Michael Yampolsky

These principles demarcate the boundary fence of science which neither a human nor an artificial mind can see beyond.

This monograph grew out of the authors' efforts to provide a natural geometric description for the class of maps invariant under parabolic renormalization and for the Inou-Shishikura fixed point itself as well as to carry out a computer-assisted study of the parabolic renormalization operator. It introduces a renormalization-invariant class of analytic maps with a maximal domain of analyticity and rigid covering properties and presents a numerical scheme for computing parabolic renormalization of a germ, which is used to compute the Inou-Shishikura renormalization fixed point. Inside, readers will find a detailed introduction into the theory of parabolic bifurcation, Fatou coordinates, Écalle-Voronin conjugacy invariants of parabolic germs, and the definition and basic properties of parabolic renormalization. The systematic view of parabolic renormalization developed in the book and the numerical approach to its study will be interesting to both expertsin the field as well as graduate students wishing to explore one of the frontiers of modern complex dynamics.

Among all computer-generated mathematical images, Julia sets of rational maps occupy one of the most prominent positions. Their beauty and complexity can be fascinating. They also hold a deep mathematical content. Computational hardness of Julia sets is the main subject of this book. By definition, a computable set in the plane can be visualized on a computer screen with an arbitrarily high magnification. There are countless programs to draw Julia sets. Yet, as the authors have discovered, it is possible to constructively produce examples of quadratic polynomials, whose Julia sets are not computable. This result is striking - it says that while a dynamical system can be described numerically with an arbitrary precision, the picture of the dynamics cannot be visualized. The book summarizes the present knowledge (most of it from the authors' own work) about the computational properties of Julia sets in a self-contained way. It is accessible to experts and students with interest in theoretical computer science or dynamical systems.

Among all computer-generated mathematical images, Julia sets of rational maps occupy one of the most prominent positions. Their beauty and complexity can be fascinating. They also hold a deep mathematical content. Computational hardness of Julia sets is the main subject of this book. By definition, a computable set in the plane can be visualized on a computer screen with an arbitrarily high magnification. There are countless programs to draw Julia sets. Yet, as the authors have discovered, it is possible to constructively produce examples of quadratic polynomials, whose Julia sets are not computable. This result is striking - it says that while a dynamical system can be described numerically with an arbitrary precision, the picture of the dynamics cannot be visualized. The book summarizes the present knowledge (most of it from the authors' own work) about the computational properties of Julia sets in a self-contained way. It is accessible to experts and students with interest in theoretical computer science or dynamical systems.