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Thomas J. Tucker

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas J. Tucker.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2014

Wreath products and proportions of periodic points

Let $φ: {\mathbb P}^1 \longrightarrow {\mathbb P}^1$ be a rational map of degree greater than one defined over a number field $k$. For each prime ${\mathfrak p}$ of good reduction for $φ$, we let $φ_{\mathfrak p}$ denote the reduction of $φ$ modulo ${\mathfrak p}$. A random map heuristic suggests that for large ${\mathfrak p}$, the proportion of periodic points of $φ_{\mathfrak p}$ in ${\mathbb P}^1({\mathfrak o}_k/{\mathfrak p})$ should be small. We show that this is indeed the case for many rational functions $φ$.

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arXiv2014

Portraits of preperiodic points for rational maps

Let $K$ be a function field over an algebraically closed field $k$ of characteristic $0$, let $φ\in K(z)$ be a rational function of degree at least equal to $2$ for which there is no point at which $φ$ is totally ramified, and let $α\in K$. We show that for all but finitely many pairs $(m,n)\in \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}\times \mathbb{N}$ there exists a place $\mathfrak{p}$ of $K$ such that the point $α$ has preperiod $m$ and minimum period $n$ under the action of $φ$. This answers a conjecture made by Ingram-Silverman and Faber-Granville. We prove a similar result, under suitable modification, also when $φ$ has points where it is totally ramified. We give several applications of our result, such as showing that for any tuple $(c_1,\dots , c_{d-1})\in k^{n-1}$ and for almost all pairs $(m_i,n_i)\in \mathbb{Z}_{\ge 0}\times \mathbb{N}$ for $i=1,\dots, d-1$, there exists a polynomial $f\in k[z]$ of degree $d$ in normal form such that for each $i=1,\dots, d-1$, the point $c_i$ has preperiod $m_i$ and minimum period $n_i$ under the action of $f$.

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arXiv2014

Uniform Boundedness of S-Units in Arithmetic Dynamics

Let K be a number field and let S be a finite set of places of K which contains all the Archimedean places. For any f(z) in K(z) of degree d at least 2 which is not a d-th power in \bar{K}(z), Siegel's theorem implies that the image set f(K) contains only finitely many S-units. We conjecture that the number of such S-units is bounded by a function of |S| and d (independently of K and f). We prove this conjecture for several classes of rational functions, and show that the full conjecture follows from the Bombieri--Lang conjecture.

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arXiv2014

The Dynamical Mordell-Lang problem

Let X be a Noetherian space, let f be a continuous self-map on X, let Y be a closed subset of X, and let x be a point on X. We show that the set S consisting of all nonnegative integers n such that f^n(x) is in Y is a union of at most finitely many arithmetic progressions along with a set of Banach density zero. In particular, we obtain that given any quasi-projective variety X, any rational self-map map f on X, any subvariety Y of X, and any point x in X whose orbit under f is in the domain of definition for f, the set S is a finite union of arithmetic progressions together with a set of Banach density zero. We prove a similar result for the backward orbit of a point.

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arXiv2013

Applications of p-adic analysis for bounding periods of subvarieties under etale maps

Using methods of p-adic analysis we give a different proof of Burnside's problem for automorphisms of quasiprojective varieties X defined over a field of characteristic 0. More precisely, we show that any finitely generated torsion subgroup of Aut(X) is finite. In particular this yields effective bounds for the size of torsion of any semiabelian variety over a finitely generated field of characteristic 0. More precisely, we obtain effective bounds for the length of the orbit of a preperiodic subvariety under the action of an etale map.

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arXiv2013

The Mordell-Lang Question for Endomorphisms of Semiabelian Varieties

The Mordell-Lang conjecture describes the intersection of a finitely generated subgroup with a closed subvariety of a semiabelian variety. Equivalently, this conjecture describes the intersection of closed subvarieties with the set of images of the origin under a finitely generated semigroup of translations. We study the analogous question in which the translations are replaced by algebraic group endomorphisms (and the origin is replaced by another point). We show that the conclusion of the Mordell-Lang conjecture remains true in this setting if either (1) the semiabelian variety is simple, (2) the semiabelian variety is $A^2$, where $A$ is a one-dimensional semiabelian variety, (3) the subvariety is a connected one-dimensional algebraic subgroup, or (4) each endomorphism has diagonalizable Jacobian at the origin. We also give examples showing that the conclusion fails if we make slight modifications to any of these hypotheses.

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arXiv2012

Preperiodic points for families of rational map

Let X be a smooth curve defined over the algebraic numbers, let a,b be algebraic numbers, and let f_l(x) be an algebraic family of rational maps indexed by all l in X. We study whether there exist infinitely many l in X such that both a and b are preperiodic for f_l. In particular we show that if P,Q are polynomials over the algebraic numbers such that deg(P) >= 2+deg(Q), and there exists l such that a is periodic for P(x)/Q(x) + l, but b is not preperiodic for P(x)/Q(x) + l, then there exist at most finitely many l such that both a and b are preperiodic for P(x)/Q(x)+l. We also prove a similar result for certain two-dimensional families of endomorphisms of P^2.

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arXiv2012

ABC implies primitive prime divisors in arithmetic dynamic

Let K be a number field, let f(x) in K(x) be a rational function of degree d> 1, and let z in K be a wandering point such that f^n(z) is nonzero for all n > 0. We prove that if the abc-conjecture holds for K, then for all but finitely many positive integers n, there is a prime p of K such that p | f^n(z) and p does not divide f^m(z) for all positive integers m < n. We prove the same result unconditionally for function fields of characteristic 0 when f is not isotrivial.

