An escape time Sierpiński map is a rational map drawn from the McMullen family z ↦ zⁿ + λ/zⁿ with escaping critical orbits and Julia set homeomorphic to the Sierpiński curve continuum. We address the problem of characterizing postcritically finite escape time Sierpiński maps in a combinatorial way. To accomplish this, we define a combinatorial model given by a planar tree whose vertices come with a pair of combinatorial data that encodes the dynamics of critical orbits. We show...

Following Douady-Hubbard and Bartholdi-Nekrashevych, we give an algebraic formulation of Thurston’s characterization of rational functions. The techniques developed are applied to the analysis of the dynamics on the set of free homotopy classes of simple closed curves induced by a rational function. The resulting finiteness results yield new information on the global dynamics of the pullback map on Teichmüller space used in the proof of the characterization theorem.

Laminations are classic sets of disjoint and non-self-crossing curves on surfaces. Lamination languages are languages of two-way infinite words which code laminations by using associated labeled embedded graphs, and which are subshifts. Here, we characterize the possible exact affine factor complexities of these languages through bouquets of circles, i.e. graphs made of one vertex, as representative coding graphs. We also show how to build families of laminations together with corresponding lamination...

In parameter slices of quadratic rational functions, we identify arcs represented by matings of quadratic polynomials. These arcs are on the boundaries of hyperbolic components.

We study the combinatorics of distance doubling maps on the circle ℝ/ℤ with prototypes h(β) = 2β mod 1 and h̅(β) = -2β mod 1, representing the orientation preserving and orientation reversing case, respectively. In particular, we identify parts of the circle where the iterates $f^{\circ n}$ of a distance doubling map f exhibit “distance doubling behavior”. The results include well known statements for h related to the structure of the Mandelbrot set M. For h̅ they suggest some analogies to the structure of...

A (quadratic) Hubbard tree is an invariant tree connecting the critical orbit within the Julia set of a postcritically finite (quadratic) polynomial. It is easy to read off the kneading sequences from a quadratic Hubbard tree; the result in this paper handles the converse direction. Not every sequence on two symbols is realized as the kneading sequence of a real or complex quadratic polynomial. Milnor and Thurston classified all real-admissible sequences, and we give a classification of all complex-admissible...

We consider the family of transcendental entire maps given by $f_a\left(z\right)=a(z-(1-a))exp(z+a)$ where a is a complex parameter. Every map has a superattracting fixed point at z = -a and an asymptotic value at z = 0. For a > 1 the Julia set of $f_a$ is known to be homeomorphic to the Sierpiński universal curve, thus containing embedded copies of any one-dimensional plane continuum. In this paper we study subcontinua of the Julia set that can be defined in a combinatorial manner. In particular, we show the existence of non-landing...

Rees-Shishikura’s theorem plays an important role in the study of matings of polynomials. It promotes Thurston’s combinatorial equivalence into a semi-conjugacy. In this work we restate and reprove Rees-Shishikura’s theorem in a more general form, which can then be applied to a wider class of postcritically finite branched coverings. We provide an application of the restated theorem.

We use Beurling estimates and Zdunik's theorem to prove that the support of a lamination of the circle corresponding to a connected polynomial Julia set has zero length, unless f is conjugate to a Chebyshev polynomial. Equivalently, except for the Chebyshev case, the biaccessible points in the connected polynomial Julia set have zero harmonic measure.

We show that repelling periodic points are landing points of periodic rays for exponential maps whose singular value has bounded orbit. For polynomials with connected Julia sets, this is a celebrated theorem by Douady, for which we present a new proof. In both cases we also show that points in hyperbolic sets are accessible by at least one and at most finitely many rays. For exponentials this allows us to conclude that the singular value itself is accessible.

In the class of self-affine sets on ℝⁿ we study a subclass for which the geometry is rather tractable. A type is a standardized position of two intersecting pieces. For a self-affine tiling, this can be identified with an edge or vertex type. We assume that the number of types is finite. We study the topology of such fractals and their boundary sets, and we show how new finite type fractals can be constructed. For finite type self-affine tiles in the plane we give an algorithm which decides whether...

The topology and combinatorial structure of the Mandelbrot set ${ℳ}^d$ (of degree d ≥ 2) can be studied using symbolic dynamics. Each parameter is mapped to a kneading sequence, or equivalently, an internal address; but not every such sequence is realized by a parameter in ${ℳ}^d$. Thus the abstract Mandelbrot set is a subspace of a larger, partially ordered symbol space, ${\Lambda }^d$. In this paper we find an algorithm to construct “visible trees” from symbolic sequences which works whether or not the sequence is realized....

It is well-known that the set of buried points of a Julia set of a rational function (also called the residual Julia set) is topologically “fat” in the sense that it is a dense $G_{\delta }$ if it is non-empty. We show that it is, in many cases, a full-measure subset of the Julia set with respect to conformal measure and the measure of maximal entropy. We also address Hausdorff dimension of buried points in the same cases, and discuss connectivity and topological dimension of the set of buried points. Finally,...

Little is known about the global topology of the Fatou set U(f) for holomorphic endomorphisms $f:ℂ{\mathbb{P}}^k\to ℂ{\mathbb{P}}^k$, when k >1. Classical theory describes U(f) as the complement in $ℂ{\mathbb{P}}^k$ of the support of a dynamically defined closed positive (1,1) current. Given any closed positive (1,1) current S on $ℂ{\mathbb{P}}^k$, we give a definition of linking number between closed loops in $ℂ{\mathbb{P}}^k\setminus suppS$ and the current S. It has the property that if lk(γ,S) ≠ 0, then γ represents a non-trivial homology element in $H₁\left(ℂ{\mathbb{P}}^k\setminus suppS\right)$. As an application, we use these linking...

In this paper we study branched coverings of metrized, simplicial trees $F:T\to T$ which arise from polynomial maps $f:ℂ\to ℂ$ with disconnected Julia sets. We show that the collection of all such trees, up to scale, forms a contractible space $\mathbb{P}{T}_D$ compactifying the moduli space of polynomials of degree $D$; that $F$ records the asymptotic behavior of the multipliers of $f$; and that any meromorphic family of polynomials over ${\Delta }^{*}$ can be completed by a unique tree at its central fiber. In the cubic case we give a combinatorial...

We discuss the tree structures of the sublimbs of the Mandelbrot set M, using internal addresses of hyperbolic components. We find a counterexample to a conjecture by Eike Lau and Dierk Schleicher concerning topological equivalence between different trees of visible components, and give a new proof to a theorem of theirs concerning the periods of hyperbolic components in various trees.