A dynamical invariant for Sierpiński cardioid Julia sets

Abstract

For the family of rational maps z n + λ/z n where n ≥ 3, it is known that there are infinitely many small copies of the Mandelbrot set that are buried in the parameter plane, i.e., they do not extend to the outer boundary of this set. For parameters lying in the main cardioids of these Mandelbrot sets, the corresponding Julia sets are always Sierpiński curves, and so they are all homeomorphic to one another. However, it is known that only those cardioids that are symmetrically located in the parameter plane have conjugate dynamics. We produce a dynamical invariant that explains why these maps have different dynamics.