The Arithmetic of Dynamical Systems

This book investigates the relatively new subject of Arithmetic Dynamics, which is the study of the number theoretic properties of algebraic numbers or points under repeated application of a polynomial or rational map. Classical discrete dynamics is the study of iteration of functions mapping the complex plane (or real line) to itself. Arithmetic dynamics is the study of the number-theoretic properties of rational and algebraic points under repeated application of a polynomial or rational function. The viewpoint of this book is that many of the fundamental problems in the theory of Diophantine equations have dynamical analogs. As is typical in any subject combining Diophantine problems and geometry, an overarching theme is that at least qualitatively, the geometry determines the arithmetic.