ICCM 2007 Vol.

II 773799
On p-adic Dynamical Systems
A. H. Fan

Y. F. Wang

Abstract
The theory of p-adic dynamical systems is rapidly developing in recent years. We
survey some aspects of p-adic dynamics including Julia set, Fatou set, unique ergod-
icity, ergodic decomposition and chaotic behaviors etc. We discuss recent progresses
and some unsolved problems in this topic.
2000 Mathematics Subject Classication: 37B05,37B10, 37F10.
Keywords and Phrases: p-adic eld, v-ordering, Legendre set, Fatou set and
Julia set, Minimality, Odometer, Ergodic Decomposition.
1 Introduction
The theory of p-adic dynamical systems is recently rapidly developing (see the
books [50, 53, 64, 80, 83]). Motivated by dierent parts of mathematics and
physics where it is natural to treat the p-adic completion of the eld Q of rational
numbers and to use this completed eld (including number theory, algebraic and
arithmetic geometry, cryptography, physical models, biological models, and so on),
many mathematicians and physicists have studied p-adic dynamical systems.
The p-adic dynamics appears naturally in the study of smooth dynamics, of
algebraic dynamics and in other ways. For example, an ergodic algebraic auto-
morphism of a torus preserving Haar measure was shown by Katznelson [49] to
be isomorphic to a Bernoulli shift which is of p-adic nature. This was general-
ized by Lind [58] to skew products with ergodic group automorphism where the
understanding of the p-adic hyperbolicity was involved. See [26, 59, 60] for other
situations where p-adic dynamics or p-adic consideration arise.
It seems that the rst study of p-adic dynamical systems is the work of Oselies
and Zieschang [68] where they considered the continuous automorphisms of the
ring of p-adic integers Z
p
viewed as an additive group, which are multiplication
transformations M
a
(x) = ax with a Z

p
, a unit in Z
p
. They constructed an
ergodic decomposition of M
a
: Z

p
Z

p
which consists of the cosets of the

A. H. Fan: LAMFA, UMR 4160, CNRS, University of Picardie, 33 Rue Saint Leu, 80039
Amiens, France. E-mail: ai-hua.fan@u-picardie.fr.

Institute of Mathematics, AMSS,Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China. E-

mail: wangyf@math.ac.cn. Supported in part by NSF of China.
774 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
smallest closed subgroup containing a of the unit group Z

p
. These multiplication
transformations were also studied by Coelho and Parry [31] in order to study the
distribution of Fibonacci numbers. The simple power transformations
n
(x) =
x
n
acting on the group of units Z

p
were studied by Gundlach, Khrennikov and
Lindahl [43]. Herman and Yoccoz ([45]) proved that Siegels linearization theorem
in complex dynamical systems is also true for non-Archimedean elds. Their work
might be the rst one on complex p-adic dynamics. Lubin [62] used the formal
groups from local arithmetic geometry to study iterates of p-adic analytic maps.
Li [57], Benedetto [12], Hsia [47], Rivera-Letelier [71], Jones [48] and others have
systematically studied iteration of rational maps over the p-adic Riemann sphere.
In a dierent direction, Morton and Silverman [66], Arrowsmith and Vivaldi [7]
and others have also studied arithmetic dynamics using p-adic techniques.
In this paper, we shall survey some aspects of dynamics on local elds includ-
ing nite extensions of the eld of p-adic numbers Q
p
. We shall discuss minimal-
ity and ergodic decomposition of isometries, and chaotic behavior of expanding
dynamics. As we shall see, the odometers and the subshifts of nite types are
prototypes for these dynamics. The elds of complex p-adic numbers C
p
contains
many local elds. So for a given complex p-adic dynamics we could focus on some
subeld of C
p
to get local picture. We shall start with a discussion on dynamics
on C
p
comparing with dynamics on C.
2 Preliminaries
2.1 The p-adic numbers and non-archimedean elds
We rst recall the p-adic numbers and some notation. We refer to [2, 25, 42, 77,
78, 79] for a full introduction to the p-adic numbers.
A more general notion is that of a non-archimedean eld. Let K be a eld.
An absolute value (also called valuation) on K is a function [ [ : K [0, ) such
that
(i) [x[ 0 for all x K, and [x[ = 0 i x = 0;
(ii) [xy[ = [x[ [y[ for all x, y K;
(iii) [x +y[ [x[ +[y[ for all x, y K.
The absolute value [[ is said to be non-archimedean if the above triangle inequality
(iii) is replaced by the strong triangle inequality:
(iii) [x +y[ max[x[, [y[ for all x, y K.
In this case, K is called a non-archimedean eld. The image under [ [ of the
multiplicative group K

of K is a subgroup of (R
+
, ). If this subgroup is discrete,
then we say [ [ is discrete.
This general notion of absolute value on a eld was introduced in 1913 by
J. K urschak [55]. In 1917, A. Ostrowski [69] described absolute values on some
classical elds, including the eld of rationals.
Let p 2 be a prime number. For all n Z0, we denote by
p
(n)
the greatest integer k 0 such that p
k
divides n in Z. By convention, we put
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 775

p
(0) = +. For all x = m/n Q with m, n Z and n ,= 0, dene
[x[
p
:= p
p(m/n)
:= p
(p(m)p(n))
.
It is well known that [[
p
is a (discrete) valuation over Q, called the normalized
p-adic valuation over Q, while
p
is called the normalized p-adic exponential valu-
ation over Q. The eld of p-adic numbers Q
p
is the topological completion of the
eld Q with respect to the metric induced by [[
p
. Each z Q
p
can be written in
a unique manner as
z =

np(z)
z
n
p
n
(0 z
n
< p).
The fractional part of z is dened as
z :=

0>np(z)
z
n
p
n
.
For a Q
p
and r > 0, denote the ball x Q
p
: [x a[
p
r by B
r
(a) and the
sphere x Q
p
: [x a[
p
= r by S
r
(a).
Let Z
p
be the topological closure of Z. It is nothing but the unit ball Z
p
=
B
1
(0). We note that Z
p
is a local ring (i.e., a commutative ring which has only one
maximal ideal), and that its group of units and its maximal ideal are respectively
U = z Z
p
: [z[
p
= 1, and = z Z
p
: [z[
p
< 1
i.e. U = S
1
(0) and = Z
p
U = pZ
p
. For all integers n 0, we denote
U
n
:= 1 +
n
= 1 +p
n
Z
p
= B
p
n(1)
(U
0
= U), which are subgroups of U. We also denote, for all n 0,
S
n
:= U
n
U
n+1
= S
p
n(1).
It is clear that we have the following partitions
U
k
=

