Maximal entropy measures of diffeomorphisms of circle fiber bundles

Abstract: We characterize the maximal entropy measures of partially hyperbolic C^2 diffeomorphisms whose center foliations form circle bundles, by means of suitable finite sets of saddle points, that we call skeletons. In the special case of 3-dimensional nilmanifolds other than the torus, this entails the following dichotomy: either the diffeomorphism is a rotation extension of an Anosov diffeomorphism -- in which case there is a unique maximal measure, with full support and zero center Lyapunov exponents -- or there exist exactly two ergodic maximal measures, both hyperbolic and whose center Lyapunov exponents have opposite signs. Moreover, the set of maximal measures varies continuously with the diffeomorphism.