For a finite field of odd cardinality $q$ , we show that the sequence of iterates of $aX^{2}+c$ , starting at $0$ , always recurs after $O(q/\text{log}\log q)$ steps. For $X^{2}+1$ , the same is true for any starting value. We suggest that the traditional “birthday paradox” model is inappropriate for iterates of $X^{3}+c$ , when $q$ is 2 mod 3.

We study ultrametric germs in one variable having an irrationally indifferent fixed point at the origin with a prescribed multiplier. We show that for many values of the multiplier, the cycles in the unit disk of the corresponding monic quadratic polynomial are ‘optimal’ in the following sense: they minimize the distance to the origin among cycles of the same minimal period of normalized germs having an irrationally indifferent fixed point at the origin with the same multiplier. We also give examples of multipliers for which the corresponding quadratic polynomial does not have optimal cycles. In those cases we exhibit a higher-degree polynomial such that all of its cycles are optimal. The proof of these results reveals a connection between the geometric location of periodic points of ultrametric power series and the lower ramification numbers of wildly ramified field automorphisms. We also give an extension of Sen’s theorem on wildly ramified field automorphisms, and a characterization of minimally ramified power series in terms of the iterative residue.

Given a finite field of q elements, we consider a trajectory of the map associated with a polynomial ]. Using bounds of character sums, under some mild condition on f, we show that for an appropriate constant C > 0 no N ⩾ Cq½ distinct consecutive elements of such a trajectory are contained in a small subgroup of , improving the trivial lower bound . Using a different technique, we also obtain a similar result for very small values of N. These results are multiplicative analogues of several recently obtained bounds on the length of intervals containing N distinct consecutive elements of such a trajectory.

We find all quadratic post-critically finite (PCF) rational functions defined over $\mathbb{Q}$, up to conjugation by elements of $\mathop{\rm PGL}_2(\overline{\mathbb{Q}})$. We describe an algorithm to search for possibly PCF functions. Using the algorithm, we eliminate all but 12 rational functions, all of which are verified to be PCF. We also give a complete description of all possible rational preperiodic structures for quadratic PCF functions defined over $\mathbb{Q}$.

We show that the weak limit of the maximal measures for any degenerating sequence of rational maps on the Riemann sphere ${\hat{{\mathbb{C}}}} $ must be a countable sum of atoms. For a one-parameter family $f_t$ of rational maps, we refine this result by showing that the measures of maximal entropy have a unique limit on $\hat{{\mathbb{C}}}$ as the family degenerates. The family $f_t$ may be viewed as a single rational function on the Berkovich projective line $\mathbf{P}^1_{\mathbb{L}}$ over the completion of the field of formal Puiseux series in $t$ , and the limiting measure on $\hat{{\mathbb{C}}}$ is the ‘residual measure’ associated with the equilibrium measure on $\mathbf{P}^1_{\mathbb{L}}$ . For the proof, we introduce a new technique for quantizing measures on the Berkovich projective line and demonstrate the uniqueness of solutions to a quantized version of the pullback formula for the equilibrium measure on $\mathbf{P}^1_{\mathbb{L}}$ .

Let $k$ be a number field with algebraic closure $ \overline{k} $, and let $S$ be a finite set of primes of $k$ containing all the infinite ones. Let $E/ k$ be an elliptic curve, ${\mit{\Gamma} }_{0} $ be a finitely generated subgroup of $E( \overline{k} )$, and $\mit{\Gamma} \subseteq E( \overline{k} )$ the division group attached to ${\mit{\Gamma} }_{0} $. Fix an effective divisor $D$ of $E$ with support containing either: (i) at least two points whose difference is not torsion; or (ii) at least one point not in $\mit{\Gamma} $. We prove that the set of ‘integral division points on $E( \overline{k} )$’, i.e., the set of points of $\mit{\Gamma} $ which are $S$-integral on $E$ relative to $D, $ is finite. We also prove the ${ \mathbb{G} }_{\mathrm{m} } $-analogue of this theorem, thereby establishing the 1-dimensional case of a general conjecture we pose on integral division points on semi-abelian varieties.

