Julia sets of rational maps with rotational symmetries

Abstract

By a symmetry of the Julia set of a polynomial, also referred as polynomial Julia set, we mean an Euclidean isometry preserving the Julia set. Each such symmetry is in fact a rotation about the centroid of the polynomial. In this article, a survey of the symmetries of polynomial Julia sets is made. Then the Euclidean isometries preserving the Julia set of rational maps are considered. A rotation preserving the Julia set of a rational map is called a rotational symmetry of its Julia set. A sufficient condition is provided for a rational map to have rotational symmetries whenever the rational map has an exceptional point. Two classes of rational maps are provided whose Julia sets have rotational symmetries of finite orders. Using this, it is proved that $ z\mapsto μz$ where $μ^{m+n}=1$ is a rotational symmetry of the McMullen map $ z^m+\fracλ{z^n}$ for all $m,n$ with $m\geq 2$ and $λ\in \mathbb{C}\setminus \{0\}$. Assuming that a normalized polynomial has a simple root at the origin, it is shown that the groups of the rotational symmetries of the polynmial coincide with that of its Newton's method and Chebyshev's method.