_
n=k
S
n
, (k 1).
More generally, let K be any eld of characteristic zero with a non-trivial
discrete valuation [ [. Then the unit ball V := x K : [x[ 1 is a subdomain
in K. This ring, called the ring of integers in K, has a unique maximal ideal given
by M := x K : [x[ < 1. If the residue ring V/M is nite and if K is complete
with respect to [ [, then we call K a p-adic eld.
Let K be an algebraic extension of some complete non-archimedean eld L.
Then there is one and only one way to extend the absolute value [ [ on L to an
absolute value on K, which is still denoted by [ [ (Krull Theorem, see [78]).
Finite algebraic extensions of Q
p
are examples of p-adic eld and the absolute
value [ [
p
on Q
p
can be uniquely extended. However, extensions of any nite
776 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
order of Q
p
are not algebraically closed. The algebraic closure Q
a
p
of Q
p
, which
is an innite-dimensional vector space over Q
p
, is algebraically closed but not
topologically complete. Fortunately the completion of Q
a
p
is an algebraically closed
eld (Krasner theorem, see [78]). We denote this eld by C
p
, which is the eld of
complex p-adic numbers.
2.2 Non-archimedean analysis
The dynamical systems that we are going to study are dened by maps with
dierent properties (being polynomial, analytic or Lipschtzian etc). Here we give
a brief review of dierent classes of functions. We refer to [2, 25, 42, 79, 78] for a
full review of non-archimedean analysis.
Let K be a complete non-archimedean eld (it may be Q
p
, C
p
or an algebraic
extension of nite order of Q
p
). If K is discrete, then V denotes its ring of integers.
Let X K and f : X K be a function.
Let C(X, K) be the linear space of continuous functions f : X K and
C
b
(X, K) be the subspace of bounded continuous functions. Equipped with the
norm |f| = sup
xX
[f(x)[, C
b
(X, K) is a non-archimedean Banach space (the
strong triangle inequality holds). If X is compact, then C(X, K) = C
b
(X, K).
Locally constant functions are dense in C(X, K) (relative to the norm | |). If X
is compact, polynomials are dense in C
b
(X, K) (Kaplansky Theorem).
Theorem 2.1. Each function f C(Z
p
, Q
p
) admits a unique Mahler series
f(x) =

n=0
a
n
_
x
n
_
where, a
n
is computed by the dierence operator f(x) = f(x+1)f(x) as follows
a
n
=
n
f(0) =
n

j=0
(1)
j
C
j
n
f(n j).
Let us look at an example. The fullshift on 0, 1
N
which is identied with
Z
2
is equal to (x) =
x
2

x
2
. Here is its Mahler series
x
2

_
x
2
_
=

n=0
(2)
n
_
x
n
_
.
We denote by L
1
(X, K) the space of all 1-Lipschitzian functions f : X K:
[f(x) f(y)[ [x y[ for all x, y X.
Write L
1
(X) = L
1
(X, X). Note that f L
1
(Z
p
) if and only if f(x) = f(y)(
mod p
k
) whenever x = y( mod p
k
). Thus, such functions are exactly those ones
that preserve all congruences of the ring Z
p
, i.e. they map cosets into cosets:
f(a +p
k
Z
p
) f(a) +p
k
Z
p
for any a Z
p
and any k 1, or in other words, they
map balls into balls.
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 777
Assume that X is a ball in K. A function f : X K is analytic if f can
be developed into a Taylor series

n=0
a
n
(x c)
n
with c X, a
n
K which
converges at each point x X. The analyticity doesnt depend on the choice of c.
A more general notion is the locally analyticity. Let X be an open set. A function
f : X K is locally analytic if for each a X, f[
Br(a)
is analytic for some r > 0.
In the case X = Z
p
, if we can take r = p
h
with h 0, then f is said to be locally
analytic of order h. Analytic functions on Z
p
are locally analytic of order 0.
A polynomial in Z
p
[x] or even an analytic function

n=0
a
n
x
n
with a
n
Z
p
is in L
1
(Z
p
).
Let us mention two important analytic functions which are analogs of the
classical exponential and logarithmic functions:
Exp(z) :=
+

n=0
z
n
n!
([z[ < p
1/(p1)
),
Log(1 +z) :=
+

n=1
(1)
n+1
z
n
n
([z[ < 1).
Here we assume that K is of characteristic 0 and V/M is of characteristic p.
In the case X = Q
p
, we denote by r
p
the least integer such that r
p
> 1/(p1).
In other words, we have r
2
= 2 and r
p
= 1 for p 3.
Theorem 2.2. The following assertions hold:
(1) The series dening Exp(z) converges if and only if [z[
p
p
rp
;
(2) The series dening Log(1 +z) converges if and only if [z[
p
1/p;
(3) Exp :
rp
U
rp
and Log : U
rp

rp
are isometric group isomorphisms.
One is the inverse of the other.
The isometry means
[Exp(z
1
) Exp(z
2
)[
p
= [z
1
z
2
[
p
= [Log(1 +z
1
) Log(1 + z
2
)[
p
for all z
1
, z
2

rp
. On non-archimedean elds there are many such isometries or
local isometries. Let X be a nonempty subset of K without isolated points. A
function f : X K if continuously dierentiable at a point a X if
f(x) f(y) f

(a)(x y) = o(x y) (as (x, y) (a, a)).

Since, in the denition, x and y tends to a independently, the continuous dieren-
tiability is stronger than the dierentiability of f at a:
f(x) f(a) = f

(a)(x a) +o(x a).

Theorem 2.3 ([78]). If f : X K is continuously dierentiable at a X with
f

(a) ,= 0, then there is a ball B

r
(a) such that
[f(x) f(y)[ = [f

(a)[ [x y[ (x, y X B
r
(a)).
778 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
This property, called the local injectivity, is a direct consequence of the con-
tinuous dierentiability. Actually, under the same condition, f is locally invertible:
we can choose an r > 0 such that f maps B
r
(a) bijectively onto B
|f

(a)|r
(f(a)). If
g denote the local inverse of f, then g is also continuously dierentiable at f(a)
and f

(a)g

(f(a)) = 1.
For any analytic function f(x) =

n=0
a
n
x
n
dened on Z
p
taking values in
C
p
(or even in a Banach space over a complete extension of Q
p
), Robert [76] proved
the following nite-increment theorem: for all x Z
p
and all [h[ p
1/(p1)
,
[f(x +h) f(x)[ [h[
p
max
n1
[na
n
[.
This gives a precise estimate for the radius r in Theorem 2.3.
Let us consider the subclass of 1-Lipschitz maps
B(Z
p
) =
_

i=0
b
i
x(x 1) (x i + 1) : b
i
Z
p
_
.
This is the ring of all descending factorial power series over Z
p
. It is also a
non-Archimedean Banach space with the norm max
zZp
[f(z)[
p
, which is the com-
pletion of Z
p
[x]. It contains the following proper space of analytic maps
((Z
p
) =
_

i=0
c
i
x
i
: c
i
Z
p
, [c
i
[
p
0
_
.
A remarkable property of the space B(Z
p
) is that B(Z
p
) is closed under
composition and derivation. Another remarkable property is that any map f in
B(Z
p
) is locally analytic of order 1:
f(a +h) = f(a) +f

