets were introduced by Yomdin in order to bound the local volume growth in his proof of Shub's entropy conjecture for C∞ maps. In this minicourse we will present some refinement of Yomdin's theory which allows us to also control the distortion. We will give two new applications: - for any C∞ surface diffeomorphism f with positive entropy the saddle periodic points with Lyapunov exponents $\delta$-away from zero for $\delta \in]0,htop(f)[$ are equidistributed along measures of maximal entropy. - for C∞ maps the entropy is physically greater than or equal to the top Lyapunov exponents of the exterior powers.[-]