The Classification of Critically Preperiodic Polynomials as Dynamical Systems (Q4024441)

The purpose of the present paper is to characterize all polynomials \(p\) with the property that all critical points are strictly preperiodic under iteration of \(p\). First, the authors study the quadratic case and explain the relation of unimodal mappings and the associated kneading sequences to external rays and the topology of filled-in Julia sets. After this motivation some definitions and basic facts are recalled before the authors state the main results. These results give a complete classification of so-called marked polynomials with strictly preperiodic critical points and a complete characterization of the topology of the associated filled-in Julia sets. The proofs base on Thurston's theorem which gives a topological characterization of rational maps and on the expanding properties of the orbifold metric. The carefully written paper includes many examples in order to motivate definitions, to explain difficult constructions and to give a better understanding of the results.