Powers in orbits of rational functions: cases of an arithmetic dynamical Mordell-Lang conjecture

Let $K$ be a finitely generated field of characteristic zero. We study, for fixed $m \geq 2$, the rational functions $\phi$ defined over $K$ that have a $K$-orbit containing infinitely many distinct $m$th powers. For $m \geq 5$ we show the only such functions are those of the form $cx^j(\psi(x))^m$ with $\psi \in K(x)$, and for $m \leq 4$ we show the only additional cases are certain Latt\`es maps and four families of rational functions whose special properties appear not to have been studied before. With additional analysis, we show that the index set $\{n \geq 0 : \phi^{n}(a) \in \lambda(\mathbb{P}^1(K))\}$ is a union of finitely many arithmetic progressions, where $\phi^{n}$ denotes the $n$th iterate of $\phi$ and $\lambda \in K(x)$ is any map M\"obius-conjugate over $K$ to $x^m$. When the index set is infinite, we give bounds on the number and moduli of the arithmetic progressions involved. These results are similar in flavor to the dynamical Mordell-Lang conjecture, and motivate a new conjecture on the intersection of an orbit with the value set of a morphism. A key ingredient in our proofs is a study of the curves $y^m = \phi^{n}(x)$. We describe all $\phi$ for which these curves have an irreducible component of genus at most 1, and show that such $\phi$ must have two distinct iterates that are equal in $K(x)^*/K(x)^{*m}$.