Zhang's conjecture and squares of abelian surfaces (Q974003)

Let \(\varphi\) be an endomorphism of a projective variety \(X\) over a number field. Assume that \(\varphi\) has a polarization, i.e., there exists an ample divisor \(D\) such that \(\varphi*\) is linearly equivalent to \(dD\) for some \(d>1\). A subvariety \(Y\) of \(X\) is called preperiodic under \(\varphi\) if there exist integers \(m \geq 0, k>0\) such that \(\varphi^{m+k} (Y) = \varphi^m (Y)\). Let \(\text{Prep}_{\varphi}(X)\) be the set of preperiodic points in \(X\). \textit{S.-W. Zhang} [``Distributions in algebraic dynamics'', Surv. Differ. Geom. 10, 381--430 (2006; Zbl 1207.37057)] conjectured that \(Y\) is preperiodic in \(X\) if and only if \(Y \cap \text{Prep}_{\varphi}(X)\) is Zariski-dense in \(Y\). Ghioca and Tucker found counterexamples among squares of elliptic curves (unpublished). In this paper the author gives counterexamples among squares of abelian surfaces.