(a)h +
f

(a)
2!
h
2
+
f

(a)
3!
h
3
+ .
for all a Z
p
and h pZ
p
and that
f
(n)
(a)
n!
Z
p
. This implies that for any k 1
there is a number f

k
(a) Q
p
, called the derivative modulo p
k
of f at a, and a
rational positive integer N
k
(f) such that [h[
p
p
N
k
(f)
implies
f(a +h) = f(a) +f

k
(a)h ( mod p
k+N
k
(f)
).
Here we take N
k
(f) to be the least integer having the above property. A function
sharing the last property is said to be uniformly dierentiable modulo p
k
.
There is a class wider than B(Z
p
):
/(Z
p
) = f L
1
(Z
p
) : p
n
f B(Z
p
) for some n 1.
We nish by the following observation
Z
p
[x] ((Z
p
) B(Z
p
) /(Z
p
) L
1
(Z
p
).
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 779
2.3 Topological and measurable dynamics
Let X be a compact metric space, and T : X X a continuous mapping. For
each x X, we set O
T
(x) := T
n
x : n 0, and call it the orbit of x under T. Its
closure will be denoted by O
T
(x). The system (X, T) or (more simply T) is said
to be minimal if X = O
T
(x), for all x X. Let be a Borel probability measure
on X. We say that is T-invariant if
(T
1
(B)) = (B),
for all Borel measurable subsets B of X. The system (X, T) always possesses a
T-invariant Borel probability measure. If it has only one, then we say that the
system (or T) is uniquely ergodic. A topological dynamical system is said strictly
ergodic if it is minimal and uniquely ergodic.
The above notions are popular. Let us introduce a less popular one. Let F
be a T-invariant nonempty closed subset of X, i.e., we have T(F) F. Then
(F, T[
F
) is also a topological dynamical system, called a subsystem of (X, T).
Often in this case we say by simplicity that F is a subsystem of (X, T). If a
subsystem (F, T[
F
) is strictly ergodic, then we call F a strictly ergodic component
of (X, T). The unique T-invariant probability measure on F is said to be the
associated measure of F.
3 Dynamics on C
p
In this section we shall discuss the dynamical systems on C
p
, with comparison
with dynamics on C.
In 1981, Herman and Yoccoz ([45]) proved that Siegels linearization theorem
in complex dynamical systems is also true for non-Archimedean elds (the elds
of prime characteristic was later considered by Lindahl [61]). This might be the
rst paper on complex p-adic dynamical systems. Though the central problems
are still open, the study of complex dynamical systems has been much well de-
veloped during last decades, while that of p-adic dynamical systems seems just
in its comparatively early stage. The parallel theory of p-adic dynamical sys-
tems has been investigated, using the theory of complex dynamics as a model,
by Baker, Benedetto, Bezivin, Chambert-Loir, Favre, Hsia, Khrennikov, Rivera-
Letelier, Rumely and many others. We shall mention just a few results as follows.
Fatou set and Julia set are the two basic objects in question. There are two
ways to dene the Fatou set by normality or by equicontinuity equivalently. Since
C
p
is not locally compact and is totally disconnected, it is more convenient to
dene the Fatou set in term of equicontinuity. We begin with a few denitions.
Let us rst consider the space of projective lines P
1
(C
p
), the analogous to the
Riemann sphere. We view P
1
(C
p
) as C
p
and can dene the spherical metric
analogously to the standard spherical metric on the Riemann sphere in term of
[ [
p
: we x a homogeneous coordinate system on P
1
(C
p
). Every point of P
1
(C
p
)
has a homogeneous coordinate [x, y] (x, y C
p
not both zero). Let P = [x, y]
and Q = [u, v] be any two points in P
1
(C
p
), their spherical distance is dened as
780 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
follows
(P, Q) =
[xv yu[
p
max[x[
p
, [y[
p
max[u[
p
, [v[
p

.
Let X and Y be metric spaces with metrics d
X
and d
Y
respectively. A family
of maps F = f : X Y is said to be equicontinuous if given > 0, there exists
a > 0 such that d
Y
(f(x
1
), f(x
2
)) < for f F and any x
1
, x
2
X with
d
X
(x
1
, x
2
) < .
Denition 3.1. Let f(z) C
p
(z) be a rational function. The p-adic Fatou set of
f is dened to be the subset F
f
of points x P
1
(C
p
) such that in a small disk of
center x the family of maps f
n
is equicontinuous with respect to the spherical
metric. The p-adic Julia set, denoted by J
f
, is the complement set of F
f
.
The p-adic Fatou set is open and p-adic Julia set is closed. Both are com-
pletely invariant under f:
f(F
f
) = f
1
(F
f
) = F
f
, f(J
f
) = f
1
(J
f
) = J
f
.
While the Fatou set may be empty and Julia set is never empty and compact in
P
1
(C), we have
Theorem 3.2. ([12], [24], [66]) The p-adic Fatou set is never empty; the p-adic
Julia set may be empty and may not be compact.
The classical Montels theorem in complex analysis is a useful tool in complex
dynamics, which says that for a given family of meromorphic functions in a domain
of the complex plane, if each function in the family omits three distinct complex
points in P
1
(C
p
), then the family is normal there. Hsia ([47]) obtained an analogue
of Montels theorem over non-archimedean elds.
Theorem 3.3. ([[47]) A family of meromorphic functions on a disk is equicontin-
uous there, if each function in the family omits only two distinct points in P
1
(C
p
).
Hsia ([47]) also showed the following results analogue to complex case.
Theorem 3.4. ([47]) (i) The Julia set is perfect. That is, a nonempty Julia set
has no isolated points.
(ii) The Julia set is contained in the closure of periodic points.
Let x C
p
be a periodic point of f of period n. Then we dene the multiplier
of x to be (f
n
)

(x). We call a periodic point x with multiplier is attracting,

repelling or neutral respectively if [[ <, >, or = 1. Moreover, x is called supper
attracting if = 0, rational neutral if is a root of unity and irrational neutral if
[[ = 1 but not a root of unity.
In the complex case, attracting points are in the Fatou set, and repelling and
rational neutral points are in the Julia set. But the irrational neutral points are
very complicated and can be in either Fatou or Julia set. It is rather clear for
p-adic case.
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 781
Theorem 3.5. ([12]) A periodic point x is in the Fatou set if it is non-repelling
and it is in the Julia set if it is repelling. Moreover f has at least one non-repelling
xed point.
The last assertion in the theorem implies that the p-adic Fatou set is never
empty. Complex rational functions has only nitely many non-repelling periodic
points while p-adic rational functions may have innitely many non-repelling pe-
riodic points ([12], [47], [71]).
For complex dynamics, the Julia set is the closure of repelling periodic points
and each point of the Julia set is accumulated by repelling periodic points. Bezivin
([22]) extends the results to p-adic case.
Theorem 3.6. ([22]) If a rational function f in P
1
(C
p
) has at least one repelling
periodic point, then the closure of the repelling periodic points is the Julia set of
f; moreover each point of the Julia set is accumulated by repelling periodic points.
Therefore the following interesting question remains open.
Problem 3.7. Is the Julia set empty if f has no repelling periodic point in P
1
(C
p
)?
A partial result was obtained in [24].
There are many rather deep investigations on the local properties and dy-
namics of the periodic points in contrast with that in complex dynamical systems
(see, for example, [19], [21], [71], [72], [75]).
Rivera-Letelier obtained a series of interesting results, which are very dierent
from that of complex dynamical systems. Let f C
p
(z) be a rational function of
degree d > 1. The fraction of f on P
1
(C
p
) extends canonically to the Bruhat-Tits
building H
p
of PSL(2, C
p
) (see [72]).
Theorem 3.8. ([71], [72], [75]) Let f C
p
(z) be a rational function of degree
d > 1.Then
(i) the number of super-attracting cycles and rational neutral cycles of f is
at most 2d 2; if f has more than 3d 3 attracting cycles, f has innitely many
such cycles;
(ii) f always has a repelling xed point in P
1
(C
p
)

