Lyapunov functions : a weak KAM approach
This thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part, we give a new description of chain-recurrence using an ultrametric barrier. This barrier allows to endow the space of chain-transitive components with an ultrametric structure, explaining its topology and leading to the famous result of Charles Conley about Lyapunov function decreasing along non chain-recurrent orbits. Most of the results, first given in the setting of a continuous map on a compact metric space are then generalised to multivalued map on arbitrary separable metric spaces. In the second part, we develop an Aubry-Mather theory for a homeomorphism on a compact metric space. In this setting, we introduce metric and topological Aubry set and Mañé set, allowing a better understanding of Lyapunov functions arising in such a dynamical system. In the last part, we prove a general density result for some counterexamples of Sard's theorem for which the set of critical points is a topological arc and we give applications to dynamics.