English

The proportion of $k$-cycles for polynomials modulo primes

Number Theory 2024-10-02 v1 Dynamical Systems

Abstract

Let f(x)Fp[x]f(x) \in \mathbb{F}_p[x], and define the orbit of xFpx\in \mathbb{F}_p under the iteration of ff to be the set O(x):={x,f(x),(ff)(x),(fff)(x),}. \mathcal{O}(x):=\{x,f(x),(f\circ f)(x),(f\circ f\circ f)(x),\dots\}. An orbit is a kk-cycle if it is periodic of length kk. In this paper we fix a polynomial f(x)f(x) with integer coefficients and for each prime pp we consider f(x)(modp)f(x) \pmod p obtained by reducing the coefficients of f(x)f(x) modulo pp. We ask for the density of primes pp such that f(x)(modp)f(x)\pmod p has a kk-cycle in Fp\mathbb{F}_p. We prove that in many cases the density is at most 1/k1/k. We also give an infinite family of polynomials in each degree with this property.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2410.00716,
  title  = {The proportion of $k$-cycles for polynomials modulo primes},
  author = {Jonathan Root},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2410.00716},
  year   = {2024}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T19:03:52.813Z