Combinatorial models for spaces of cubic polynomials

Abstract

A model for the Mandelbrot set is due to Thurston and is stated in the language of geodesic laminations. The conjecture that the Mandelbrot set is actually homeomorphic to this model is equivalent to the celebrated MLC conjecture stating that the Mandelbrot set is locally connected. For parameter spaces of higher degree polynomials, even conjectural models are missing, one possible reason being that the higher degree analog of the MLC conjecture is known to be false. We provide a combinatorial model for an essential part of the parameter space of complex cubic polynomials, namely, for the space of all cubic polynomials with connected Julia sets all of whose cycles are repelling (we call such polynomials \emph{dendritic}). The description of the model turns out to be very similar to that of Thurston.