Math 689 (Groups and Holomorphic Dynamics)

Section 603

Volodymyr Nekrashevych

Class hours

  TR      11:10 - 12:25      MILN  313

Homeworks:

Homework #1

Course Syllabus

Help outside of classes

Handouts

Outline of the course.

  1. Basics of Holomorphic Dynamics. (Riemann surfaces. Schwarz lemma. Universal cover. Poincare metric. Normal families. Iterations of holomophic maps, Julia set. Local theory of fixed points. Hyperbolic and sub-hyperbolic maps.)
  2. Self-similar groups and iterated monodromy groups. (Self-similar groups. Iterated monodromy groups. Contracting groups and their limit spaces. Limit spaces of iterated monodromy groups. Examples.)
  3. Quadratic family. (Mandelbrot set. Iterated monodromy groups of quadratic polynomials. Kneading sequences and symbolic dynamics of quadratic polynomials. Mating and examples of plane-filling curves.)

Reading:

Dynamics in one complex variable, by J. Milnor, Third edition. Annals of Mathematics Studies, 160. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2006.

This book will be used very much in the first part of the course (Basics of Holomorphic Dynamics). A draft version of this book can be found on Arxiv.

Self-similar groups, by V. Nekrashevych, published by American Mathematical Society, ``Mathematical Surveys and Monographs'' vol. 117.

This book will be used in second (Self-similar groups and iterated monodromy groups) and partly in third (Quadratic family) parts. You can also use the following preprints.

Self-similar groups and their geometry
Symbolic dynamics and self-similar groups

Advanced and additional reading (more links will be added later):

  1. From fractal groups to fractal sets (by L.Bartholdi, R.Grigorchuk and V.N.)
  2. Iteration of rational functions.  Complex analytic dynamical systems, by Alan F Beardon, Graduate Texts in Mathematics, 132.  Springer-Verlag, New York, 1991
  3. Periodic orbits, externals rays and the Mandelbrot set: an expository account, by J. Milnor, Géométrie complexe et systèmes dynamiques (Orsay, 1995). Astérisque No. 261 (2000), xiii, 277--333. (A preliminary version is available on Arxiv).
  4. Symbolic Dynamics of Quadratic Polynomials, by Henk Bruin and Dierk Schleicher