Monomial Dynamical Systems

in the Fields of p-adic Numbers

and Their Finite Extensions
Acta Wexionensia
No 62/2005
Mathematics

Monomial Dynamical Systems

in the Fields of p-adic Numbers
and Their Finite Extensions

Marcus Nilsson

Växjö University Press

Monomial Dynamical Systems in the Fields of p-adic Numbers and Their
Finite Extensions. Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
Växjö University, Sweden 2005

Series editors: Tommy Book and Kerstin Brodén

ISSN: 1404-4307
ISBN: 91-7636-458-5
Printed by: Intellecta Docusys, Göteborg 2005
 Abstract
In this thesis we investigate monomial dynamical systems over the fields of
p-adic numbers, Qp , or over finite field extensions of them. A finite extension
of Qp is denoted by Kp . The monomial dynamical systems are described
by iterations of h(x) = xn , where n
2 is an integer. Since the fields Kp
are not algebraically closed, the number of r-periodic points, Pr (h(x), Kp ),
of h(x) in Kp will vary very much with p. We find explicit formulas for
Pr (h(x), Kp ), by using methods from number theory, for example Möbius
inversion. One of the main parts of this thesis is the computation of the
limit
1

lim Pr (h, Kp ),
t→∞ π(t)
p
t

where π(t) denotes the number of primes p  t and where the sum is
extended over all prime numbers p  t. We interpret this limit as the
asymptotic mean value of the number of r-periodic points of h(x) in Kp ,
when p → ∞. For this to make sense, we must assume that the degree of
the extension Kp /Qp is the same for all p.
We also study the dynamics of balls in Qp under the monomial h(x). We
will call a cycle of balls a fuzzy cycle. Methods for calculating the number
of fuzzy cycles are presented.
In this thesis we also consider perturbed monomial systems over the field
of p-adic numbers. This systems are generated by polynomials hq (x) =
xn + q(x), where the perturbation q(x) is a polynomial whose coefficients
have a small p-adic absolute value. We find sufficient conditions on the
perturbation to guarantee a one to one correspondence of fixed points and
cycles between the monomial and the perturbed system.

Keywords: p-adic numbers, discrete dynamical systems, number of cy-

cles, perturbation, roots of unity, Möbius inversion, distribution of prime
numbers.

v
 Acknowledgements
First of all, I would like to thank my supervisor Andrei Khrennikov for
introducing me to the subject of p-adic dynamical systems, and for his in-
spiring ideas and advices. I also want to thank my co-supervisor Anders
Melin, University of Lund. Scientific contacts with him were very impor-
tant during the writing of my master thesis and at the initial stages of my
graduate studies.
I thank Alain Escassut, Bertin Diarra at Université Blaise Pascal in
Clermont-Ferrand, and Nicolas Mainetti at Université d’Auvergne for their
hospitality and the fruitful discussions. I would also like to thank Franco
Vivaldi at Queen Mary University of London and Robert Benedetto at
Amherst College for comments, ideas and suggestions of improvments.
I thank my colleagues, Karl-Olof Lindahl, Robert Nyqvist and Per-Anders
Svensson, in the research group in p-adic dynamics, for many interesting
seminars and discussions. I also thank Robert Nyqvist for answering my
questions about unix, emacs and latex. I would also like thank my other
colleagues at the School of Mathematics and Systems Engineering at Växjö
University, for creating such a nice working environtment.
During the writing of this thesis both my parents died. I owe them a
large dept of gratitude. Without their support and encouragement I would
never have started my graduate studies.
Finally, I thank my wonderful family, my beloved Malin and our daughter
Clara, for love, patience and encouragement.

