English

Galois groups and prime divisors in random quadratic sequences

Number Theory 2023-02-13 v2 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

Given a set S={x2+c1,,x2+cs}S=\{x^2+c_1,\dots,x^2+c_s\} defined over a field and an infinite sequence γ\gamma of elements of SS, one can associate an arboreal representation to γ\gamma, generalizing the case of iterating a single polynomial. We study the probability that a random sequence γ\gamma produces a ``large-image'' representation, meaning that infinitely many subquotients in the natural filtration are maximal. We prove that this probability is positive for most sets SS defined over Z[t]\mathbb{Z}[t], and we conjecture a similar positive-probability result for suitable sets over Q\mathbb{Q}. As an application of large-image representations, we prove a density-zero result for the set of prime divisors of some associated quadratic sequences. We also consider the stronger condition of the representation being finite-index, and we classify all SS possessing a particular kind of obstruction that generalizes the post-critically finite case in single-polynomial iteration.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2108.11233,
  title  = {Galois groups and prime divisors in random quadratic sequences},
  author = {John R. Doyle and Vivian Olsiewski Healey and Wade Hindes and Rafe Jones},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.11233},
  year   = {2023}
}

Comments

22 pages

R2 v1 2026-06-24T05:24:35.835Z