H
p
;
(iii) if f has 2 non-repelling periodic points in P
1
(C
p
) then f has innitely
many non-repelling periodic points in P
1
(C
p
);
(iv) the number of periodic points of f in H
p
is 0, 1 or ; this number is 1
if and only if f has good inseparable reduction; this number is 0 if and only if f
has one and only one non-repelling periodic point in P
1
(C
p
).
This is in contrast with the complex dynamics of rational functions. In the
complex setting, a rational function of degree d has innitely many periodic points
but can have at most 2d 2 non-repelling cycles.
A Fatou component in the Fatou set is eventually periodic if the component
has only nitely many forward orbit. Otherwise it is a wandering domain. By
using the theories of quasiconformal mappings and Teichm uller spaces, Sullivan
[81] solved an old problem of Fatou and Julia and proved that complex rational
782 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
functions have no wandering Fatou components, that is, all Fatou components are
eventually periodic. The dynamics of a Fatou component is completely classied.
Let U be a xed Fatou component of f. Then there are four possibilities.
(i) Attracting basin. The component U contains an attracting xed point
which attracts all other points of the component.
(ii) Parabolic basin. The boundary of component U contains an rational
neutral xed point which attracts all other points of the component.
(iii) Siegel disk. The component U contains an irrational neutral xed point
about which all other points of the component rotate.
(iv) Herman ring. The component U is holomorphically an annulus and all
points rotate around it with no periodic points.
Rivera-Letelier (see [71], [73]) gave a classication of the periodic components
of the Fatou set of p-adic rational maps.
Theorem 3.9. ([71],[73]) Each Fatou periodic component is either an attracting
basin or an open anoid, where the dynamics is quasi-periodic.
The second case is a p-adic analogues of Siegel discs and Herman rings. There
is also a classication of periodic points ([1]).
Theorem 3.10. ([1]) Let x be a periodic point of rational function f(z) C
p
(z).
Then
(i) If x is an attracting point, then x is an attractor of the dynamics;
(ii) If x is a repelling point, then x is an repeller of the dynamics;
(iii) If x is a neutral point then x is the center of a Siegel disk.
Here the Siegel disk is dened to be a ball B
r
(x), such that each sphere S

(x)
( < r) is invariant under iteration.
It is natural to consider the wandering problem for p-adic dynamics. Benedetto
[16] constructed p-adic polynomials in C
p
[z] whose Fatou sets have wandering do-
mains. There are more examples of and extended results on wandering domains
[18], [20].
Problem 3.11. Does a rational map whose coecients are algebraic over Q
p
have
no wandering components of the Fatou set?
Benedetto ([12], or [13]) has shown that any counter-example to this conjec-
ture must have a wild recurrent critical point.
Theorem 3.12. ([12], [13]) Let K be a nite extension of Q
p
and let f K(z)
have no recurrent wild critical points in its Julia set. Then the Fatou set of f has
no wandering D-components.
Here a critical point x P
1
(C
p
) of f is wild if the index of ramication of f
at x is divisible by p, and the D-component in F(f) is the largest disk contained
in F(f).
Rivera-Letelier ([74]) provided the rst examples of rational maps whose
coecients are algebraic over Q
p
and that have a wild recurrent critical point.
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 783
Benedetto ([14] also proved that hyperbolic functions have no wandering domains.
Here a p-adic hyperbolic function is showed to be equivalently the function whose
J
f
contains no critical points.
Many topics in complex dynamics such as ergodic theory, hyperbolicity and
Mandelbrot set etc, may be considered analogously in p-adic dynamics ( see for
example, [8], [9], [17], [30], [40], [41], [48] , [51]).
In C
p
there are many subelds, including all nite extensions of Q
p
. Let K
be a complete subeld of C
p
. If f K(x) C
p
(x), we can consider the dynamics
f : K K and regard it as a local system of f : C
p
C
p
.
In the sequent, we will consider a complete p-adic eld and Lipschitz maps
f : K K which are not necessarily analytic. We will distinguish two cases: the
Lipschitz constant is equal to 1 or the Lipschitz constant is larger than 1.
4 Minimality and unique ergodicity
Let K be a complete p-adic eld and let E be a compact set in K. We are going to
study the dynamics dened by a map L
1
(E). We are interested in when it is
minimal, or equivalently uniquely ergodic. As we shall see, if is minimal, then E
must be a Legendre set and must be an isometry; each minimal system is actually
conjugate to an odometer that is uniquely determined by the structure sequence
of the Legendre set E. In the special of K = Q
p
and E = Z
p
, there is an extensive
study on the minimality for polynomials Z
p
[x] ([3, 4, 5, 31, 32, 35, 43, 56]),
for some classes of analytic maps ([5]). Our presentation follows [29].
4.1 Legendre sets and v-orderings
We need some algebraic notions. That of v-ordering due to Bhargava [10, 11] is
important in the characterization of minimality of p-adic isometries. We recall
here notions of v-ordering, strong v-ordering and Legendre set etc and some useful
results most of which are taken from [34, 38, 39].
We denote by V the ring of integers of K, and denote by M the maximal
ideal of V , by q the cardinality of the residue eld V/M. Let v be the valuation
on K such that v(K

) = Z. One associates to v an absolute value on K dened

by [ [
v
= q
v()
.
We denote by Int(E, V ) the sub-V -module of K[X] consisting of all integer-
valued polynomials on E (with respect to V ), that is,
Int(E, V ) = f K[X] [ x E, f(x) V .
A sequence a
n

nN
of elements of E is a v-ordering of E if, for each n 0,
we have
v
_
n1

k=0
(a
n
a
k
)
_
v
_
n1

k=0
(x a
k
)
_
for every x E.
There always exist v-orderings.
784 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
Theorem 4.1. ([10]) A sequence a
n

nN
of elements of E is a v-ordering of E
if and only if one of the following conditions is satised:
(1) The polynomials f
n
(X) =

n1
k=0
Xa
k
ana
k
(n N), form a basis of the
V -module Int(E, V ).
(2) For every n 1, the product

n1
k=0
(a
n
a
k
) generates the ideal
y V [ yf V [X] for f Int(E, V ) and deg(f) n.
Assume that a
n

nN
is a v-ordering of E. Then dene the arithmetic func-
tion w
E
by w
E
(0) = 0 and, for n 1,
w
E
(n) = v
_
n1

k=0
(a
n
a
k
)
_
.
The function w
E
depends only on E, but not on the choice of the v-ordering of
E. The sequence w
E
(n)
n0
is called the characteristic sequence of E and, for
each n, the ideal generated by

n1
k=0
(a
n
a
k
) is called the n-th factorial ideal of
E (with respect to V ) and denoted by (n!
E
).
A sequence a
n