vi
Contents
Abstract v
Acknowlegements vi
General Introduction 1
1 Introduction 3
2 Fields of p-adic Numbers 4
2.1 Non-Archimedean fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 The field of p-adic numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Extensions of the field of p-adic numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.4 Hensel’s lemma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 Roots of unity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3 Discrete Dynamical Systems 11
3.1 Periodic points and their character . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
4 Summary of the Thesis 13
References 15
I Cycles of Monomial and Perturbed Monomial p-adic Dy-
namical Systems 19
1 Introduction 21
2 Properties of Monomial Systems 21
3 Number of Cycles 23
4 Distribution of Cycles 27
5 Existence of Fixed Points of a Perturbed System 32
6 Cycles of Perturbed Systems 37
References 43
II Distribution of Cycles of Monomial p-adic Dynamical Sys-
tems 45
1 Introduction 47
2 Notation and Earlier Results 47
3 Cycles of Monomial Systems 48
4 Distribution of Cycles 50
5 Expectation and Variance of ξ 54
6 Acknowlegement 56
References 56
III Asymptotic Behavior of Periodic Points of Monomials in
the Fields of p-adic Numbers 59
1 Introduction 61
2 Roots of Unity 61
2.1 Roots of unity in Fp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
2.2 Cyclotomic polynomials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
3 Periodic Points and Cyclotomic Polynomials 64
4 Group Action on Finite Sets 67
5 Periodic Points in Finite Fields 68

vii
6 Up to Qp 69
6.1 The p-adic fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
6.2 Roots of unity in Qp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3 Periodic points in p-adic fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
References 73
IV Fuzzy Cycles of p-adic Monomial Dynamical Systems 75
1 Introduction 77
2 Global Dynamics 79
3 Local Dynamics 82
3.1 Dynamics around neutral points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
3.2 Dynamics around attractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
4 Distribution of Fuzzy Cycles 93
References 94
V Monomial Dynamics in Finite Extensions of the Fields of
p-adic Numbers. 95
1 Introduction 97
2 Finite Field Extensions of the Field of p-adic Numbers 97
3 Roots of Unity 98
4 Monomial Dynamics 100
5 Counting Periodic Points 101
6 Asymptotic Behavior 103
7 Periodicity 106
References 109

viii
General Introduction
 1 Introduction

1 Introduction
Almost everything in nature and society that evolves in time can be de-
scribed as a dynamical system, the solar system, the weather, the stock
exchange, the flow of minds in our brains, et cetera.
We essentially have two kinds of dynamical systems, continuous and dis-
crete. A continuous dynamical system describes phenomena that evolve
continuously in time, while a discrete dynamical system describes phenom-
ena that evolve only at certain moments. In the latter case the dynamical
system is described by iterations of a function. In this thesis we will consider
discrete dynamical systems.
The purpose of studying dynamical systems is to predict the future of a
given phenomenon. Even if we could not do this exactly we are often able
to get some information about the long-time behavior of the system. One
way to classify this behavior is to find fixed points and cycles of the system,
and determine if these are attractive, repulsive or neutral.
When constructing a model of a phenomenon in nature or in society we,
almost without exception, use some set of numbers to represent a measur-
able quantity of the phenomenon. The by far most used set of numbers
is the field of rational numbers, Q, or some field that contains them (for
example the real numbers or the complex numbers). We also need a way of
measuring distances between different numbers, that is, we need a metric or
a topology on the set of numbers we use. On the rational numbers we very
often use the absolute value of the difference of two numbers to measure the
distance between them. But there are many other possibilities, for example
the so called p-adic absolute value.
We know that Q is not complete as a metric space with the metric induced
by the ordinary absolute value. We have the same situation for Q endowed
with the metric ρ induced by the p-adic absolute value. The completion
is the field of p-adic numbers, denoted by Qp . The metric ρ satisfies the
strong triangle inequality

ρ(x, z)  max(ρ(x, y), ρ(y, z)), (1.1)

and Qp is therefore an example of a so called ultrametric space.

The fact is that the ordinary absolute value and the p-adic absolute values
(for each prime number p) are essentially the only absolute values on Q.
This result is described in Ostrovski’s Theorem, see for example [14, 17, 32].
This theorem gives the p-adic numbers a special position, when it comes to
modeling. Which way of measuring distances on Q we choose must depend
on the phenomenon we are making a model of. Of course, the most common
way of measuring distances is by the ordinary absolute value, but there are
phenomena that need the p-adic distance, see for example [35, 16, 17, 36].
In this thesis we will study discrete dynamical systems over the Qp and
over finite field extensions of Qp . During the last couple of dekades there
has been an increasing interest for p-adic dynamical systems, induced by

