On the non-monotonicity of entropy for a class of real quadratic rational maps (Q2023720)

The monotonicity of the entropy, as conjectured by \textit{J. Milnor} [Exp. Math. 2, No. 1, 37--83 (1993; Zbl 0922.58062); Exp. Math. 9, No. 4, 481--522 (2000; Zbl 0972.30013)] for families of polynomial interval maps whose critical points are real, has been verified in many cases (see the references in the paper). For rational maps, a notion of entropy function was also given by the first author of this paper [Real entropy rigidity under quasi-conformal deformations, Preprint, \url{arXiv:1803.04082}]. The monotonicity of the entropy for real quadratic rational maps was also confirmed there in some cases. This paper shows, on the contrary, that the entropy is not monotonic in general in the moduli space of real quadratic rational maps, by showing that there is a number \(h\in (0,\log 2)\) such that the level set of any entropy value in \((h, \log 2)\) is disconnected (see Theorem 1.1).