nN
of elements of E is a strong v-ordering of E if, for every
k N, the sequence a
k+n

nN
is a v-ordering of E.
Theorem 4.2. ([34]) A sequence a
n

nN
of elements of E is a strong v-ordering
of E if and only if one of the following conditions is satised:
(1) The sequence a
n

nN
is a v-ordering and, for all n, r N we have
v(a
n+r
a
n
) = v(a
r
a
0
).
(2) For all n, r N, we have
v(a
n+r
a
n
) = w
E
(r) w
E
(r 1).
In particular, a v-ordering a
n
of E is a strong v-ordering if and only if
v(a
n+r
a
n
) does not depend on n. Consequently, if a
n
and b
n
are strong
v-orderings of E, then v(a
n
a
m
) = v(b
n
b
m
) for all m, n N.
The structure sequence q
k

k0
of a subset E of V is dened by
q
k
= Card(E/M
k
).
A subset E of V is called a Legendre set if it satises the following generalized
Legendre formula:
w
E
(n) =

k1
_
n
q
k
_
where q
k

k0
denotes the structure sequence of E.
The regular compact subsets of local elds studied by Y. Amice [2] are Leg-
endre sets and actually regular valued set is an equivalent notion of Legendre set
[34]. Legendre sets can also be described by the existence of very well distributed
sequence, which were studied by J. Yeramian for the case E = V [86].
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 785
Let E be an innite set of V with structure sequence q
r

r1
. A sequence
b
n

nN
of elements of E is said to be very well distributed (VWD for short) in E
if for any r 1 and any 0 the sequence
b
qr
, , b
(+1)qr1
is a complete set of representatives of E modulo M
r
.
A subset E of V is said to be valued regular if, for every r 0, every non-
empty intersection of E with a ball of radius q
r
contains the same number p
r
of balls of radius q
(r+1)
. In other words, for every r 0 and every x E, the
cardinality of the set y E : v(y x) r/M
r+1
does not depend on x. In
particular, for a valued regular set E we have
q
r+1
= p
r
q
r
, r N

.
Theorem 4.3. ([34]) For the subset E of V , the following assertions are equiva-
lent:
(1) E is a Legendre set;
(2) E contains a VWD-sequence;
(3) E is valued regular;
(4) Every v-ordering of E is a VWD-sequence;
(5) There exists a sequence of integers
r

r1
such that

r
[
r+1
r 1, w
E
(n) =

r=1
_
n

r
_
.
In this case,
n

n1
must be the structure sequence of E.
For any set E, we also introduce its structure function which is dened by

E
(n) = sups 0 : q
s
[n for each n N

.
The following is an important property of Legendre sets.
Theorem 4.4. ([34]) Let E be a Legendre set of V . Then E admit a strong
v-ordering and, for any v-ordering u
n

nN
of E, which is actually a strong v-
ordering, we have
n, m N v(u
n
u
m
) =
E
(n m).
4.2 Minimality on p-adic elds
Now we are ready to describe the minimality of a dynamics L
1
(E) where E
is a compact set of a complete p-adic eld K. We can assume that E is contained
in the ring of integers V (otherwise consider d(x/d) L
1
(dE) where d K

is
a number such that dE V ). We can also assume that E has no isolated point
(otherwise, the minimality of implies that E is nite). Recall that q
s

sN
is
the structure sequence of E.
786 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
Theorem 4.5. ([29]) Let E be an innite compact set in V without isolated point
and let : E E be a 1-Lipschitz map. If is minimal, then E is a Legendre
set and is an isometry.
For the reason of the above theorem, we will assume from now on that E is
a Legendre set and is an isometry. The following is a necessary and sucient
condition for (E, ) to be minimal.
Theorem 4.6. ([29]) Let : E E be an isometry on a Legendre set E. The
dynamical system (E, ) is minimal if and only if
n N x E v(
n
(x) x) =
E
(n).
Suppose that (E, ) is minimal. It is well known that being isometric and
E being totally disconnected, (E, ) is conjugate to an adding machine. We will
nd the adding machine to which a minimal dynamics is conjugate. Since, for a
Legendre set E, q
s
divides q
s+1
, let p
s
=
qs+1
qs
for s 0. We consider the product
space
Z
(ps)
=

s=0
0, 1, , p
s
1.
Elements of Z
(ps)
may be formally written as
x
0
+x
1
q
1
+x
2
q
2
+ .
We consider 0, 1, , p
s
1 as the group Z/p
s
Z. Elements in Z
(ps)
are added
coordinatewise with the carry to the right. Then Z
(ps)
becomes a compact abelian
group and both N and Z are dense in Z
(ps)
. The map : Z
(ps)
Z
(ps)
dened by
x x +1 is the so-called adding machineor odometer. The topology of the group
Z
(ps)
is compatible to the metric dened by
d(x, y) = q
inf{s0: xs=ys}
.
Theorem 4.7. ([29]) Let : E E be a minimal dynamical system on a compact
Legendre set E. Then (E, ) is isometrically conjugate to the adding machine
(Z
(ps)
, ).
Remark that the adding machine (Z
(ps)
, ) depends only on the Legendre
set but not on the dynamics . It follows that all minimal systems on a given
Legendre set are all conjugate to each other. Concerning minimal systems dened
on dierent Legendre sets we have the following theorem which is a consequence
of the previous one and of a result due to Buescu and Stewart [27] concerning the
conjugacy of adding machines.
Theorem 4.8. ([29]) Let : E E and : F F be two minimal dynamical
systems on two compact Legendre sets E and F with their respective structure
sequences q
s
and q

s
. Then (E, ) and (F, ) are conjugate if and only if each
q
s
divides some q

r
and each q

s
divides some q
r
.
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 787
The following theorem asserts that any Legendre set is the support of some
minimal isometry.
Theorem 4.9. ([29]) Let E be a complete Legendre set. There exist minimal
isometries : E E.
Problem 4.10. Given a compact Legendre set, is there a minimal map in a given
class (of analytic maps, or of polynomials with a given order)? What are the form
of Legendre sets on which there is minimal polynomial of a given order?
We point out that an answer is given for p-adic linear polynomials in [35] and
for quadratic polynomials in [36].
If E V is a Legendre set, there is an obvious natural measure
E
on E
characterized by its values on the intersections of E with the balls:

E
(y E [ v(y x) r) =
1
q
r
where q
r
= Card(E/M
r
).
Let us examine the ergodicity of with respect to the probability measure