3
General Introduction

p-adic mathematical physics, see [35, 36, 4, 13, 16] 1 . The p-adic dynamical
systems have for example been studied in [17, 21, 23, 33, 34] and in [5, 8,
9, 15, 22, 29, 30]. There were studies not only on dynamical systems over
Qp but also on extensions of Qp and more general non-Archimedean fields.
There are also several articles, [6, 7, 12, 20, 19], that propose p-adic models
for cognitive processes. Recently, in [1], multidimensional non-Archimedean
dynamical systems have been investigated.
The aim of this thesis is to investigate and describe a dynamical systems
given by iterations of the monomial

h(x) = xn , n
2. (1.2)

Even though this is function of a very simple type, we will see that the
dynamics will have a rich structure. A detailed analysis of monomial systems
over non-Archimedean fields (in particular Qp ) was first provided in [17].
Monomial systems over the field Qp and its finite exensions have then been
studied in for example [24], [25], [26], [27] and in [28]. These are the articles
that this thesis is based upon.
There are essentially two things that make the monomial dynamics more
interesting in Qp and its finite field extensions, than in the field C of complex
numbers. First, Qp and its finite extensions are not algebraically closed.
For exampel, the number of periodic points of a fixed period will vary with
p. Second, Qp and its finite extensions are totally disconnected, and they
possess a tree structure. Hopefully the structures described in this thesis
will imply new areas of applications of p-adic dynamical systems in the
future.

2 Fields of p-adic Numbers

In this chapter we will give a short introduction to the fields of p-adic
numbers and their extensions.

2.1 Non-Archimedean fields

Definition 2.1. Let K be a field. An absolute value on K is a function
|.| : K → R such that

• |x|
0 for all x ∈ K,

• |x| = 0 if and only if x = 0,

• |xy| = |x||y|, for all x, y ∈ K,

• |x + y|  |x| + |y|, for all x, y ∈ K.

1 p-adic mathematical physics also stimulated studies in non-Archimedean functional

analysis, see [10, 11, 2, 3].

4
 2 Fields of p-adic Numbers

If |.| in addition satisfies the strong triangle inequality,

|x + y|  max(|x|, |y|), (2.1)

for all x, y ∈ K then we say that |.| is non-Archimedean.

If |x| = 1 for all non-zero x ∈ K we call |.| the trivial absolute value. It is
easy to see that the trivial absolute value is non-Archimedean.

Proposition 2.2. Let K be a field and let |.| be a non-Archimedean absolute

value on K. Let x, y ∈ K such that |x| = |y|. Then

|x + y| = max(|x|, |y|). (2.2)

Every non-Archimedean field can be regarded as an ultrametric space

with the metric ρ(x, y) = |x − y| induced by the absolute value. Let a ∈ K
and let r ∈ R+ . The open ball of radius r with center a is the set

Br− (a) = {x ∈ K : |x − a| < r}.

The closed ball of radius r with center a is the set

Br (a) = {x ∈ K : |x − a|  r}.

The set
Sr (a) = {x ∈ K : |x − a| = r}
is called the sphere of radius r with center a.
It is sometimes important to underline in which field a ball or a sphere
is included. We then use the symbols Br− (a, K), Br (a, K) and Sr (a, K).
The strong triangle inequality and Proposition 2.2 have some remarkable
consequences for the balls in K.

• Every element of a ball can be regarded as a center of it.

• Each open ball is both open and closed as sets.

• Each closed ball of positive radius is both open and closed.

• Let B1 and B2 be balls in X. Then either B1 and B2 are orderd by

inclusion (B1 ⊆ B2 or B2 ⊆ B1 ) or B1 and B2 are disjoint.

• An ultrametric space is totally disconnected.

2.2 The field of p-adic numbers

Let p be a fixed prime number. By the fundamental theorem of arithmetics,
each non-zero integer n can be written uniquely as

n = pvp (n) n ,

5
General Introduction

where n is a non-zero integer, p
n , and vp (n) is a unique non-negative

integer. The function vp : Z \ {0} → N is called the p-adic valuation. If
a, b ∈ Z+ then we define the p-adic valuation of x = a/b as

vp (x) = vp (a) − vp (b). (2.3)

One can easily show that the valuation is well defined. The valuation of
x does not depend on the fractional representration of x. By using the p-
adic valuation we will define a new absolute value on the field of rational
numbers.

