Joint IAS/Princeton University Symplectic Geometry Seminar

In 2000 Eliashberg-Polterovich introduced the concept of positivity in contact geometry. The notion of a positive loop of contactomorphisms is central. A question of Eliashberg-Polterovich is whether $C^0$-small positive loops exist. We give a negative answer to this question. Moreover we give sharp lower bounds for the size which, in turn, gives rise to a $L^\infty$-contact systolic inequality. This should be contrasted with a recent result by Abbondandolo et. al. that on the standard contact 3-sphere no $L^2$-contact systolic inequality exists. The choice of $L^2$ is motivated by systolic inequalities in Riemannian geometry. This is joint work with U. Fuchs and W. Merry.