English

On simultaneously preperiodic points for one-parameter families of polynomials in characteristic $p$

Number Theory 2025-10-14 v2 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

For a field LL of characteristic pp, a polynomial fFp[x]f \in \overline{\mathbb{F}}_p[x] and α,βL\alpha, \beta \in L, let Prep(f;α,β)\mathrm{Prep}(f;\alpha,\beta) be the set of all λL\lambda \in \overline{L} such that both α\alpha and β\beta are preperiodic under the action of fλ(x):=f(x)+λf_{\lambda}(x) := f(x) + \lambda. Ghioca and Hsia proved that for certain families of polynomials, this set is infinite if and only if f(α)=f(β)f(\alpha)=f(\beta) or α,βFp\alpha, \beta \in \overline{\mathbb{F}}_p. Building on their work, we determine when Prep(f;α,β)\mathrm{Prep}(f;\alpha,\beta) is infinite for most of the remaining binomial cases that were left open. Specifically, let f(x)=c1xd1+c2xd2Fp[x]f(x)=c_1 x^{d_1} + c_2 x^{d_2} \in \overline{\mathbb{F}}_p[x], where ciFpc_i \in \overline{\mathbb{F}}_p^*, 1d1<d21 \le d_1 < d_2 and di=pisid_i=p^{\ell_i}s_i with i0\ell_i \ge 0 and psip \nmid s_i. We prove that if p2(s21)<p1(s11)p^{\ell_2}(s_2-1) < p^{\ell_1}(s_1-1), then Prep(f;α,β)\mathrm{Prep}(f;\alpha,\beta) is infinite if and only if f(α)=f(β)f(\alpha)=f(\beta) or α,βFp\alpha, \beta \in \overline{\mathbb{F}}_p. The key idea of the proof is to use the parameters λα:=αf(α)\lambda_{\overline{\alpha}} := \overline{\alpha} - f(\overline{\alpha}) associated to suitable elements αL\overline{\alpha} \in \overline{L} satisfying f(α)=f(α)f(\overline{\alpha})=f(\alpha). As an application, we extend the work of Asgarli and Ghioca on the colliding orbits problem to binomials satisfying s2>1s_2>1 and p2(s21)<p1(s11)p^{\ell_2}(s_2-1) < p^{\ell_1}(s_1-1).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2509.15079,
  title  = {On simultaneously preperiodic points for one-parameter families of polynomials in characteristic $p$},
  author = {Jungin Lee and GyeongHyeon Nam},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2509.15079},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

19 pages, main theorem improved, Section 5 added