Dynamical Anomalous Subvarieties: Structure and Bounded Height Theorems

Abstract: According to Medvedev and Scanlon, a polynomial $f(x)\in \bar{\mathbb Q}[x]$ of degree $d\geq 2$ is called disintegrated if it is not linearly conjugate to $x^d$ or $\pm C_d(x)$ (where $C_d(x)$ is the Chebyshev polynomial of degree $d$). Let $n\in\mathbb{N}$, let $f_1,\ldots,f_n\in \bar{\mathbb Q}[x]$ be disintegrated polynomials of degrees at least 2, and let $\varphi=f_1\times\ldots\times f_n$ be the corresponding coordinate-wise self-map of $({\mathbb P}^1)^n$. Let $X$ be an irreducible subvariety of $({\mathbb P}^1)^n$ of dimension $r$ defined over $\bar{\mathbb Q}$. We define the \emph{$\varphi$-anomalous} locus of $X$ which is related to the \emph{$\varphi$-periodic} subvarieties of $({\mathbb P}^1)^n$. We prove that the $\varphi$-anomalous locus of $X$ is Zariski closed; this is a dynamical analogue of a theorem of Bombieri, Masser, and Zannier \cite{BMZ07}. We also prove that the points in the intersection of $X$ with the union of all irreducible $\varphi$-periodic subvarieties of $({\mathbb P}^1)^n$ of codimension $r$ have bounded height outside the $\varphi$-anomalous locus of $X$; this is a dynamical analogue of Habegger's theorem \cite{Habegger09} which was previously conjectured in \cite{BMZ07}. The slightly more general self-maps $\varphi=f_1\times\ldots\times f_n$ where each $f_i\in \bar{\mathbb Q}(x)$ is a disintegrated rational map are also treated at the end of the paper.