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The problem is:

Suppose that you have $f(z)=z^2-10 \in \mathbb{Q}(z)$ and denote by $f^3=f\circ f\circ f$. Define $\phi(z)=\frac{f^3(z)-z}{f(z)-z}.$ If $z$ and $w$ are roots of $\phi$, then [(f^3)'(z) - (f^3)'(w)]^2, is rational.

I tried to resolve this but I couldn't. You can suppose that $f(z) - z$ divides $f^3(z) - z$ and $f(z)-z$ does not have shared root with $\phi$.

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    Okay, I think I have a finished proof.2011-12-22

2 Answers 2

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The roots of $\phi$ are the values $u$ such that $f^3(u)=u$ and $f(u)\neq u$.

If $u$ is a root of $\phi$, then $f(u)$ and $f^2(u)$ are also different roots of $\phi$, since:

$f^3(f(u))=f^4(u)=f(u)$ $f^3(f^2(u)) = f^5(u)=f^2(u)$

Applying the chain rule to both sides of $f^3\circ f = f\circ f^3$, we see that:

(f^3)'(f(z))f'(z) = f'(f^3(z))(f^3)'(z)

So if $f^3(z)=z$, then:

(f^3)'(f(z)) = (f^3)'(z)

So, in particular, if $u$ is a root of $\phi$ then (f^3)'(u)=(f^3)'(f(u))=(f^3)'(f^2(u)))

So given two roots in $\{u,f(u),f(f(u))\}$ your expression is not only rational, but zero.

So, now you can partition of the sets of roots of $\phi$ into two disjoint sets $\{u,f(u),f^2(u)\}$ and $\{v,f(v),f^2(v)\}$.

If g(z)=(f^3)'(z), then we know that $g(u)=g(f(u))=g(f^2(u))$ and $g(v)=g(f(v))=g(f^2(v))$.

The final step is to look at the expression $\sum_{w_1,w_2} {(g(w_1)-g(w_2))^2}$ where $w_1$ and $w_2$ are taken over all roots of $\phi$. By the above-noted property, this expression is equal to $18(g(u)-g(v))^2$.

But since this expression is symmetric in the roots of $\phi$, and $\phi$ has rational coefficients, this expression is necessarily rational. Therefore, $(g(u)-g(v))^2$ is rational, which is what we needed to prove.

[There are a few more steps you need to fill in here - specifically, that the $\phi$ does not have $f(z)-z$ as a factor, or, alternatively, that $f^3(z)-z$ has no repeated roots. You can prove that by brute force, but I wonder if you can come up with a more general proof for (most?) quadratic $f$.]

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I think the key observation one needs to make is

$\frac{d}{dX}f^n(X) = 2^n\prod_{i=0}^{n-1} f^i(X).$

So any question about evaluating the derivative of an iterative power of $f$ at a point of $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ can be reduced to an examination of the orbit of that element under the monoid generated by $f.$ Let's persue such an analysis.

Consider $\mathbb{N}$ acting on $\overline{\mathbb{Q}}$ via the iterative powers of $f.$ Let $\Lambda_n$ be the set of fixed points of $f^n.$ Then the action of $\mathbb{N}$ on $\Lambda_n$ factors through $\mathbb{Z}/n.$ It follows that the orbits of the action of $\mathbb{N}$ on $\Lambda_n$ have size a divisor of $n.$ So in the particular case $n =3,$ the orbits have size $1$ or $3.$ Let \Lambda'_3 = \Lambda_3 \setminus \Lambda_1. The elements of \Lambda'_3 are exactly the roots of $\phi,$ so |\Lambda'_3| = 6. It follows $\mathbb{N}$ partitions \Lambda'_3 into two disjoint subsets of size 3.

Now consider $G_{\mathbb{Q}} = Gal(\overline{\mathbb{Q}}/\mathbb{Q}).$ Because \Lambda'_3 is cut out as the vanishing of a polynomial over $\mathbb{Q},$ the group $G_{\mathbb{Q}}$ acts on \Lambda'_3. Furthermore, as $\mathbb{N}$ acts through the iterative powers of $f,$ and these maps are defined over $\mathbb{Q},$ the $G_{\mathbb{Q}}$ action and $\mathbb{N}$ action on \Lambda'_3 commute. It follows the $G_{\mathbb{Q}}$ action on \Lambda'_3 induces an action on the set of orbits of \Lambda'_3 under $\mathbb{N}.$

Let z_1,z_2 \in \Lambda'_3 and $O_{z_1}$ and $O_{z_2}$ be the orbits of $z$ and $w,$ respectively, under $\mathbb{N}.$ Then

$(\frac{df^3}{dX}(z_1) - \frac{df^3}{dX}(z_2))^2 = 64(\prod_{i=0}^{2} f^i(z_1) - \prod_{i=0}^{2} f^i(z_2))^2 = 64(\prod_{p \in O_{z_1}} p - \prod_{p \in O_{z_2}} p)^2.$

It follows

$(\frac{df^3}{dX}(z_1) - \frac{df^3}{dX}(z_2))^2 = 0$

if $O_{z_1} = O_{z_2}.$ On the other hand, if $O_{z_1} \ne O_{z_2},$ then for any $\sigma \in G_{\mathbb{Q}},$

$\sigma(\frac{df^3}{dX}(z_1) - \frac{df^3}{dX}(z_2))^2 = 64(\prod_{p \in \sigma(O_{z_1})} p - \prod_{p \in \sigma(O_{z_2})} p)$

which is equal to $64(\prod_{p \in O_{z_1}} p - \prod_{p \in O_{z_2}} p)^2$ if $\sigma$ acts trivially on \Lambda'_3/\mathbb{N} and $64(\prod_{p \in O_{z_2}} p - \prod_{p \in O_{z_1}} p)^2,$ otherwise. Hence, $(\frac{df^3}{dX}(z_1) - \frac{df^3}{dX}(z_2))^2$ is fixed by $G_\mathbb{Q}$. We conclude $(\frac{df^3}{dX}(z_1) - \frac{df^3}{dX}(z_2))^2$ is rational.

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    I would be interested to know if such an expression being rational has any significance in dynamics.2011-12-22