Preperiodic points for families of polynomials (Q365885): Difference between revisions

At a 2008 workshop, \textit{U. Zannier} asked the following question: Given \(a, b\in\mathbb{C}\), are there are only finitely many values \(\lambda\in \mathbb{C}\) such that both \(a\) and \(b\) have finite forward orbit under the polynomial \(f(z)=z^d+\lambda\)? The question was motivated by a result of \textit{D. Masser} and himself [Am. J. Math. 132, No. 6, 1677--1691 (2010; Zbl 1225.11078)], that the set of complex numbers \(\lambda\) such that points with \(x\)-coordinate \(2\) and \(3\) on the elliptic curve \(y^2=x(x-1)(x-\lambda)\) are simultaneously torsion is finite, and falls into the general category of ``unlikely intersection'' problems. \textit{M. Baker} and \textit{L. DeMarco} [Duke Math. J. 159, No. 1, 1--29 (2011; Zbl 1242.37062)] gave an affirmative answer to Zannier's question (under the necessary condition \(a^d\neq b^d\)), and the paper under review generalizes their result. Specifically, the authors prove that for any fixed \(f(z)\in \mathbb{C}[z]\) of degree at least 2, and any fixed \(a, b\in \mathbb{C}\), there are infinitely many \(\lambda\in \mathbb{C}\) such that \(a\) and \(b\) both have finite forward orbit under \(f(z)+\lambda\) if and only if \(f(a)=f(b)\). This result and others are consequences of a more technical result. Let \[ f_\lambda(z)=P(z)+\sum_{i=1}^r Q_i(z)\lambda^i, \] where \(P(z)\), \(Q_i(z)\in \mathbb{C}[z]\), \(P(z)=z^d+a_{d-2}z^{d-2}+\cdots\), and \(\deg(Q_i)\leq d-2\). Furthermore, let \(a(\lambda), b(\lambda)\in \mathbb{C}[\lambda]\), and suppose that there exist non-negative integers \(k\) and \(\ell\) such that {\parindent=6mm \begin{itemize} \item[(1)] \(f^k_\lambda(a(\lambda))\) and \(f^\ell_\lambda(b(\lambda))\) have the same degree and same leading coefficient (as polynomials in \(\lambda\)), and \item [(2)] \(\deg(f^k_\lambda(a(\lambda)))\deg(f^\ell_\lambda(b(\lambda)))\geq r\). \end{itemize}} The authors show that there exist infinitely many \(\lambda\in \mathbb{C}\) such that \(a(\lambda)\) and \(b(\lambda)\) both have a finite forward orbit under \(f_\lambda(z)\) if and only if \(f^k_\lambda(a(\lambda))=f^\ell_\lambda(b(\lambda))\).