Speiser class Julia sets with dimension near one (Q1996437)

For an entire function \(f\), the Fatou set \(F(f)\) is the union of all open disks on which the iterates \(f, f^2, f^3, \dots\) form a normal family and the Julia set \(\mathcal{J}(f)\) is the complement of this set. \textit{G. M. Stallard} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 122, No. 2, 223--244 (1997; Zbl 0885.30021); Ergodic Theory Dyn. Syst. 20, No. 3, 895--910 (2000; Zbl 0964.37027); J. Lond. Math. Soc., II. Ser. 61, No. 2, 471--488 (2000; Zbl 0998.30025)] proved that the dimension of \(\mathcal{J}(f)\) must be strictly larger than 1 whenever \(f\) has a bounded singular set, but no examples with finite singular set and dimension strictly less than 2 were previously known. By \(S(f)\) is denoted the singular set of an entire function \(f\), i.e., the closure of its critical values and finite asymptotic values (limits of \(f\) along a curve to \(\infty\)). The Eremenko-Lyubich class \(\mathcal{B}\) consists of functions such that \(S(f)\) is a bounded set. The Speiser class \(\mathcal{S}\subset\mathcal{B}\) consists of those functions for which \(S(f)\) is a finite set. Stallard's examples with \(1<\dim(\mathcal{J})<2\) are in the Eremenko-Lyubich class, and in this paper it is shown that such examples also exist in the Speiser class. For any \(\delta>0\) an entire function \(f\) with three singular values whose Julia set has Hausdorff dimension at most \(1+\delta\) is constructed.