Related papers: A positive characterization of rational maps
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…
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.
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…
Recent work of Dylan Thurston gives a condition for when a post-critically finite branched self-cover of the sphere is equivalent to a rational map. We apply D. Thurston's positive criterion for rationality to give a new proof of a theorem…
We already saw in [A1] that the space of dynamically marked rational maps can be identified to a subspace of the space of covers between trees of spheres on which there is a notion of convergence that makes it sequentially compact. In the…
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 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.…
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…
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 study the group of self-equivalences of a partially postcritically finite branched cover and answer a question of Adam Epstein about contractibility of certain deformation spaces of rational maps.
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…
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…
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.
Under some mild assumptions, an orientation-preserving branched covering map of marked $2$-spheres induces a pullback map between the corresponding Teichm\"uller spaces. By analyzing the associated pushforward operator acting on integrable…
Let f be an obstructed Thurston map with canonical obstruction \Gamma_f. We prove the following generalization of Pilgrim's conjecture: if the first-return map F of a periodic component C of the topological surface obtained from the sphere…
Thurston obtained a combinatorial characterization for generic branched self-coverings that preserve the orientation of the oriented 2-sphere by associating a planar graph to them [arXiv:1502.04760]. In this work, the Thurston result is…
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…
This is the announcement, and the long summary, of a series of articles on the algorithmic study of Thurston maps. We describe branched coverings of the sphere in terms of group-theoretical objects called bisets, and develop a theory of…
We provide a complete combinatorial classification of critically fixed anti-Thurston maps, i.e., orientation-reversing branched covers of the 2-sphere that fix every critical point. The first step in the proof, and an interesting result in…
In this paper, we study CTP maps, that is, marked rational maps with constant Thurston pullback mapping. We prove that all the regular or mixing CTP polynomials satisfy McMullen's condition. Additionally, we construct a new class of…