Related papers: Thurston's pullback map, invariant covers, and the…

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 consider postcritically finite rational maps $f\colon \widehat{\mathbb{C}} \to \widehat{\mathbb{C}}$ whose Julia set is the whole Riemann sphere $\widehat{\mathbb{C}}$. We call such a map an expanding rational Thurston map. Identifying…

We describe an application of tropical moduli spaces to complex dynamics. A post-critically finite branched covering $\varphi$ of $S^2$ induces a pullback map on the Teichm\"uller space of complex structures of $S^2$; this descends to an…

Given a sub-hyperbolic semi-rational branched covering which is not CLH-equivalent a rational map, it must have the non-empty canonical Thurston obstruction. By using this canonical Thurston obstruction, we decompose this dynamical system…

Following Douady-Hubbard and Bartholdi-Nekrashevych, we give an algebraic formulation of Thurston's characterization of rational functions. The techniques developed are applied to the analysis of the dynamics on the set of free homotopy…

We consider certain correspondences on a Riemann surface, and show that they admit a weak form of hyperbolicity: sufficiently long loops get shorter under lifting at a fixed point and closing. In terms of their algebraic encoding by bisets,…

We undertake a systematic study of the infinitesimal geometry of the Thurston metric, showing that the topology, convex geometry and metric geometry of the tangent and cotangent spheres based at any marked hyperbolic surface representing a…

We obtain an analog of the prime number theorem for a class of branched covering maps on the $2$-sphere $S^2$ called expanding Thurston maps, which are topological models of some non-uniformly expanding rational maps without any smoothness…

We study rational self-maps of $\mathbb{P}^{1}$ whose critical points all have finite forward orbit. Thurston's rigidity theorem states that outside a single well-understood family, there are finitely many such maps over $\mathbb{C}$ of…

Let $\phi:S^2 \to S^2$ be an orientation-preserving branched covering whose post-critical set has finite cardinality $n$. If $\phi$ has a fully ramified periodic point $p_{\infty}$ and satisfies certain additional conditions, then, by work…

We develop techniques that lay out a basis for generalizations of the famous Thurston's Topological Characterization of Rational Functions for an infinite set of marked points and branched coverings of infinite degree. Analogously to the…

We prove that if A is the basin of immediate attraction to a periodic attracting or parabolic point for a rational map f on the Riemann sphere, if $A$ is completely invariant (i.e. $f^{-1}(A)=A$), and if $\mu$ is an arbitrary $f$-invariant…

We obtain an analog of the prime number theorem for a class of branched covering maps on the $2$-sphere $S^2$ called expanding Thurston maps, which are topological models of some non-uniformly expanding rational maps without any smoothness…

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…

It is known that the famous Feigenbaum-Coullet-Tresser period doubling universality has a counterpart for area-preserving maps of ${\fR}^2$. A renormalization approach has been used in \cite{EKW1} and \cite{EKW2} in a computer-assisted…

We study the asymptotic behavior of the solution curves of the dynamics of spacetimes of the topological type $\Sigma_{p}\times \mathbb{R}$, $p>1$, where $\Sigma_{p}$ is a closed Riemann surface of genus $p$, in the regime of $2+1$…

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.…

Let $\tilde f\colon(S^2,\tilde A)\to(S^2,\tilde A)$ be a Thurston map and let $M(\tilde f)$ be its mapping class biset: isotopy classes rel $\tilde A$ of maps obtained by pre- and post-composing $\tilde f$ by the mapping class group of…

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 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…