Definition 2.3. The p-adic absolute value of x ∈ Q \ {0} is given by

|x|p = p−vp (x) (2.4)

and |0|p = 0. When it is clear from the context which absolute value we use
we denote the p-adic absolute value by |.|.

It is easy to prove that the p-adic absolute value is non-Archimedean,

and that the metric ρ(x, y) = |x − y|p induced by it, is an ultrametric. Two
absolute values on a field K are said to be equivalent if they generate the
same topology on K. Essentially there are only two types of non-trivial
absolute values on Q. This is the essence of the following theorem.

Theorem 2.4 (Ostrovski). Every non-trivial absolute value on Q is either

equivalent to the real absolute value or to one of the p-adic absolute values.

For a proof of Ostrovski’s theorem see, for example, [32] or [14].

Let Q be endowed with the ultrametric induced by the p-adic absolute
value. However, this space is not complete. The completion of Q will be
a field, the field of p-adic numbers, Qp . The p-adic absolute value can be
extended to Qp and Q is dense in Qp . It is worth noting that

{|x|p : x ∈ Qp } = {|x|p : x ∈ Q} = {pm : m ∈ Z} ∪ {0}.

The set B1 (0) = {x ∈ Qp ; |x|p  1} is sometimes called the p-adic integers.

It is denoted by Zp . In fact, Zp is a subring of Qp and B1− (0) = {x ∈
Zp ; |x|p < 1} is a maximal ideal of Zp . The quotient ring Zp /B1− (0) is then
a field, called the residue class field of Qp . The residue class field of Qp is
isomorphic to the finite field Fp of p elements.

Theorem 2.5. Every x ∈ Qp can be expanded in the base p in the following

way


x= yj pj , (2.5)
jjmin

where jmin = vp (x) ∈ Z and 0  yj  p − 1 for j
jmin .

6
 2 Fields of p-adic Numbers

2.3 Extensions of the field of p-adic numbers

Everywhere below we denote by Kp a finite extension of the p-adic numbers.
Let m = [Kp : Qp ] denote the dimension of Kp as a vector space over Qp .
The p-adic absolute value |.|p can be extended to Kp , in the unique way. See
[14], [32] or [31] for details. But, how can we evaluate the p-adic valuation
on elements in Kp ? We need a function

NKp /Qp : Kp → Qp ,

which satisfies the equality

NKp /Qp (xy) = NKp /Qp (x) NKp /Qp (y).

This function is the so called norm from Kp to Qp . There exists several

ways to define NKp /Qp , all equivalent. Below, three of them are listed.

• Let α ∈ Kp and consider Kp as a finite dimensional Qp -vector space.

The map from Kp to Kp defined by multiplication by α is a Qp -linear
map. Since it is linear it corresponds to a matrix. We define NKp /Qp
to be the determinant of this matrix.

• Let α ∈ Kp and consider the subfield Qp (α). Let r = [Kp : Qp (α)]

and let T (α, Qp ) be the minimal polynomial of α over Qp and let
n = deg(T (α, Qp )). Then the norm is defined as

NKp /Qp (α) = (−1)nr ar0 ,

where T (α, Qp ) = an xn + an−1 xn−1 + · · · + a1 x + a0 .

• Suppose that Kp is a normal extension of Qp . Let G(Kp /Qp ) be the

Galois group of this extension. Then, for α ∈ Kp , the norm is defined
as 
NKp /Qp (α) = σ(α), for all σ ∈ G(Kp /Qp ).

Observe that |G(Kp /Qp )| = [Kp : Qp ], because Kp is a normal exten-

sion of Qp and Qp is of characteristic zero.

Since NKp /Qp (α) ∈ Qp for each α ∈ Kp it has a p-adic absolute value. We
can now use this to extend the p-adic absolute value to Kp .

Theorem 2.6. Let Kp be a finite extension of Qp and m = [Kp : Qp ]. Then

the function |.| : Kp → R+ defined by

|x| = m
| NKp /Qp (x)|p

is a non-Archimedean valuation on Kp that extends |.|p .

