The arboreal Galois group of a polynomial $f$ over a field $K$ encodes the action of Galois on the iterated preimages of a root point $x_0in K$, analogous to the action of Galois on the $ell$-power torsion of an abelian variety. We compute the arbore
al Galois group of the postcritically finite polynomial $f(z) = z^2 - 1$ when the field $K$ and root point $x_0$ satisfy a simple condition. We call the resulting group the arithmetic basilica group because of its relation to the basilica group associated with the complex dynamics of $f$. For $K=mathbb{Q}$, our condition holds for infinitely many choices of $x_0$.
We construct the first examples of rational functions defined over a non-archimedean field with certain dynamical properties. In particular, we find such functions whose Julia sets, in the Berkovich projective line, are connected but not contained in
a line segment. We also show how to compute the measure-theoretic and topological entropy of such maps. In particular, we show for some of our examples that the measure-theoretic entropy is strictly smaller than the topological entropy, thus answering a question of Favre and Rivera-Letelier.
Let K be a non-archimedean field, and let f in K(z) be a rational function of degree d>1. If f has potentially good reduction, we give an upper bound, depending only on d, for the minimal degree of an extension L/K such that f is conjugate over L to
a map of good reduction. In particular, if d=2 or d is greater than the residue characteristic of K, the bound is d+1. If K is discretely valued, we give examples to show that our bound is sharp.
Let $f in Q(z)$ be a polynomial or rational function of degree 2. A special case of Morton and Silvermans Dynamical Uniform Boundedness Conjecture states that the number of rational preperiodic points of $f$ is bounded above by an absolute constant.
A related conjecture of Silverman states that the canonical height $hat{h}_f(x)$ of a non-preperiodic rational point $x$ is bounded below by a uniform multiple of the height of $f$ itself. We provide support for these conjectures by computing the set of preperiodic and small height rational points for a set of degree 2 maps far beyond the range of previous searches.
Let K be a non-archimedean field, and let f in K(z) be a polynomial or rational function of degree at least 2. We present a necessary and sufficient condition, involving only the fixed points of f and their preimages, that determines whether or not t
he dynamical system f on P^1 has potentially good reduction.
A rational function of degree at least two with coefficients in an algebraically closed field is post-critically finite (PCF) if all of its critical points have finite forward orbit under iteration. We show that the collection of PCF rational functio
ns is a set of bounded height in the moduli space of rational functions over the complex numbers, once the well-understood family known as flexible Lattes maps is excluded. As a consequence, there are only finitely many conjugacy classes of non-Lattes PCF rational maps of a given degree defined over any given number field. The key ingredient of the proof is a non-archimedean version of Fatous classical result that every attracting cycle of a rational function over the complex numbers attracts a critical point.
Let $K$ be a number field, let $phi in K(t)$ be a rational map of degree at least 2, and let $alpha, beta in K$. We show that if $alpha$ is not in the forward orbit of $beta$, then there is a positive proportion of primes ${mathfrak p}$ of $K$ such t
hat $alpha mod {mathfrak p}$ is not in the forward orbit of $beta mod {mathfrak p}$. Moreover, we show that a similar result holds for several maps and several points. We also present heuristic and numerical evidence that a higher dimensional analog of this result is unlikely to be true if we replace $alpha$ by a hypersurface, such as the ramification locus of a morphism $phi : {mathbb P}^{n} to {mathbb P}^{n}$.
Complex-valued periodic sequences, u, constructed by Goran Bjorck, are analyzed with regard to the behavior of their discrete periodic narrow-band ambiguity functions A_p(u). The Bjorck sequences, which are defined on Z/pZ for p>2 prime, are unimodul
ar and have zero autocorrelation on (Z/pZ){0}. These two properties give rise to the acronym, CAZAC, to refer to constant amplitude zero autocorrelation sequences. The bound proven is |A_p(u)| leq 2/sqrt{p} + 4/p outside of (0,0), and this is of optimal magnitude given the constraint that u is a CAZAC sequence. The proof requires the full power of Weils exponential sum bound, which, in turn, is a consequence of his proof of the Riemann hypothesis for finite fields. Such bounds are not only of mathematical interest, but they have direct applications as sequences in communications and radar, as well as when the sequences are used as coefficients of phase-coded waveforms.
We prove a special case of a dynamical analogue of the classical Mordell-Lang conjecture. In particular, let $phi$ be a rational function with no superattracting periodic points other than exceptional points. If the coefficients of $phi$ are algebrai
c, we show that the orbit of a point outside the union of proper preperiodic subvarieties of $(bP^1)^g$ has only finite intersection with any curve contained in $(bP^1)^g$. We also show that our result holds for indecomposable polynomials $phi$ with coefficients in $bC$. Our proof uses results from $p$-adic dynamics together with an integrality argument. The extension to polynomials defined over $bC$ uses the method of specializations coupled with some new results of Medvedev and Scanlon for describing the periodic plane curves under the action of $(phi,phi)$ on $bA^2$.
Let f in Q[z] be a polynomial of degree d at least two. The associated canonical height hat{h}_f is a certain real-valued function on Q that returns zero precisely at preperiodic rational points of f. Morton and Silverman conjectured in 1994 that the
number of such points is bounded above by a constant depending only on d. A related conjecture claims that at non-preperiodic rational points, hat{h}_f is bounded below by a positive constant (depending only on d) times some kind of height of f itself. In this paper, we provide support for these conjectures in the case d=3 by computing the set of small height points for several billion cubic polynomials.
