2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/143584We study the relationship between free curves and periodic points for torus homeomorphisms in the homotopy class of the identity. By free curve we mean a homotopically nontrivial simple closed curve that is disjoint from its image. We prove that every rational point in the rotation set is realized by a periodic point provided that there is no free curve and the rotation set has empty interior. This gives a topological version of a theorem of Franks. Using this result, and inspired by a theorem of Guillou, we prove a version of the Poincaré-Birkhoff Theorem for torus homeomorphisms: in the absence of free curves, either there is a fixed point or the rotation set has nonempty interior.to appear in Ergodic Theory and Dynamical SystemsDynamical Systems37E30; 37E45text