7
General Introduction

Since |.| is unique, |.|p can also be used to denote the extended p-adic
valuation. From algebra we know that for each finite extension Kp of Qp
there exists a finite normal extension of Qp which contains Kp . The smallest
such normal extension of Qp is called the normal closure of Qp over Kp . If
Kp is not a normal extension of Qp and we want to define a norm by using
Qp -automorphisms, then we consider the normal closure of Qp over Kp and
use the third definition of the norm.
Let Kp be a finite field extension of Qp and m = [Kp : Qp ]. For x ∈ Kp
set y = NKp /Qp (x). Then we have by Theorem 2.6 that
 
|x|p = |y|p = p−vp (y) = p−vp (y)/m = p−vp (x) ,
m m

where vp (x) = vp (y)/m, that is, vp (x) ∈ m

1
Z, because vp (y) ∈ Z.
If a, b ∈ Kp then vp (ab) = vp (a) + vp (b). This gives that vp is a homo-
morphism from the multiplicative group K× p to the additive group Q. Then
the image Im(vp ) is an additive subgroup of Q, and Im(vp ) ⊆ m 1
Z. Let
d/e be in Im(vp ), where d and e are relatively prime, chosen so that the
denominator e is the largest possible. This choice can be done because e
has to be a divisor of m, and the set of possible divisors is bounded. Since
d and e is relatively prime, there must be a multiple of d which is congruent
to 1 modulo e, that is, we can find r and s such that rd = 1 + se. But then
d 1 + se 1
r = = +s
e e e
is in Im(vp ). Since s ∈ Z ⊂ m 1
Z, it follows that 1/e ∈ Im(vp ). Since e
was chosen to be the largest possible denominator in Im(vp ), it follows that
Im(vp ) = 1e Z. This unique positive integer e is called the ramification index
of Kp over Qp . The extension Kp over Qp is called unramified if e = 1,
ramified if e > 1 and totally ramified if e = m.
Definition 2.7. We say that an element π ∈ K is a uniformizer if
vp (π) = 1/e.
The unit ball B1 (0, Kp ) = {x ∈ Kp ; |x|  1} is a subring of Kp and
B1− (0, Kp ) is a unique maximal ideal of B1 (0, Kp ). The quotient ring is
then a field, the residue class field of Kp .
We state a few facts about the extention Kp :
• Kp is locally compact and complete, but it is not algebraically closed
• Each x ∈ Kp can be written as x = uπ vπ (x) , where u ∈ S1 (0) and
vπ (x) = vp (x)e.
• The residue class field of Kp is isomorphic to Fpf , the field of pf
elements, where f = m/e. This number is called the residue class
field degree. The residue class field of Qp is Fp so f is the degree of
the residue class field as an extension of the residue class field of Qp .

8
 2 Fields of p-adic Numbers

• Let C = {c0 , c1 , . . . , cpf −1 } be a fixed complete set of representatives

of the cosets of B1− (0) in B1 (0). Then every x ∈ Kp has a unique
π-adic expansion of the form


x= = ai π i ,
ii0

where i0 ∈ Z and ai ∈ C for every i
i0 .

The union of all finite extentions of Qp is a field and an algebraic closure

of Qp . We denote this field by Qp . It is possible to extended the p-adic
absolute value to Qp . The possible positive values are pr , where r ∈ Q.
The algebraic closure Qp of Qp is an infinite extension and it is not com-
plete with respect to the metric induced by the p-adic absolute value. The
completion of Qp is however also algebraically closed and we call it the field
of complex p-adic numbers. We denote this field by Cp .

2.4 Hensel’s lemma

Let Kp be a finite extension of Qp and let π be a uniformizer. Let α, β ∈ Kp .
We say that α ≡ β (mod π γ ) if |α−β|p  |π|γp . The following theorem and its
corollary are important tools for finding solutions of polynomial equations.

Theorem 2.8. Let F (x) be a polynomial with coefficients in B1 (0, Kp ).

Assume that there exists α0 ∈ B1 (0, Kp ) and γ ∈ N such that

F (α0 ) ≡ 0 (mod π 2γ+1 )

F  (α0 ) ≡ 0 (mod π γ )
F  (α0 ) ≡ 0 (mod π γ+1 ).

Then there exists α ∈ B1 (0, Kp ) such that F (α) = 0 and α ≡ α0 (mod π γ+1 ).