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arXiv2012

Integral points in two-parameter orbits

Let K be a number field, let f: P_1 --> P_1 be a nonconstant rational map of degree greater than 1, let S be a finite set of places of K, and suppose that u, w in P_1(K) are not preperiodic under f. We prove that the set of (m,n) in N^2 such that f^m(u) is S-integral relative to f^n(w) is finite and effectively computable. This may be thought of as a two-parameter analog of a result of Silverman on integral points in orbits of rational maps. This issue can be translated in terms of integral points on an open subset of P_1^2; then one can apply a modern version of the method of Runge, after increasing the number of components at infinity by iterating the rational map. Alternatively, an ineffective result comes from a well-known theorem of Vojta.

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arXiv2011

Periods of rational maps modulo primes

Let $K$ be a number field, let $ϕ\in K(t)$ be a rational map of degree at least 2, and let $α, β\in K$. We show that if $α$ is not in the forward orbit of $β$, then there is a positive proportion of primes ${\mathfrak p}$ of $K$ such that $α\mod {\mathfrak p}$ is not in the forward orbit of $β\mod {\mathfrak p}$. Moreover, we show that a similar result holds for several maps and several points. We also present heuristic and numerical evidence that a higher dimensional analog of this result is unlikely to be true if we replace $α$ by a hypersurface, such as the ramification locus of a morphism $ϕ: {\mathbb P}^{n} \to {\mathbb P}^{n}$.

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arXiv2009

A dynamical pairing between two rational maps

Given two rational maps $φ$ and $ψ$ on $\PP^1$ of degree at least two, we study a symmetric, nonnegative-real-valued pairing $<φ,ψ>$ which is closely related to the canonical height functions $h_φ$ and $h_ψ$ associated to these maps. Our main results show a strong connection between the value of $<φ,ψ>$ and the canonical heights of points which are small with respect to at least one of the two maps $φ$ and $ψ$. Several necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the vanishing of $<φ,ψ>$. We give an explicit upper bound on the difference between the canonical height $h_ψ$ and the standard height $h_\st$ in terms of $<σ,ψ>$, where $σ(x)=x^2$ denotes the squaring map. The pairing $<σ,ψ>$ is computed or approximated for several families of rational maps $ψ$.

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arXiv2009

The Dynamical Mordell-Lang Conjecture

We prove a special case of a dynamical analogue of the classical Mordell-Lang conjecture. In particular, let $ϕ$ be a rational function with no superattracting periodic points other than exceptional points. If the coefficients of $ϕ$ are algebraic, we show that the orbit of a point outside the union of proper preperiodic subvarieties of $(\bP^1)^g$ has only finite intersection with any curve contained in $(\bP^1)^g$. We also show that our result holds for indecomposable polynomials $ϕ$ with coefficients in $\bC$. Our proof uses results from $p$-adic dynamics together with an integrality argument. The extension to polynomials defined over $\bC$ uses the method of specializations coupled with some new results of Medvedev and Scanlon for describing the periodic plane curves under the action of $(ϕ,ϕ)$ on $\bA^2$.

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arXiv2008

A gap principle for dynamics

Let $f_1,...,f_g\in {\mathbb C}(z)$ be rational functions, let $Φ=(f_1,...,f_g)$ denote their coordinatewise action on $({\mathbb P}^1)^g$, let $V\subset ({\mathbb P}^1)^g$ be a proper subvariety, and let $P=(x_1,...,x_g)\in ({\mathbb P}^1)^g({\mathbb C})$ be a nonpreperiodic point for $Φ$. We show that if $V$ does not contain any periodic subvarieties of positive dimension, then the set of $n$ such that $Φ^n(P) \in V({\mathbb C})$ must be very sparse. In particular, for any $k$ and any sufficiently large $N$, the number of $n \leq N$ such that $Φ^n(P) \in V({\mathbb C})$ is less than $\log^k N$, where $\log^k$ denotes the $k$-th iterate of the $\log$ function. This can be interpreted as an analog of the gap principle of Davenport-Roth and Mumford.

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arXiv2008

The dynamical Mordell-Lang problem for etale maps

We prove a dynamical version of the Mordell-Lang conjecture for etale endomorphisms of quasiprojective varieties. We use p-adic methods inspired by the work of Skolem, Mahler, and Lech, combined with methods from algebraic geometry. As special cases of our result we obtain a new proof of the classical Mordell-Lang conjecture for cyclic subgroups of a semiabelian variety, and we also answer positively a question of Keeler/Rogalski/Stafford for critically dense sequences of closed points of a Noetherian integral scheme.

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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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arXiv2008

Linear relations between polynomial orbits

We study the orbits of a polynomial f in C[X], namely the sets {e,f(e),f(f(e)),...} with e in C. We prove that if nonlinear complex polynomials f and g have orbits with infinite intersection, then f and g have a common iterate. More generally, we describe the intersection of any line in C^d with a d-tuple of orbits of nonlinear polynomials, and we formulate a question which generalizes both this result and the Mordell--Lang conjecture.

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arXiv2008

p-adic logarithms for polynomial dynamics

We prove a dynamical version of the Mordell-Lang conjecture for subvarieties of the affine space A^g over a p-adic field, endowed with polynomial actions on each coordinate of A^g. We use analytic methods similar to the ones employed by Skolem, Chabauty, and Coleman for studying diophantine equations.

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