E
. Since a minimal isometry is conjugate to an odometer which is uniquely
ergodic, so is . The unique invariant measure is
E
.
Theorem 4.11. ([29]) Let E V be a compact Legendre set, : E E be an
isometry and
E
be the previous natural measure on E. If the dynamical system
(E, ) is minimal, then is ergodic with respect to
E
.
The following criterion generalizes that given by Anashin [5] for E = V = Z
p
.
Theorem 4.12. ([29]) Let E be a complete Legendre subset of V and let : E E
be an isometry. Then, is ergodic with respect to
E
if and only if, for every r 1,
induces a cycle on E/M
r
.
Functions on Z
p
having such a property on the residue classes Z
p
/p
r
Z
p
are
very useful in the generation of pseudorandomnumbers and in stream cipher design
[5].
Let us consider ane maps f(x) = ax +b (a, b V ). Their minimalities are
fully examined in [29]. In the following we concentrate our discussion on the case
V = Z
p
.
4.3 Minimality on Z
p
The simplest dynamics on Z
p
is of the form
T
a,b
x = ax +b (a, b Z
p
).
Theorem 4.13. ([35, 54, 56]) T
a,b
: Z
p
Z
p
is minimal if and only if (i) a = 1 (
mod p) when p 3 or a = 1 ( mod 4) when p = 2; (ii) b ,= 0 ( mod p).
In [54] there is a criterion for T
a,b
to be transitive modulo any given integer
m. This, together with Theorem 4.12, provides a proof of Theorem 4.13 which is
788 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
also proved in [35] by a Fourier series method, mimicking the proof of the irrational
rotation on the torus z C : [z[ = 1. Another proof in [35] to shown that a
minimal T
a,b
is conjugate to T
1,1
: the following commutative diagram holds
Z
p
-
Z
p
T
b
1
,0

a
6
T
a,b
6
T
a,1
6
T
1,1
Z
p
Z
p

T
b,0

a
-
Z
p
Z
p
where

a
(z) :=

z
1
1
=
Exp(zLog(a)) 1
a 1
,
a
(z) :=
Log(1 + (a 1)z)
Log(a)
are analytic isometric maps from Z
p
onto Z
p
. So, T
a,b
is analytically conjugate
to T
1,1
.
Problem 4.14. If a polynomial dynamics f : Z
p
Z
p
is minimal, is f analyti-
cally conjugate to the adding machine x x + 1 ?
For a general polynomial T(x) =

a
k
x
k
Z
p
[x]. Larin showed that we
need only to check the condition in Theorem 4.12 for r = 2 or r = 3 according to
p 5 or not.
Theorem 4.15. ([56]) Let T(x) =

a
k
x
k
Z
p
[x]. If p 5, then T : Z
p
Z
p
is
minimal if and only if T is transitive modulo p
2
. If p = 2 or 3, then T : Z
p
Z
p
is minimal if and only if T is transitive modulo p
3
.
This result is generalized to some extent by Anashin [3] as follows
Theorem 4.16. ([3]) Let f : Z
p
Z
p
be uniformly dierentiable modulo p
2
such
that f

2
(a) Z
p
for all a Z
p
. When p 3, f is ergodic if and only if it is
transitive modulo p
N2(f)+1
. When p = 2, f is ergodic if and only if it is transitive
modulo p
N2(f)+2
.
In the proofs by Larin and by Anashin, the uniform dierentiability is crucial.
The same idea appeared in Desjardin and Zieves work [32].
When p = 2, Larin gave a very practical criterion. Write
A = a
3
+a
5
+ , B = a
4
+a
6
+ .
Theorem 4.17. ([56]) Let T(x) =

a
k
x
k
Z
2
[x]. Then T : Z
p
Z
p
is minimal
if and only if
a
0
= 1 (mod 2), a
1
= 1 (mod 2), A = 2a
2
(mod 4), B = a
2
+a
1
1 (mod 4).
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 789
4.4 Minimality on spheres in Z
p
Now let us consider the dynamics
M
a
x = ax, S
n,a
x = ax
n
(a U, n N).
It is clear that M
a
= S
1,a
= T
a,0
, which is the multiplication by a. Motivated by
the study on the distribution of Fibonacci sequence, Coelho and Parry [31] have
studied the ergodicity of multiplications M
a
acting on U when p 3. The case of
p = 2 is treated in [35].
Theorem 4.18. ([31], see also [35]) Let p 3 and a U. Then the following
statements are equivalent:
1. the system (U, T
a,0
[
U
) is strictly ergodic,
2. a is a primitive root mod p and a
p1
, 1 (mod p
2
),
3. the set a
m
: m N = O
Ta,0
(1) is dense in U,
4. a (mod p
n
) generates (Z/p
n
Z)

, for all integers n 1,

5. a (mod p
2
) generates (Z/p
2
Z)

.
Theorem 4.19. ([35]) Let p = 2 and a U
2
. Then the following statements are
equivalent:
1. the system (U
2
, T
a,0
[
U2
) is strictly ergodic,
2. a U
2
U
3
,
3. the set a
m
: m N = O
Ta,0
(1) is dense in U
2
,
4. a (mod 2
n
) generates (Z/2
n
Z)

, for all integers n 3,

5. a (mod 8) generates (Z/8Z)

,
6. a 5 (mod8).
The monomial S
a,n
, acting on the group U
1
, is studied in [35]. It is proved
to be conjugate to an ane dynamics on Z
p
.
Theorem 4.20. ([35]) Let p 3. Let n 1 be an integer, and U
1
. The p-
adic monomial dynamical system (U
1
, S
n,a
) is topologically conjugate to the p-adic
ane dynamical system (Z
p
, T
n,b
), with b := Log(a)/Log(1 +p).
Gundlach, Khrennikov and Lindahl [43] have studied the ergodicity of the
power dynamics S
n,1
x = x
n
acting on spheres S
p
r (1) and Anashin [5] has given a
positive answer to a conjecture of Khrennikov concerning polynomial perturbations
of x
n
.
Theorem 4.21. ([5, 43]) Assume p 3. Let f(x) = x
n
+ p
r+1
u(x) where r 2
and u B(Z
p
). The dynamics (S
p
r (1), f) is ergodic if and only if n is a generator
of the multiplicative group (Z/p
2
Z)

.
The numbers of r-cycles of (U, S
n,1
) are studied by Khrennikov and Nilsson
[52]. It concerns the counting of (n
r
1)-th roots of unit:
x
n
r
1
= 1.
790 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
5 Ergodic decompositions
Let us give a general statement for all polynomials f Z
p
[x]. We consider f as a
dynamics on Z
p
. Each ergodic component of f is either a nite cycle or a clopen
Legendre set (i.e. a nite union of balls).
Theorem 5.1. ([36]) Let f Z
p
. We have the decomposition:
Z
p
= T c ,
where T is the set of all periodic points, c is the union of clopen ergodic compo-
nents, is attracted into / B within nite steps.
Theorem 5.2. ([36]) Let f Z
p
[x]. If f admits a neutral periodic point, then f
has an innite number of clopen ergodic components.
The condition in the above theorem is to some extent necessary, as the fol-
lowing theorem shows: if [1 a[
p
< [b[
p
, then the ane map T
a,b
has no neutral
xed point and it has only a nite number of ergodic components.
5.1 Ane maps
According to Theorem 4.13, the system (Z
p
, T
a,b
) is not always strictly ergodic.
We then ask what are its strictly ergodic components, also simply called ergodic
components. There is a complete answer to this question [35]. But we should
distinguish two cases p 3 and p = 2. Let us just state the result for the case
p 3. We will denote
V = x U : x
p1
= 1.
Theorem 5.3. Let p 3 and let a, b Z
p
.
(1) If a , then the one-point set b/(1 a) is the unique strictly ergodic
component of (Z
p
, T
a,b
), and the associated measure is
b/(1a)
.
(2) If a U and
p
(b) <
p
(1 a), then (Z
p
, T
a,b
) consists of p
p(b)
strictly
ergodic components which are all topologically conjugate to (Z
p
, T
1,1
).
(3) If a U and
p
(b)
p
(1 a), then the system (Z
p
, T
a,b
) is topologically
conjugate to (Z
p
, T
a,0
). All the p
n
U (n 0) are T
a,0
-invariant and form a parti-
tion of Z
p
. Moreover all the systems T
a,0
[
p
n
U
are topologically conjugate. About
(U, T
a,0
[
U
), we need distinguish two dierent cases:
1. If a = 1, every one-point subset of U is a strictly ergodic component of the
system (U, T
a,0
[
U
).
2. Let a ,= 1, and let be the order of a (mod p).
(a) If a V, then all the Vz (z U
1
) are T
a,0
-invariant and form a par-
tition of U. Moreover all the (Vz, T
a,0
[
Vz
) are topologically conjugate,
and consist of (p 1)/ strictly ergodic components which are all topo-
logically conjugate to (Z/Z, D), where D is dened by D(m) := m+1,
for all m Z, with m := m +Z.
(b) If a / V, then (U, T
a,0
[
U
) consists of p
p(a