Corollary 2.9 (Hensel’s lemma). Let F be a polynomial with coefficents

in B1 (0, Kp ) and suppose that there exits α0 ∈ B1 (0, Kp ) such that F (α0 ) ≡
0 (mod π) and F  (α0 ) ≡ 0 (mod π). Then there exists α ∈ B1 (0, Kp ) such
that F (α) = 0 and α ≡ α0 (mod π).

2.5 Roots of unity

The roots of unity in Kp will be essential for our investigations of the
monomial dynamical systems. Let Kp be a finite extension of Qp of de-
gree m = e · f , where e is the ramification index and f is the residue class
degree. The residue class field is isomorphic to Fpf .

Definition 2.10. We say that x ∈ Kp is an n-th root of unity f xn = 1. If

xn = 1 and xm = 1 for every m < n then we say that x is a root of unity of
order n or a primitive n-th root of unity.

9
General Introduction

The multiplicative group of Fpf is cyclic and has pf − 1 elements. Since

a cyclic group has a cyclic subgroup of order d for each divisor d of pf − 1,
for every d | pf − 1 there exists x ∈ F× pf
that generates the subgroup of d
elements and we also have xd = 1. The element x generates a group of d
roots of the polynomial xd − 1 in Fpf . Let us denote the d roots x1 , . . . , xd .
Take now d elements y1 , . . . yd of S1 (0, Kp ) such that yj belongs to the coset
that corresponds to xj . Then there are d approximate roots of F (x) =
xd − 1 = 0 in B1 (0, Kp ) because F (yj ) ≡ 0 (mod π) and F  (yj ) ≡ 0 (mod π).
Of course, the d different yj are located in d different cosets of B1− (0, Kp ).
Hence they are noncongruent modulo π. By Hensel’s lemma, for each d |
pf − 1, the equation xd − 1 = 0 has d solutions in Kp . We have proved the
following proposition.

Proposition 2.11. The field Kp contains the (pf − 1)-roots of unity.

We also have the following results, see for exemple [14] or [31] for proofs.

Proposition 2.12. Let n be an integer that is relatively prime to pf − 1.

Let xn = 1. Then x ≡ 1 (mod π) or in other words x ∈ B1− (1).

Proposition 2.13. If x ∈ B1− (1) such that xn = 1 then n is divisible by a

power of p and x is a root of unity for that power of p.

We know even more about the p-power roots of unity.

Theorem 2.14. Let ζ be a pt th root of unity in Kp . Then |ζ − 1|p =

1/ϕ(pt )
|p|p , where ϕ(pt ) = pt−1 (p − 1) (Euler’s ϕ-function).

See [31] for a proof. We have the following immediate consequences of

this theorem.

Corollary 2.15. Let e be the ramification index of Kp as an extension of

Qp . Let ζ ∈ Cp be a root of unity of order pt , where t
1. A neccesary
condition for ζ ∈ Kp is that ϕ(pt ) | e.

Corollary 2.16. Assume that Kp has ramification index e as an extension

of Qp . We then have at most e/(1 − 1/p) p-power roots of unity.

Corollary 2.17. Let m be the degree of Kp as an extension of Qp . Then

there is only a finite number of primes p, such that Kp possesses a p-power
root of unity.

Proof. Let e be the ramification index of the extension Kp /Qp . If p − 1 > m

then p − 1 > e and ϕ(ps )
e for any s
1.

Let t̂ be the largest integer for which there exists a root of unity of order
pt̂ in Kp . Recall that if ζ is a root of unity of order pt , then ζ generates a
cyclic group of order pt . The elements of this group are of course p-power
roots of unity of order ps , where 0  t  t.

10
 3 Discrete Dynamical Systems

Theorem 2.18. Let 1 < t  t̂ On the sphere Sp−1/ϕ(pt ) (1) there are ϕ(pt )
different roots of unity, all of order pt . Moreover, Kp contains pt̂ , p-power
roots of unity.

Proof. Let ζ be a root of unity of order pt̂ . Since the group generated by ζ
is cyclic, where are cyclic groups of order ps for every 1 < s  t̂. Every such
group has ϕ(ps ) generators, which all are roots of unity of order ps . Since
t̂
t=0 ϕ(p ) = p , Kp contains p p-power roots of unity. The rest follows
t t̂ t̂

from Theorem 2.14.

