Related papers: Geometrization of sub-hyperbolic semi-rational bra…
We prove that the canonical Thurston obstruction for a sub-hyperbolic semi-rational branched covering exists if the branched covering is not CLH-equivalent to a rational map.
We study canonical decompositions of postcritically finite branched coverings of the 2-sphere, as defined by K. Pilgrim. We show that every hyperbolic cycle in the decomposition does not have a Thurston obstruction. It is thus Thurston…
We study canonical decompositions of postcritically finite branched coverings of the 2-sphere, as defined by K.~Pilgrim. We show that every hyperbolic cycle in the decomposition does not have a Thurston obstruction. It is thus Thurston…
In the early 1980's Thurston gave a topological characterization of rational maps whose critical points have finite iterated orbits (\cite{Th,DH1}): given a topological branched covering $F$ of the two sphere with finite critical orbits, if…
Using Thurston's characterization of postcritically finite rational functions as branched coverings of the sphere to itself, we give a new method of constructing new conformal dynamical systems out of old ones. Let $f(z)$ be a rational map…
We suggest a way to associate to a rational map of the Riemann sphere a three dimensional object called a hyperbolic orbifold 3-lamination. The relation of this object to the map is analogous to the relation of a hyperbolic 3-manifold to a…
In 1980's, Thurston established a combinatorial characterization for post-critically finite rational maps. This criterion was then extended by Cui, Jiang, and Sullivan to sub-hyperbolic rational maps. The goal of this paper is to present a…
We develop a Thurston-like theory to characterize geometrically finite rational maps, then apply it to study pinching and plumbing deformations of rational maps. We show that in certain conditions the pinching path converges uniformly and…
In 1980s, Thurston established a topological characterization theorem for postcritically finite rational maps. In this paper, a decomposition theorem for a class of postcritically infinite branched covering termed `Herman map' is developed.…
Thurston maps are branched self-coverings of the sphere whose critical points have finite forward orbits. We give combinatorial and algebraic characterizations of Thurston maps that are isotopic to expanding maps as "Levy-free" maps and as…
The key result in the present paper is a direct analogue of the celebrated Thurston's Theorem for marked Thurston maps with parabolic orbifolds. Combining this result with previously developed techniques, we prove that every Thurston map…
We study the dynamics of Thurston maps under iteration. These are branched covering maps $f$ of 2-spheres $S^2$ with a finite set $\mathop{post}(f)$ of postcritical points. We also assume that the maps are expanding in a suitable sense.…
This research report outlines work, partially joint with Jeremy Kahn and Kevin Pilgrim, which gives parallel theories of elastic graphs and conformal surfaces with boundary. One one hand, this lets us tell when one rubber band network is…
We demonstrate that the question whether or not a given postcritically finite topological ramified covering map of the 2-sphere is Thurston equivalent to a rational map is algorithmically decidable.
When is a topological branched self-cover of the sphere equivalent to a rational map on CP^1? William Thurston gave one answer in 1982, giving a negative criterion (an obstruction to a map being rational). We give a complementary, positive…
For a post-critically finite branched covering of the sphere that is a subdivision map of a finite subdivision rule, we define non-expanding spines which determine the existence of a Levy cycle in a non-exhaustive semi-decidable algorithm.…
We consider rational maps $f$ on the Riemann sphere $\widehat {\mathbb{C}}$ with an $f$-invariant set $P\subset \widehat {\mathbb{C}}$ of four marked points containing the postcritical set of $f$. We show that the dynamics of the…
A Thurston map is a branched covering map from $\S^2$ to $\S^2$ with a finite postcritical set. We associate a natural Gromov hyperbolic graph $\G=\G(f,\mathcal C)$ with an expanding Thurston map $f$ and a Jordan curve $\mathcal C$ on…
William Thurston (1946-2012) gave a combinatorial characterization for generic branched self-coverings of the two-sphere by associating a planar graph to them 10.48550/arXiv.1502.04760. By generalizing the notion of local balancing, the…
In 1985, Levy used a theorem of Berstein to prove that all hyperbolic topological polynomials are equivalent to complex polynomials. We prove a partial converse to the Berstein-Levy Theorem: given post-critical dynamics that are in a sense…