We describe and implement an algorithm to find all post-critically finite (PCF) cubic polynomials defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, up to conjugacy over $\text{PGL}_2(\bar{\mathbb{Q}})$. We describe normal forms that classify equivalence classes of cubic polynomials while respecting the field of definition. Applying known bounds on the coefficients of post-critically bounded polynomials to these normal forms simultaneously at all places of $\mathbb{Q}$, we create a finite search space of cubic polynomials over $\mathbb{Q}$ that may be PCF. Using a computer search of these possibly PCF cubic polynomials, we find fifteen which are in fact PCF.
The second author proved that the set of post-critically finite polynomials of given degree is a set of bounded height, up to change of variables. Motivated by an observation about unicritical polynomials, we complement this by proving that the set of monic polynomials g(z) of given degree with the property that there exists a d > 1 such that g(z^d) is post-critically finite, is also a set of bounded height. Moreover, we establish a lower bound on the critical height of g(z^d).
We describe all special curves in the parameter space of complex cubic polynomials, that is all algebraic irreducible curves containing infinitely many post-critically finite polynomials. This solves in a strong form a conjecture by Baker and DeMarco for cubic polynomials. We also prove that an irreducible component of the algebraic curve consisting of those cubic polynomials that admit an orbit of any given period and given multiplier is special if and only if the multiplier is 0.
In this paper, we classify, up to three possible exceptions, all monic, post-critically finite quadratic polynomials $f(x)\in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ with an iterate reducible module every prime, but all of whose iterates are irreducible over $\mathbb{Q}$. In particular, we obtain infinitely many new examples of the phenomenon studied in \cite{Jones}. While doing this, we also find, up to three possible exceptions, all integers $a$ such that all iterates of the quadratic polynomial $(x+a)^2-a-1$ are irreducible over $\mathbb{Q}$, which answers a question posed in \cite{AyadMcdonald}, except for three v…
In this paper, we study the critical orbit of a post-critically finite polynomial of the form $f_{c,d}(x) = x^d+c \in \mathbb{C}[x]$. We discover that in many cases the orbit elements satisfy some strong arithmetic properties. It is well known that the $c$ values for which $f_{c,d}$ has tail size $m\geq 1$ and period $n$ are the roots of a polynomial $G_d(m,n) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$, and the irreducibility or not of $G_d(m,n)$ has been a great mystery. As a consequence of our work, for any prime $d$, we establish the irreducibility of these $G_d(m,n)$ polynomials for infinitely many pairs $(m,n)$.…
In the moduli space of degree d polynomials, the special subvarieties are those cut out by critical orbit relations, and then the special points are the post-critically finite polynomials. It was conjectured that in the moduli space of degree d polynomials, the subvarieties containing a Zariski-dense set of special points are exactly these special subvarieties. In this article, we prove the first non-trivial case for this conjecture: the case of cubic polynomials.
We give a complete description of the arboreal Galois representation of a certain postcritically finite cubic polynomial over a large class of number fields and for a large class of basepoints. This is the first such example that is not conjugate to a power map, Chebyshev polynomial, or Lattès map. The associated Galois action on an infinite ternary rooted tree has Hausdorff dimension bounded strictly between that of the infinite wreath product of cyclic groups and that of the infinite wreath product of symmetric groups. We deduce a zero-density result for prime divisors in an orbit under this…
Given a finite endomorphism $φ$ of a variety $X$ defined over the field of fractions $K$ of a Dedekind domain, we study the extension $K(φ^{-\infty}(α)) : = \bigcup_{n \geq 1} K(φ^{-n}(α))$ generated by the preimages of $α$ under all iterates of $φ$. In particular when $φ$ is post-critically finite, i.e., there exists a non-empty, Zariski-open $W \subseteq X$ such that $φ^{-1}(W) \subseteq W$ and $φ: W \to X$ is étale, we prove that $K(φ^{-\infty}(α))$ is ramified over only finitely many primes of $K$. This provides a large supply of infinite extensions with restricted ramification, and genera…
Let $f$ be a polynomial over a global field $K$. For each $α$ in $K$ and $N$ in $\mathbb{Z}_{\geq 0}$ denote by $K_N(f,α)$ the arboreal field $K(f^{-N}(α))$ and by $D_N(f,α)$ its degree over $K$. It is conjectured that $D_N(f,α)$ should grow as a double exponential function of $N$, unless $f$ is post-critically finite (PCF), in which case there are examples like $D_N(x^2,α) \leq 4^{N}$. There is evidence conditionally on Vojta's conjecture. However, before the present work, no unconditional non-trivial lower bound was known for post-critically infinite $f$. In the case $f$ is PCF, no non-trivi…
We establish the equidistribution with respect to the bifurcation measure of post-critically finite maps in any one-dimensional algebraic family of unicritical polynomials. Using this equidistribution result, together with a combinatorial analysis of certain algebraic correspondences on the complement of the Mandelbrot set $M_2$ (or generalized Mandelbrot set $M_d$ for degree $d>2$), we classify all complex plane curves $C$ with Zariski-dense subsets of points $(a,b)\in C$, such that both $z^d+a$ and $z^d+b$ are simultaneously post-critically finite for a fixed degree $d\geq 2$. Our result is …
We study and partially classify cubic rational expressions $g(x)/h(x)$ over a finite field $\mathbb{F}_q$, up to pre- and post-composition with independent Möbius transformations. In particular, we obtain a full classification when $q$ is even, and prove an upper bound of $4q$ for the number of equivalence classes when $q$ is odd.
In this paper, we prove several results on finitely generated dynamical Galois groups attached to quadratic polynomials. First we show that, over global fields, quadratic post-critically finite polynomials are precisely those having an arboreal representation whose image is topologically finitely generated. To obtain this result, we also prove the quadratic case of Hindes' conjecture on dynamical non-isotriviality. Next, we give two applications of this result. On the one hand, we prove that quadratic polynomials over global fields with abelian dynamical Galois group are necessarily post-criti…
We classify all post-critically finite unicritical polynomials defined over the maximal totally real algebraic extension of ${\mathbb Q}$. Two auxiliary results used in the proof of this result may be of some independent interest. The first is a recursion formula for the $n$-diameter of an interval, which uses properties of Jacobi polynomials. The second is a numerical criterion which allows one to the give a bound on the degree of any algebraic integer having all of its complex embeddings in a real interval of length less than $4$.
We examine affine correspondences of the form g(y)=f(x), for f and g polynomials satisfying deg(g) < deg(f), with the property that every critical point of the correspondence admits at least one finite forward orbit. In the case g(y)=y, this reduces to the study of post-critically finite polynomials, and our main result extends earlier finiteness results of the author. Specifically, we show that the collection of such correspondences of a given bidegree coincides with a subset of the parameter space of bounded Weil height. We also show that there are no non-trivial holomorphic families of corr…
For any $n\geq 1$, let $T_n$ be the complete binary rooted tree of height $n$, and $f(x)=(x+a)^2-a-1$ such that $a\neq \pm b^2$ for any $b\in \mathbb{Z}$. In \cite{Settled}, Jones and Boston empirically observed that iteratively applying a certain Markov process on the factorization types of $f$ gives rise to certain permutation groups $M_n(f)\leq \text{Aut}(T_n)$ for $n\leq 5$. We prove a refined version of this phenomenon for all $n$, and for all the irreducible post-critically finite quadratic polynomials with integer coefficients, except for certain conjugates of $x^2-2$. We do this by con…