1)1
(p1)/ strictly ergodic
components which are all topologically conjugate to the product system
((Z/Z) Z
p
, DT
1,1
).
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 791
5.2 Quadratic maps
Ergodic decomposition for higher order polynomials is more complicated. Let us
consider the quadratic polynomials
f(x) = Ax
2
+Bx +C (A, B, C Q
2
; A ,= 0).
Most of materials in this subsection are taken from [36].
If A 1 (mod 2), then lim
n
[f
n
(x)[ = for any x , Z
2
and f[
Zp
is
conjugates to x
2
+ Bx + AC acting on Z
2
(with conjugacy x Ax). If A
0 (mod 2), then lim
n
[f
n
(x)[ = for any x ,
1
A
Z
2
and f[
A
1
Zp
is conjugate
to x
2
+ Bx + AC acting on Z
2
(still with conjugacy x Ax). Thus without
loss of generality, we only need to consider the quadratic polynomials g(x) =
x
2
+Bx +C (B, C Z
2
) on Z
2
.
If B 0 (mod 2), g is conjugate to P

(x) = x
2
with = (B
2
4C2B)/4
(the corresponding conjugacy is x x+B/2). The dynamics of P

is rather simple
as shown by the following theorem.
Theorem 5.4. Consider the dynamics x
2
on Z
2
. With the notation of Theorem
5.1, we have c = ,T consists of two attracting xed points or of one attracting
2-periodic cycles.
(1) if 0 (mod 4), then T consists of two attracting xed points, one in
4Z
2
and the other one in 1 + 4Z
2
;
(2) if 1 (mod 4), then T consists of one attracting 2-periodic cycle, one
orbit point is in 4Z
2
and the other one in 3 + 4Z
2
;
(3) if 2 (mod 4), then T consists of two attracting xed points, one in
2 + 4Z
2
and the other one in 3 + 4Z
2
,
(4) if 3 (mod 4), then T consists of one attracting 2-periodic cycle, one
orbit point is in 1 + 4Z
2
, and the other one in 2 + 4Z
2
.
If B 1 (mod 2), g is conjugate to Q
d
(x) = x
2
+x d with d =
(B1)
2
4C
4
(the corresponding conjugacy is x x +
B1
2
. Now we distinguish two cases: d is
square in Q
p
(equivalently Q
d
has xed point) or is not a square. If d is square,
we can nd all its ergodic components (there are innite many). For example, if
d = 0, we have
Theorem 5.5. Consider the dynamics Q
0
(x) = x
2
+x on Z
2
. The point 0 is the
unique xed point which is neutral and Q
0
(1 +2Z
2
) Q
0
(2Z
2
). We have T = 0
and
c = 2Z
2
0 =

_
n=2
2
n2
1
_
t=0
2
n1
+t2
n
+ 2
2n2
Z
2
where each ball 2
n1
+t2
n
+ 2
2n2
Z
2
is an ergodic component.
If d Z
2
is not a square, we have the following result.
Theorem 5.6. Consider Q
d
(x) = x
2
+xd. Suppose d 0 (mod 4) and

d , Z
2
.
Then there is no periodic orbits and there are nitely many ergodic components.
792 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
As we have seen, periodic cycles play important role in above discussion. It is
known from [70] that for any polynomial f Z
2
[x], there are only cycles of length
1, 2 or 4. We know that for any quadratic polynomial, the possible cycle lengths
are 1 and 2.
6 Expanding systems
Minimal compact 1-Lipschitz (then isometric) dynamical systems on a complete
p-adic eld are conjugate to odometers. Thus these dynamics have null entropy.
Now we are going to look at some chaotic systems of positive entropy, which should
share some expandingness.
6.1 Expanding dynamics
What we describe below holds on any complete p-adic eld although we only
discuss the case of Q
p
.
Let f : X Q
p
be a map from a compact open set X of Q
p
into Q
p
. We
assume that
(i) f
1
(X) X;
(ii) X =

iI
B
p
(c
i
) where I is nite and the balls B
p
(c
i
) are disjoint of
centers c
i
and of the same radius p

(with some Z) such that for each i I

there is an integer
i
Z such that
[f(x) f(y)[
p
= p
i
[x y[
p
(x, y B
p
(c
i
)). (6.1)
For such a map f, dene its Julia set by
J
f
=

n=0
f
n
(X). (6.2)
It is clear that f
1
(J
f
) = J
f
and then f(J
f
) J
f
. We will study the dynamical
system (J
f
, f).
The triple (X, J
f
, f) is called a p-adic weak repeller if all
i
in (6.1) are
nonnegative, but at least one is positive. We call it a p-adic repeller if all
i
in (6.1)
are positive. For later convenience, we will write |f| = p
i
for any map having
the property (6.1), which could be called the expanding ratio (resp. contractive
ratio) of f on the ball B
p
(c
i
) when
i
0 (resp.
i
0) .
Let us consider the expanding case, i.e. all
i
are nonnegative. For any i I,
let
I
i
:= j I : B
j
f(B
i
) ,= = j I : B
j
f(B
i
).
Then dene a matrix A = (A
i,j
)
II
, called incidence matrix, by
A
ij
= 1 if j I
i
; A
ij
= 0 otherwise.
If A is irreducible, we say that (X, J
f
, f) is transitive. That A is irreducible means,
for any pair (i, j) I I there is positive integer m such that A
m
ij
> 0.
On p-adic Dynamical Systems 793
Given I and the irreducible incidence matrix A as above. Let
A
be the
corresponding subshift space and let be the shift transformation on
A
. We
equip
A
with a metric d
f
depending on the dynamics f, which is dened as
follows. First for i, j I, i ,= j, let (i, j) be the integer such that
[c
i
c
j
[
p
= p
(i,j)
.
It clear that (i, j) < . By the ultra-metric inequality, we have
[x y[
p
= [c
i
c
j
[
p
(i ,= j, x B
p
(c
i
), y B
p
(c
j
)). (6.3)
For x = (x
0
, x
1
, , x
n
, )
A
and y = (y
0
, y
1
, , y
n
, ) in
A
, dene
d
f
(x, y) = p
x
0
x
1
x
n1
(xn,yn)
(if n ,= 0),
d
f
(x, y) = p
(x0,y0)
(if n = 0)
where n = n(x, y) = mini 0 : x
i
,= y
i
. It is clear that d
f
denes the same
topology as the classical metric which is dened by d(x, y) = p
n(x,y)
.
Theorem 6.1. ([37]) Let (X, J
f
, f) be a transitive p-adic weak repeller with inci-
dence matrix A. Then the dynamics (J
f
, f, [ [
p
) is isometrically conjugate to the
shift dynamics (
A
, , d
f
).
If the incidence matric A is not irreducible, the index set I is partitioned
into classes of indexes I
(1)
, I
(2)
, . . . , I
(k)
. We can arrange I
(1)
, I
(2)
, . . . , I
(k)
in an
order so that A is written as lower triangular matrix with irreducible sub-matrixes
A
1
, A
2
, . . . , A
k
on its diagonal (see [63]). We can then apply Theorem 4.5 to
f : X
(t)
Q for each 1 t k, where X
(t)
=

