The External Boundary of the Bifurcation Locus M2 1
THE EXTERNAL BOUNDARY OF THE BIFURCATION LOCUS M2 V. TIMORIN Abstract. Consider a quadratic rational self-map of the Riemann sphere such that one critical point is periodic of period 2, and the other critical point lies on the boundary of its immediate basin of attraction. We will give explicit topological models for all such maps. We also discuss the corresponding parameter picture. 1. Introduction 1.1. The family V2. Consider the set V2 of holomorphic conjugacy classes of qua- dratic rational maps that have a super-attracting periodic cycle of period 2 (we follow the notation of Mary Rees). The complement in V2 to the class of the single map z 1/z2 is denoted by V . The set V is parameterized by a single com- 7→ 2,0 2,0 plex number. Indeed, for any map f in V2,0, the critical point of period two can be mapped to , its f-image to 0, and the other critical point to 1. Then we obtain a map of the∞ form − a f (z)= , a = 0 a z2 + 2z 6 holomorphically conjugate to f. Thus the set V is identified with C 0. 2,0 − The family V2 is just the second term in the sequence V1, V2, V3,... , where, by def- inition, Vn consists of holomorphic conjugacy classes of quadratic rational maps with a periodic critical orbit of period n. Such maps have one “free” critical point, hence each family Vn has complex dimension 1. Note that V1 is the family of quadratic polynomials, i.e., holomorphic endomorphisms of the Riemann sphere of degree 2 with a fixed critical point at .
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