On the Fibonacci-Mandelbrot set (Q475585)

Let \(\mathbb{D}:=\{z\in\mathbb{C}\, ; |z|<1\}\). In [Physica D 15, 421--432 (1985; Zbl 0582.58023)] \textit{M. E. Barnsley} and \textit{A. N. Harrington} studied the attractor \(A_\beta\) of the iterated function system (IFS) generated by \(h_0(z)=\beta z\) and \(h_1(z)=\beta z+1\) when \(\beta\in\mathbb{D}\). They studied the properties of the ``Mandelbrot set for pairs of linear maps'', i.e., the set of parameters \(\beta\) for which \(A_\beta\) is connected. In the paper under review, the authors study a variant of this connectedness locus: they instead study the connectivity of the attractor \(\mathfrak{R}(\beta)\) of the IFS generated by \(f_0(z)=\beta z\) and \(f_1(z)=\beta^2z+1\), again for \(\beta\in\mathbb{D}\). The paper is concerned with properties of the \textit{Fibonacci-Mandelbrot} set \(\mathcal{M}:=\{\beta\in\mathbb{D}\) / \(\mathfrak{R}(\beta)\) is connected\(\}.\) The main result of the paper states that the set \(\mathcal{M}\) is a connected and locally connected compact subset of \(\mathbb{D}\) (Theorem 5.1). To prove this result, the authors first describe the attractor \(\mathfrak{R}(\beta)\) of the IFS generated by \(\{f_0,f_1\}\) as the Rauzy fractal associated with an automaton (though they name it the Julia set by analogy to the complex case) and also the set \(\mathcal{M}\) in terms of the difference language of the language generated by the Fibonacci automaton. After giving basic properties of the Fibonacci-Mandelbrot set and giving the proof of their main result, they focus on describing the properties of the attractor \(\mathfrak{R}(\beta)\) for specific parameters from their family. Finally, they mention open questions.