arXiv subjects

Rafe Jones

Publications and source records attributed to Rafe Jones.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

An iterative construction of irreducible polynomials reducible modulo every prime

We give a method of constructing polynomials of arbitrarily large degree irreducible over a global field F but reducible modulo every prime of F. The method consists of finding quadratic f in F[x] whose iterates have the desired property, and it depends on new criteria ensuring all iterates of f are irreducible. In particular when F is a number field in which the ideal (2) is not a square, we construct infinitely many families of quadratic f such that every iterate f^n is irreducible over F, but f^n is reducible modulo all primes of F for n at least 2. We also give an example for each n of a quadratic f with integer coefficients whose iterates are all irreducible over the rationals, whose (n-1)st iterate is irreducible modulo some primes, and whose nth iterate is reducible modulo all primes. From the perspective of Galois theory, this suggests that a well-known rigidity phenomenon for linear Galois representations does not exist for Galois representations obtained by polynomial iteration. Finally, we study the number of primes P for which a given quadratic f defined over a global field has f^n irreducible modulo P for all n.

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arXiv2012

Fixed-point-free elements of iterated monodromy groups

The iterated monodromy group of a post-critically finite complex polynomial of degree d \geq 2 acts naturally on the complete d-ary rooted tree T of preimages of a generic point. This group, as well as its pro-finite completion, act on the boundary of T, which is given by extending the branches to their "ends" at infinity. We show that for nearly all polynomials, elements that have fixed points on the boundary are rare, in that they belong to a set of Haar measure zero. The exceptions are those polynomials linearly conjugate to multiples of Chebyshev polynomials and a case that remains unresolved, where the polynomial has a non-critical fixed point with many critical pre-images. The proof involves a study of the finite automaton giving the action of generators of the iterated monodromy group, and an application of a martingale convergence theorem. Our result is motivated in part by applications to arithmetic dynamics, where iterated monodromy groups furnish the "geometric part" of certain Galois extensions encoding information about densities of dynamically interesting sets of prime ideals.

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arXiv2012

Galois theory of quadratic rational functions

For a number field K with absolute Galois group G_K, we consider the action of G_K on the infinite tree of preimages of a point in K under a degree-two rational function phi, with particular attention to the case when phi commutes with a non-trivial Mobius transfomation. In a sense this is a dynamical systems analogue to the l-adic Galois representation attached to an elliptic curve, with particular attention to the CM case. Using a result about the discriminants of numerators of iterates of phi, we give a criterion for the image of the action to be as large as possible. This criterion is in terms of the arithmetic of the forward orbits of the two critical points of phi. In the case where phi commutes with a non-trivial Mobius transfomation, there is in effect only one critical orbit, and we give a modified version of our maximality criterion. We prove a Serre-type finite-index result in many cases of this latter setting.

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arXiv2010

Blocks of monodromy groups in Complex Dynamics

Motivated by a problem in complex dynamics, we examine the block structure of the natural action of monodromy groups on the tree of preimages of a generic point. We show that in many cases, including when the polynomial has prime power degree, there are no large blocks other than those arising naturally from the tree structure. However, using a method of construction based on real graphs of polynomials, we exhibit a non-trivial example of a degree 6 polynomial failing to have this property. This example settles a problem raised in a recent paper of the second author regarding constant weighted sums of polynomials in the complex plane. We also show that degree 6 is exceptional in another regard, as it is the lowest degree for which the monodromy group of a polynomial is not determined by the combinatorics of the post-critical set. These results give new applications of iterated monodromy groups to complex dynamics.

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arXiv2009

Galois theory of iterated endomorphisms

Given an abelian algebraic group $A$ over a global field $F$, $α\in A(F)$, and a prime $\ell$, the set of all preimages of $α$ under some iterate of $[\ell]$ generates an extension of $F$ that contains all $\ell$-power torsion points as well as a Kummer-type extension. We analyze the Galois group of this extension, and for several classes of $A$ we give a simple characterization of when the Galois group is as large as possible up to constraints imposed by the endomorphism ring or the Weil pairing. This Galois group encodes information about the density of primes $\p$ in the ring of integers of $F$ such that the order of $(α\bmod{\p})$ is prime to $\ell$. We compute this density in the general case for several classes of $A$, including elliptic curves and one-dimensional tori. For example, if $F$ is a number field, $A/F$ is an elliptic curve with surjective 2-adic representation and $α\in A(F)$ with $α\not\in 2A(F(A[4]))$, then the density of $\mathfrak{p}$ with ($α\bmod{\p}$) having odd order is 11/21.

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arXiv2008

Uniform Bounds on Pre-Images under Quadratic Dynamical Systems

For any elements b,c of a number field K, let G(b,c) denote the backwards orbit of b under the map f_c: C-->C given by f_c(x)=x^2+c. We prove an upper bound on the number of elements of G(b,c) whose degree over K is at most some constant B. This bound depends only on b, [K:Q], and B, and is valid for all b outside an explicit finite set. We also show that, for any N>3 and any b in K outside a finite set, there are only finitely many pairs of complex numbers (y,c) for which [K(y,c):K]<2^(N-3) and the value of the N-th iterate of f_c(x) at x=y is b. Moreover, the bound 2^(N-3) in this result is optimal.

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arXiv2006

The density of prime divisors in the arithmetic dynamics of quadratic polynomials

We consider integer recurrences of the form a_n = f(a_{n-1}), where f is a quadratic polynomial with integer coefficients. We show, for four infinite families of f, that the set of primes dividing at least one term of such a sequence must have density zero, regardless of choice of a_0. The proof relies on tools from group theory and probability theory to develop a zero-density criterion in terms of arithmetic properties of the forward orbit of the critical point of f. This provides an analogy to results in real and complex dynamics, where analytic properties of the forward orbit of the critical point determine many global dynamical properties of f. The article also includes apparently new work on the irreducibility of iterates of quadratic polynomials.

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