Dynamics Seminar
December 5, 2007
Kevin Pilgrim
University of Indiana
An algebraic formulation of Thurston's characterization of rational functions
Following Douady-Hubbard and Bartholdi-Nekrashevych, we give an algebraic formulation of Thurston's
characterization of rational functions in terms of virtual endomorphisms of mapping class groups. As
an application, we analyze the induced dynamics on the set of homotopy classes of simple closed
curves.
(The talk will be self-contained.)