Theorem 2.19. Let Kp be a finite extension of Qp with residue class degree

f . Let t̂ be the p-power root of unity of highest order. We then have (pf −1)pt̂
roots of unity in Kp .

3 Discrete Dynamical Systems

This chapter is devoted to discrete p-adic dynamical systems, namely iter-
ation
xn+1 = h(xn ) (3.1)

of functions h : K → K on a complete non-Archimedean field K. Mostly, we

will let K be Qp or a finite extension, Kp , of Qp . Below, we will sometimes
write “the dynamical system h(x)” when referring to the dynamical system
that is described by iterations of h.

3.1 Periodic points and their character

For a given point x0 the set of points {hm (x0 ); m ∈ N} is called the trajectory
or orbit through x0 . Some orbits of a dynamical system are of particular
interest:

Definition 3.1. A point x0 ∈ X is said to be a periodic point if there exists

r ∈ N such that hr (x0 ) = x0 . The least r with this property is called the
period of x0 . If x0 has period r, it is called an r-periodic point. A 1-periodic
point is called a fixed point. The orbit of an r-periodic point x0 is

{x0 , x1 , . . . , xr−1 },

where xj = hj (x0 ), 0  j  r − 1. This orbit is called an r-cycle.

An r-cycle consists of r different r-periodic points. See Figure 3.1. Each

element of the cycle has the cycle as its orbit. As a simple consequence we
have that the number of r-periodic point of a discrete dynamical system is
always divisible by r.
The periodic points have different charcters.

11
General Introduction

f
x1

x2 f

f x0

x3 f
x4
f

Figure 3.1: A 5-cycle contains five different 5-periodic points.

Definition 3.2. Let x0 be an r-periodic point and let g(x) = hr (x). If

there exists a ball Bρ− (x0 ) such that for every x ∈ Bρ− (x0 ) we have

lim g s (x) = x0
s→∞

then we say that x0 is an attractor. The set

A(x0 ) = {x ∈ X; lim g s (x) = x0 }

s→∞

is called the basin of attraction of x0 .

Definition 3.3. Let x0 be an r-periodic point and let g(x) = hr (x). If

there exists a ball Bρ− (x0 ) such that |x − x0 | < |g(x) − x0 | for every x ∈
Bρ− (x0 ), x = x0 then x0 is said to be a repeller.

Definition 3.4. See [17]. Let x0 be an r-periodic point. If there exists

an open ball Bρ− (x0 ) such that for every ρ < ρ the spheres Sρ
(x0 ) are
invariant under the map g = hr then Bρ− (x0 ) is said to be a Siegel disk and
x0 is said to be a center of a Siegel disk. The union of all Siegel disks with
center x0 is the Siegel disk of maximal radius of x0 . It is denoted by SI(x0 ).

Definition 3.5. An r-periodic point x0 is said to be attractive if |g  (x0 )| <

1, indifferent if |g  (x0 )| = 1 and repelling if |g  (x0 )| > 1.

Theorem 3.6. Let a be a fixed point of a dynamical system given by a

polynomial function h(x) over a non-Archimedean valued field.

(i) If a is an attracting point of h then it is an attractor of the dynamical

system.

12
 4 Summary of the Thesis

(ii) If a is an indifferent point of h then it is the center of a Siegel disk.

(iii) If a is a repelling point of h then a is a repeller of the dynamical
system.
The following Theorem follows directly from the chain rule.
Theorem 3.7. If one r-periodic point of an r-cycle is an attractor (re-
peller, center of a Siegel disc) then all the r-periodic points of that cycle are
attractors (repellers, centers of Siegel discs).
In view of this theorem, it makes sense to speak about the basin of attraction
of a cycle.

 γ = {x0 , x1 , . . . , xr−1 }. The basin

Definition 3.8. Let γ be an r-cycle, say
of attraction of γ is defined as A(γ) = x∈γ A(x), where A(x) is the basin
of attraction of x.