iI
(t) B
p
(c
i
).
The following result allows us to apply Theorem 4.5 to polynomial dynamics.
Theorem 6.2. ([37]) Let f Q
p
[x] be a polynomial with f

(x) ,= 0 for all x Q

p
.
There exists a compact-open set X Q
p
and an integer such that conditions (i)
and (ii) are satised. Moreover, for x , J
f
, lim
n
[f
n
(x)[
p
= .
Here is a class of polynomials to which the above results can apply. Let
f(x) = p
m
P(x) Q
p
[x] with P Z
p
[x], m > 0.
Assume that
(a) [P(x)[
p
[x[
p
x , Z
p
.
(b) f

(x) ,= 0 for all x X where

X =
_
iI0
B
p
m(i), I
0
= 0 i < p
m
: P(i) 0 mod p
m
.
In order to apply Theorem 4.5 or Theorem 6.2 to this polynomial p
m
P(x),
in general, we have to nd a ner partition of X such that (6.1) holds on each
component of this new partition.
Consider two examples.
794 A. H. Fan and Y. F. Wang
Let a Z
p
and m 1 be an integer. Consider the transformation f
m
:
Q
p
Q
p
given by
f
m,a
(x) =
x
p
ax
p
m
.
In the case where m = 1 and a 1(mod p), the map f
m,a
: Z
p
Z
p
was shown,
by C. F. Woodcock and N. P. Smart [85], to be topologically conjugate to the full
shift on the symbolic system with p symbols. It is easy to see that [f

m,a
(x)[
p
= p
m
.
We have even [f
m,a
(x) f
m,a
(y)[
p
= p
m
[x y[
p
for all x, y Z
p
, [x y[
p
< 1 and
[x
p
ax[
p
[x[
p
for x , Z
p
. Let I
m,a
= 0 k < p
m
: k
p
ak 0 (mod p
m
)
and let X
m,a
=

kIm,a
(k +p
m
Z
p
). If a 1 (mod p), x
p
ax = 0 has p solutions
on Z
p
, by Hensel lemma. Then by Theorem 4.5, on its Julia set J
m,a
, f
m,a
is
conjugate to the full shift on the symbolic space of p symbols. If a , 1 (mod p),
then I
m,a
= 0 and J
m,a
= 0 is the singleton consisting of the repeller xed
point 0. In both cases, for every x , J
m,a
we have lim
n
[f
n
m,a
(x)[
p
= .
Consider the polynomial f : Q
2
Q
2
dened by
f(x) =
x(x 1)(x + 1)
2
.
It is easy to see [f

(x)[
p
= 2, [f

(x)/2[
p
1, [f

(x)/6[
p
= 2 on 2Z
2
and [f

(x)[
p
=
1, [f

(x)/2[
p
= 2, [f

(x)/6[
p
= 2 on 1 + 2Z
2
. Then by
f(x) f(y) = (x y)f

(y) +
(x y)
2
2
f

(y) +
(x y)
3
6
f

(y),
we have [f(x) f(y)[
p
= [f

(y)[
p
[x y[
p
for x, y Z
2
, [x y[
p
1/4. Thus we
can take X =

3
k=0
(k + 4Z
2
). Then the conditions (i) and (ii) are satised and
incidence matrix, which is irreducible, is equal to
A =
_
_
_
_
1 0 1 0
1 0 0 0
0 1 0 1
1 0 0 0
_
_
_
_
In this case we have
0
=
2
= 2 and
1
=
3
= 1. The topological entropy of
(J
f
, f) is equal to log 1.6956... where 1.6956... is the maximal eigenvalue of A.
6.2 Quadratic dynamics
Thiran, Verstegen and Weyer [82] have studied p-adic quadratic dynamics. There
are some sequent works on this directions [33].
Let K be a complete p-adic eld. Consider the quadratic map
q(x) = Ax
2
+Bx +C (A, B, C K; A ,= 0).
Making the linear change of variables (x) = Ax +
B
2
, we get
q = q
c

On p-adic Dynamical Systems 795
where
q
c
(x) = x
2
c with c =
1
4
(B
2
4AC 2B).
The dynamics of q
c
depends on the value of [c[. When [c[ < 1, we have
lim
n
[q
n
c
(x)[ = [c[ for [x[ < 1 and lim
n
[q
n
c
(x)[ = for [x[ > 1. So, if
[c[ < 1, there are two interesting dynamics to study: (S
|c|
(0), q
c
) and (S
1
(0), q
c
).
When [c[ = 1, we have lim
n
[q
n
c
(x)[ = for [x[ > 1. So, if [c[ = 1, we have
to study (B
1
(0), q
c
). When [c[ > 1, we have lim
n
[q
n
c
(x)[ = for [x[ 1 and
lim
n
[q
n
c
(x)[ may be nite or innite for [x[ > 1. So, [c[ > 1, we have to nd
the Julia set of (Q
p
, q
c
).
Notice that q
c
(x) q
c
(y) = (x + y)(x y). So, q
c
L
1
(B
1
(0)). But q
c
may
be expanding outside the unit ball. The lled Julia set of q
c
, denoted T(q
c
), is
the set of those x K with bounded orbits.
Theorem 6.3. ([33], [82]) Let q
c
(x) = x
2
c. Suppose the valuation of 2 is equal
to 1.
(1) If [c[ 1, then T(q
c
) = B
1
(0).
(2) If [c[ > 1 and c is not a square in K, then T(q
c
) = .
(3) If [c[ > 1 and c is a square in K, then
T(q
c
) =

n=1
q
n
c
(B
1
(0))
and in this case (T(q
c
), q
c
) is conjugate to the full shift of two symbols.
That c is a square is equivalent to q
1
c
(0) ,= . In this case, for each n 1
the set q
n
c
(0) has 2
n
elements which are formally

c
_
...
_
c

c.
The last theorem may be proved by using Theorem 6.1.
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