Dynamical Mordell-Lang conjecture for birational polynomial morphisms on \(\mathbb A^2\) (Q464151)

Motivated by the Mordell--Lang conjecture on (semi)abelian varieties (theorems of Faltings and Vojta) and Skolem--Mahler--Lech theorems on return sets of linear recurrences, \textit{D. Ghioca} and \textit{T.J. Tucker} [J. Number Theory 129, No. 6, 1392--1403 (2009; Zbl 1186.14047)] proposed a (rank-one) dynamical Mordell--Lang conjecture. The author proves this conjecture for birational polynomials on \(\mathbb{A}^2\). More specifically, his main theorem (Theorem A) proves the following: Theorem. Let \(K\) be an algebraically closed field of characteristic \(0\), \(f:\mathbb{A}^2\rightarrow \mathbb{A}^2\) be a birational polynomial morphism defined over \(K\), \(C\) be a curve in \(\mathbb{A}^2\) defined over \(K\), and \(P\in \mathbb{A}^2(K)\). Then the set \(\{n\in \mathbb{N}: f^n(P)\in C\}\) is a finite union of arithmetic progressions, where \(f^n\) denotes the \(n\)-th iterate of \(f\) and where an arithmetic progression can have a common difference of \(0\). The central case is when the dynamical degree \(\lambda(f) > 1\), in which case his theorem holds in any characteristic. Here, the major ingredient of the proof is the compactification of \(\mathbb{A}^2\) provided in [\textit{C. Favre} and \textit{M. Jonsson}, Ann. Math. (2) 173, No. 1, 211--249 (2011; Zbl 1244.32012)]: a smooth projective surface \(X\) to which an iterate of \(f\) extends as an algebraically stable map, such that there is a fixed point \(Q\in X\setminus \mathbb{A}^2\) satisfying \(f(X\setminus \mathbb{A}^2) = \{Q\}\). Then a sufficient condition (Theorem 1.2) for periodicity under such \(f\) shows that we may assume \(C\setminus \mathbb{A}^2 = \{Q\}\). In this case, Proposition 7.5 shows that all but bounded-height points of \(C(\bar{\mathbb{Q}})\) are in an attracting basin of \(Q\) with respect to some absolute value. The author then uses Theorem 1.1, which is a local dynamical Mordell--Lang conjecture: if \(f^n(P)\) tends to \(Q\) with respect to some absolute value, then \(C\) is fixed or \(f^n(P) = Q\) for some \(n\). This finishes the proof of Theorem A. To prove Theorems 1.1 and 1.2, the author takes advantage of birationality to extend \(f\) to normalizations of \(C\) and invokes some intersection theory, as well as analyzing how the dynamical Mordell--Lang properties are preserved inside a birational class. Note that the author has now posted a generalization to all (not necessarily birational) polynomials on \(\mathbb{A}^2\) [``The Dynamical Mordell-Lang Conjecture for polynomial endomorphisms of the affine plane'', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1503.00773}].