Given d ≥ 2 consider the family of polynomials $P_c\left(z\right)=z^d+c$ for c ∈ ℂ. Denote by $J_c$ the Julia set of $P_c$ and let ${ℳ}_d=c|J_{c}isconnected$ be the connectedness locus; for d = 2 it is called the Mandelbrot set. We study semihyperbolic parameters $c₀\in \partial {ℳ}_d$: those for which the critical point 0 is not recurrent by $P_{c₀}$ and without parabolic cycles. The Hausdorff dimension of $J_c$, denoted by $HD\left(J_c\right)$, does not depend continuously on c at such $c₀\in \partial {ℳ}_d$; on the other hand the function $c\mapsto HD\left(J_c\right)$ is analytic in $ℂ-{ℳ}_d$. Our first result asserts that there is still some continuity...

Consider the domain $Z_{ϵ}=\{x\in {ℝ}^n;dist(x,ϵ{\mathbb{Z}}^n)>{ϵ}^{\gamma }\}$ and let the free path length be defined as ${\tau }_{ϵ}(x,v)=inf\{t>0;x-tv\in Z_{ϵ}\}.$ In the Boltzmann-Grad scaling corresponding to $\gamma =\frac{n}{n-1}$, it is shown that the limiting distribution ${\phi }_{ϵ}$ of ${\tau }_{ϵ}$ is bounded from below by an expression of the form C/t, for some C> 0. A numerical study seems to indicate that asymptotically for large t, ${\phi }_{ϵ}\sim C/t$. This is an extension of a previous work [J. Bourgain et al., Comm. Math. Phys.190 (1998) 491-508]. As a consequence, it is proved that the linear Boltzmann type transport equation is inappropriate...

Consider the region obtained by removing from ${ℝ}^2$ the discs of radius $\epsilon$, centered at the points of integer coordinates $(a,b)$ with $b\not\equiv a(mod\ell )$. We are interested in the distribution of the free path length (exit time) ${\tau }_{\ell ,\epsilon }\left(\omega \right)$ of a point particle, moving from $(0,0)$ along a linear trajectory of direction $\omega$, as $\epsilon \to 0^{+}$. For every integer number $\ell \ge 2$, we prove the weak convergence of the probability measures associated with the random variables $\epsilon {\tau }_{\ell ,\epsilon }$, explicitly computing the limiting distribution. For $\ell =3$, respectively $\ell =2$, this result leads...

A planar polygonal billiard $𝒫$ is said to have the finite blocking property if for every pair $(O,A)$ of points in $𝒫$ there exists a finite number of “blocking” points $B_1,\cdots ,B_n$ such that every billiard trajectory from $O$ to $A$ meets one of the $B_i$’s. Generalizing our construction of a counter-example to a theorem of Hiemer and Snurnikov, we show that the only regular polygons that have the finite blocking property are the square, the equilateral triangle and the hexagon. Then we extend this result to translation surfaces....

We give an alternative proof of the stable manifold theorem as an application of the (right and left) inverse mapping theorem on a space of sequences. We investigate the diffeomorphism class of the global stable manifold, a problem which in the general Banach setting gives rise to subtle questions about the possibility of extending germs of diffeomorphisms.

We study non-invertible piecewise hyperbolic maps in the plane. The Hausdorff dimension of the attractor is calculated in terms of the Lyapunov exponents, provided that the map satisfies a transversality condition. Explicit examples of maps for which this condition holds are given.

e prove that the hyperbolic Hausdorff dimension of Fr Ω, the boundary of the simply connected immediate basin of attraction Ω to an attracting periodic point of a rational mapping of the Riemann sphere, which is not a finite Blaschke product in some holomorphic coordinates, or a 2:1 factor of a Blaschke product, is larger than 1. We prove a "local version" of this theorem, for a boundary repelling to the side of the domain. The results extend an analogous fact for polynomials...