4 Summary of the Thesis

We investigate monomial dynamical systems over Qp or over finite field
extensions over Qp , denoted by Kp . The monomial dynamical systems are
described by iterations of

h(x) = xn , n ∈ N, n
2. (4.1)

Even though this is function of a very simple type, we will see that the
dynamics will have a rich structure. A detailed analysis of monomial systems
over non-Archimedean fields, in particular over Qp , its finite extensions and
the field of complex numbers p-adic numbers, Cp , was first provided in
[17]. The field Qp and its finite extensions are not algebraically closed. For
example, the number of r-periodic points will vary with p. This is one of
the reasons why monomial dynamics are more interesting over Kp than over
the real or complex numbers.
Let Pr (h, K) denote the number of r-periodic points of h in the field K.
In Paper I we find a formula for Pr (h, Qp ), by using methods from number
theory, for example Möbius inversion. In Paper V this formula is generalized
to finite extensions. We find that


Pr (h, Kp ) = µ(r/d) gcd(nd − 1, (pf − 1)pt̂ ), (4.2)
d|r

where µ is Möbius function and t̂ is the largest integer such that there exists
a root of unity of order pt̂ . If p > 2 and Kp = Qp then t̂ = 0 and f = 1.
A large part of this thesis circulates around the limit
1

lim Pr (h, Kp ), (4.3)
t→∞ π(t)
p
t

13
General Introduction

where π(t) denotes the number of primes p  t and the sum is extended
over prime numbers less than or equal to the real number t. We interpret
this limit as the asymptotic mean value of the number of r-periodic points
in Kp , when p → ∞.
The limit (4.3) is calculated for Qp in Paper I, Paper II and Paper III by
use of different methods. We find that
1


lim Pr (h, Qp ) = µ(r/d)τ (nd − 1), (4.4)
t→∞ π(t)
p
t d|r

where τ (m) for m ∈ Z+ denotes the number of positive divisors of m. In

Paper I, we perform an elementary proof by use of some well known technics
from number theory.
In Paper II we instead use probabilistic methods for proving (4.4). We
run into some difficulties when defining a probability measure on the set
of prime numbers, but solve this by considering a more general probability
concept, see [18]. There is no uniform Kolmogorov probability measure
on the set of all prime numbers. Therefore we have to consider a finite
additive “generalized probability”. We consider the number of cycles as a
generalized random variable and calculate the expectation and the variance
with respect to a finite-additive probability measure. In Paper III we use
Galois theory and methods from algebraic number theory, especially the
Theorem of Čebotarev to compute the limit (4.4).
In Paper V we instead consider the limit (4.3) for finite extensions Kp
och Qp , with fixed residue class field degree f . By generalizing the technic
from Paper I we find that
1



lim Pr (xn , Kp ) = µ(r/d) νf (l), (4.5)
t→∞ π(t)
p
t d
d|r l|n −1

where νf (l) denotes the number of solutions of xf ≡ 1 (mod l). It turns out
that the limit (4.5) is a periodic in f .
In paper IV we study the dynamics of balls in Qp under the monomial
x → xn . Following Khrennikov in [17] a cycle of balls is called a fuzzy
cycle1 . There is a one-to-one correspondence between the fuzzy cycles of
balls of radius 1/p and the cycles in Qp . However, the structure of fuzzy
cycle of balls of radius r  1/p2 is non-trivial. Some numerical experiments
to clearify the structure were performed in Khrennikov [17]. In Paper IV
the structure of fuzzy cycles is investigated by analytic methods. We also
present an algorithm for calculating the number of fuzzy cycles.
In this thesis we also consider perturbed monomial systems over the field
of p-adic numbers. This is done in Paper I. This systems are generated by
polynomials
hq (x) = xn + q(x), (4.6)
1 This concept has nothing to do with the fuzzy set theory.

14
 References

where the perturbation q(x) is a polynomial whose coefficients have a small

p-adic absolute value. We investigate the connection between monomial and
perturbated monomial systems by use of Hensel’s lemma. As in the mono-
mial case the interesting dynamics of perturbated systems are essentially
located on the unit sphere in Qp . Sufficient conditions on the perturba-
tion for the two systems to have similar properties are derived. By similar
properties we mean that there is a one to one correspondence between fixed
points and cycles of the two kinds of systems.

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