On three-dimensional Reeb flows: implied existence of periodic orbits and a dynamical characterization of the solid torus

In this work, we study the Reeb dynamics associated to a tight contact form $\\lambda$ defined on a compact, connected 3-manifold M. Suppose that the first Chern class of $\\xi=\\ker\\lambda$ vanish on $\\pi_2(M)$. In our first result, we assume that M is closed and there exists a closed Reeb orbit L which is a p-unknotted, has self-linking number $-1/p$ and the transverse rotation number of the p-th iterate of L is less than 1. Under these conditions, we verify that there exists a contractible closed Reeb orbit which is geometrically distinct from L and not linked to L with transverse rotation number 1. We also prove a version of this result when M is a compact 3-manifold M whose boundary is diffeomorphic to a torus and invariant by the flow and, moreover, there does not exist closed Reeb orbits on the boundary. Our second result is a dynamical characterization of the solid torus. We assume that $\\lambda$ is a contact form on a compact 3-manifold M whose boundary is diffeomorphic to a torus. Under the hypothesis of $\\lambda$ being non-degenerate, if the flow is tangent to $\\partial M$ and satisfies some twist conditions on the boundary, then either there exists a contractible closed Reeb orbit which has Conley-Zehnder index 2 or M is foliated by disks transverse to the Reeb flow. In this last case, we see that M is diffeomorphic to a solid torus and there exists a non-contractible closed Reeb orbit M which is a fixed point of the return map induced by the foliation. (AU)