The classical Poincare-Bendixson index theorem expresses an index
of a stationary point of a planar vector field (i.e. a continuous
dynamical system), by the number of elliptic and hyperbolic regions.
During the last decade a counterpart of Poincare-Bendixson index theorem
has been proved for planar discrete dynamical systems generated by
homeomorphisms (Le Calvez and Yoccoz; Franks, Ruiz del Portal and
Salazar). In this talk we discuss these results and sketch a
generalization, obtained by the use of Conley index methods, for
discrete semi-dynamical systems. |