Singular orbits and Baker domains (Q2122070)

An invariant component of the Fatou set of a rational function is an attracting or parabolic basin, or a rotation domain. These domains are closely connected to the critical values of the function. In fact, an attracting or parabolic basin contains a critical value, while the boundary of a rotation domain is contained in the closure of the forward orbits of the critical values. These relations remain valid for transcendental meromorphic functions, if instead of the set of critical values one considers the set of singularities of the inverse, which consists of the critical and asymptotic values. However, for transcendental meromorphic there is a further type of invariant component of the Fatou set, namely the Baker domain, where the iterates tend to the essential singularity at \(\infty\). It was asked by the reviewer [\textit{W. Bergweiler}, Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 29, No. 2, 151--188 (1993; Zbl 0791.30018)] whether a transcendental meromorphic function can have a Baker domain if the orbit of every singularity of the inverse is bounded. The main result of the present paper is an affirmative answer to this question. The author constructs a transcendental meromorphic function with a Baker domain which has no asymptotic values and for which every critical point is a periodic point of period \(2\). The construction also answers a question by \textit{H. Mihaljević-Brandt} and \textit{L. Rempe-Gillen} [Math. Ann. 357, No. 4, 1577--1604 (2013; Zbl 1291.37064)]. The main method used in the construction is quasiconformal surgery.