We prove that for a large and important class of C¹ twist maps of the torus periodic and quasi-periodic orbits of a new type exist, provided that there are no rotational invariant circles (R.I.C's). These orbits have a non-zero "vertical rotation number'' (V.R.N.), in contrast to what happens to Birkhoff periodic orbits and Aubry-Mather sets. The V.R.N. is rational for a periodic orbit and irrational for a quasi-periodic. We also prove that the existence of an orbit with a V.R.N = a > 0, implies the existence of orbits with V.R.N = b, for all 0 < b < a. And as a consequence of the previous results we get that a twist map of the torus with no R.I.C's has positive topological entropy, which is a very classical result. In the end of the paper we present some applications and examples, like the Standard map, such that our results apply.
twist maps; rotational invariant circles; topological methods; vertical rotation number; Nielsen-Thurston theory
