English

Iterating sine, equivalence classes of variable changes, and groups with few conjugacy classes

History and Overview 2025-06-23 v1

Abstract

This is an expository paper about iterations of a smooth real function ff on [0,ε)[0,\varepsilon) such that f(0)=0f(0)=0, f(0)=1f'(0)=1, and f(x)<xf(x)<x for x>0x>0, i.e., the sequence defined by xn+1=f(xn)x_{n+1}=f(x_n). This sequence has interesting asymptotics, whose study leads to the question of classifying conjugacy classes in the group of formal changes of variable y=f(x)y=f(x), i.e., formal series f(x)=x+a2x2+a3x2+...f(x)=x+a_2x^2+a_3x^2+... with real coefficients (under composition). The same classification applies over a finite field Fp\mathbb{F}_p for suitably truncated series ff, defining a family of pp-groups which have the smallest number of conjugacy classes for a given order, i.e., are the ``most noncommutative" finite groups currently known. The paper should be accessible to undergraduates and at least partially to advanced high school students.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2506.16364,
  title  = {Iterating sine, equivalence classes of variable changes, and groups with few conjugacy classes},
  author = {Pavel Etingof},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2506.16364},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

9 pages, latex

R2 v1 2026-07-01T03:25:16.295Z