We present a practical algorithm to compute models of rational functions with minimal resultant under conjugation by fractional linear transformations. We also report on a search for rational functions of degrees 2 and 3 with rational coefficients that have many integers in a single orbit. We find several minimal quadratic rational functions with eight integers in an orbit and several minimal cubic rational functions with ten integers in an orbit. We also make some elementary observations on possibilities of an analogue of Szpiro’s conjecture in a dynamical setting and on the structure of the set of minimal models for a given rational function.

Given a number field K, we consider families of critically separable rational maps of degree d over K possessing a certain fixed-point and multiplier structure. With suitable notions of isomorphism and good reduction between rational maps in these families, we prove a finiteness theorem which is analogous to Shafarevich’s theorem for elliptic curves. We also define the minimal critical discriminant, a global object which can be viewed as a measure of arithmetic complexity of a rational map. We formulate a conjectural bound on the minimal critical discriminant, which is analogous to Szpiro’s conjecture for elliptic curves, and we prove that a special case of our conjecture implies Szpiro’s conjecture in the semistable case.

We give an explicit formula for the projective dynamics of planar homogeneous polynomial differential systems in terms of natural local invariants and we establish explicit algebraic connections (syzygies) between these invariants (leading to restrictions on possible global dynamics). We discuss multidimensional generalizations together with applications to the existence of first integrals and bounded solutions.

We prove a version of Montel’s theorem for analytic functions over a non-Archimedean complete valued field. We propose a definition of normal family in this context, and give applications of our results to the dynamics of non-Archimedean entire functions.

Let X be an algebraic variety and let f:X−−→X be a rational self-map with a fixed point q, where everything is defined over a number field K. We make some general remarks concerning the possibility of using the behaviour of f near q to produce many rational points on X. As an application, we give a simplified proof of the potential density of rational points on the variety of lines of a cubic fourfold, originally proved by Claire Voisin and the first author in 2007.

An argument is given to fill a gap in a proof in the author’s article On certain algebraic curves related to polynomial maps, Compositio Math. 103 (1996), 319–350, that the polynomial Φn(x,c), whose roots are the periodic points of period n of a certain polynomial map x→f(x,c), is absolutely irreducible over the finite field of p elements, provided that f(x,1) has distinct roots and that the multipliers of the orbits of period n are also distinct over . Assuming that Φn(x,c) is reducible in characteristic p, we show that Hensel’s lemma and Laurent series expansions of the roots can be used to obtain a factorization of Φn(x,c) in characteristic 0, contradicting the absolute irreducibility of this polynomial over the rational field.

Let f1,…,fg∈ℂ(z) be rational functions, let Φ=(f1,…,fg) denote their coordinate-wise action on (ℙ1)g, let V ⊂(ℙ1)g be a proper subvariety, and let P be a point in (ℙ1)g(ℂ). We show that if 𝒮={n≥0:Φn(P)∈V (ℂ)} does not contain any infinite arithmetic progressions, then 𝒮 must be a very sparse set of integers. In particular, for any k and any sufficiently large N, the number of n≤N such that Φn(P)∈V (ℂ) is less than log kN, where log k denotes the kth iterate of the logfunction. This result can be interpreted as an analogue of the gap principle of Davenport–Roth and Mumford.

Given a finite field 𝔽p={0,…,p−1} of p elements, where p is a prime, we consider the distribution of elements in the orbits of a transformation ξ↦ψ(ξ) associated with a rational function ψ∈𝔽p(X). We use bounds of exponential sums to show that if N≥p1/2+ε for some fixed ε then no N distinct consecutive elements of such an orbit are contained in any short interval, improving the trivial lower bound N on the length of such intervals. In the case of linear fractional functions we use a different approach, based on some results of additive combinatorics due to Bourgain, that gives a nontrivial lower bound for essentially any admissible value of N.