Limits of degenerate parabolic quadratic rational maps (Q352110)

This paper concerns the moduli space of quadratic rational maps. This space is known to be isomorphic to \({\mathbb C}^2\). The authors consider slices of the parameter space where the maps have a fixed point with a given multiplier which is a \(q\)-th root of unity. They then study the limits of these spaces as this multiplier tends (under certain restrictions) to \(1\). Though some of the arguments are quite technical, it is well-written and the final results are certainly very interesting. A rational function \(g\) which maps the Riemann sphere \(\widehat{\mathbb{C}}\) to itself is said to be parabolic if it has a fixed point with multiplier \(\omega_{p/q} = e^{2 \pi i p /q}\). Around such a fixed point, the map has \(\nu q\) attracting and repelling petals: here the positive integer \(\nu\) is a formal invariant called the parabolic degeneracy of the fixed point. The point is called degenerate if \(\nu > 1\). The local dynamics of such points are well understood: \(p/q\), \(\nu\) and \(\text{résit}(g)\) (the résidu itératif) form a complete set of formal invariants. To fix ideas, the authors consider the normal form \[ g_{\rho,a}(z) = \frac{\rho z}{1 + az + z^2}, \] for which \(g_{\rho,a}\) has a fixed point of multiplier \(\rho\) at \(0\). For a fixed \(p/q\), one may then define \(\mathcal{A}_{p/q}\) to the be the set of \(a \in \mathbb{C}\) for which \(g_{p/q,a}\) has a degenerate parabolic point at \(0\) (and so \(\mathcal{A}_{0/1} = \{0\}\)). The authors then analyse these sets \(\mathcal{A}_{p/q}\) and their limits as \(p/q \to 0\). The first main result of the paper states that if \(q \geq 2\), then the cardinality of \(\mathcal{A}_{p/q}\) is \(q-2\). Furthermore the résidu itératif at \(0\) for the map \(g_{\omega_{p/q},a}\) defines a rational function \(\mathcal{R}_{p/q}\). The authors show that if \(q \geq 2\) then this rational map has degree \(2q-2\). Moreover, all poles are double. The poles are precisely the points of \(\mathcal{A}_{p/q}\) and \(\infty\). The paper then considers the limiting behaviours of the functions \(\mathcal{R}_{p/q}\) and the set \(\mathcal{A}_{p/q}\) as \(p/q \to 0\). Fixing a rational number \(r/s\), the authors define two sequences \(p_k = s\) and \(q_k = ks+r\) so that \[ \frac{p_k}{q_k} = \frac{1}{k + r/s}. \] They then show that the sequences so that the sequence \(\mathcal{A}_{p_k/q_k}\) is uniformly bounded and has a limit in the Hausdorff topology. This limit set consists of \(0\) and the set \(\mathfrak{A}_{r/s}\) which is infinite and discrete in \(\mathbb{C}-\{0\}\). Furthermore, it is shown that the sequence of functions \[ \left( \frac{p_k}{q_k} \right)^2 \mathcal{R}_{p/q} \] converges uniformly on compact subsets of \(\mathbb{C} - \overline{\mathfrak{A}}_{r/s}\). The important fact about this final result is that the Hausdorff limit of the \(\mathcal{A}_{p_k/q_k}\) obtained above is not equal to \(\mathcal{A}_{0/1} = \{0\}\). The interested reader is encouraged to look at Figure \(6\) in the paper to appreciate the extra ``decorations'' that arise from this limiting process. This interesting result shows that the geography of the moduli space of quadratic rational maps is very intricate near degenerate parabolic points. Overall, this paper would be of great interest to anyone interested in parameter spaces of rational maps.