Homotopy Hubbard trees for post-singularly finite exponential maps

We extend the concept of a Hubbard tree, well established and useful in the theory of polynomial dynamics, to the dynamics of transcendental entire functions. We show that Hubbard trees in the strict traditional sense, as invariant compact trees embedded in $\mathbb {C}$ , do not exist even for post-singularly finite exponential maps; the difficulty lies in the existence of asymptotic values. We therefore introduce the concept of a homotopy Hubbard tree that takes care of these difficulties. Specifically for the family of exponential maps, we show that every post-singularly finite map has a homotopy Hubbard tree that is unique up to homotopy, and that post-singularly finite exponential maps can be classified in terms of homotopy Hubbard trees, using a transcendental analogue of Thurston’s topological characterization theorem of rational maps.

Value distribution of derivatives in polynomial dynamics

For every $m\in \mathbb {N}$ , we establish the equidistribution of the sequence of the averaged pullbacks of a Dirac measure at any given value in $\mathbb {C}\setminus \{0\}$ under the $m$ th order derivatives of the iterates of a polynomials $f\in \mathbb {C}[z]$ of degree $d>1$ towards the harmonic measure of the filled-in Julia set of f with pole at $\infty $ . We also establish non-archimedean and arithmetic counterparts using the potential theory on the Berkovich projective line and the adelic equidistribution theory over a number field k for a sequence of effective divisors on $\mathbb {P}^1(\overline {k})$ having small diagonals and small heights. We show a similar result on the equidistribution of the analytic sets where the derivative of each iterate of a Hénon-type polynomial automorphism of $\mathbb {C}^2$ has a given eigenvalue.

A landing theorem for entire functions with bounded post-singular sets

The Douady-Hubbard landing theorem for periodic external rays is one of the cornerstones of the study of polynomial dynamics. It states that, for a complex polynomial f with bounded postcritical set, every periodic external ray lands at a repelling or parabolic periodic point, and conversely every repelling or parabolic point is the landing point of at least one periodic external ray. We prove an analogue of this theorem for an entire function f with bounded postsingular set. If f has finite order of growth, then it is known that the escaping set I(f) contains certain curves called periodic hairs; we show that every periodic hair lands at a repelling or parabolic periodic point, and conversely every repelling or parabolic periodic point is the landing point of at least one periodic hair. For a postsingularly bounded entire function f of infinite order, such hairs may not exist. Therefore we introduce certain dynamically natural connected subsets of I(f), called dreadlocks. We show that every periodic dreadlock lands at a repelling or parabolic periodic point, and conversely every repelling or parabolic periodic point is the landing point of at least one periodic dreadlock. More generally, we prove that every point of a hyperbolic set is the landing point of a dreadlock.