Local connectivity of the Mandelbrot set at some satellite parameters of bounded type

We explore geometric properties of the Mandelbrot set M, and the corresponding Julia sets J_c, near the main cardioid. Namely, we establish that: a) M is locally connected at certain infinitely renormalizable parameters c of bounded satellite type, providing first examples of this kind; b) The Julia sets J_c are also locally connected and have positive area; c) M is self-similar near Siegel parameters of constant type. We approach these problems by analyzing the unstable manifold of the pacman renormalization operator constructed in [DLS] as a global transcendental family

Algorithmic aspects of branched coverings

This is the announcement, and the long summary, of a series of articles on the algorithmic study of Thurston maps. We describe branched coverings of the sphere in terms of group-theoretical objects called bisets, and develop a theory of decompositions of bisets. We introduce a canonical "Levy" decomposition of an arbitrary Thurston map into homeomorphisms, metrically-expanding maps and maps doubly covered by torus endomorphisms. The homeomorphisms decompose themselves into finite-order and pseudo-Anosov maps, and the expanding maps decompose themselves into rational maps. As an outcome, we prove that it is decidable when two Thurston maps are equivalent. We also show that the decompositions above are computable, both in theory and in practice.Comment: 60-page announcement of 5-part text, to apper in Ann. Fac. Sci. Toulouse. Minor typos corrected, and major rewrite of section 7.8, which was studying a different map than claime

MLC at Feigenbaum points

We prove {\em a priori} bounds for Feigenbaum quadratic polynomials, i.e., infinitely renormalizable polynomials $f_c: z\mapsto z^2+c$ of bounded type. It implies local connectivity of the corresponding Julia sets $J(f_c)$ and MLC (local connectivity of the Mandelbrot set \Mandel) at the corresponding parameters $c$. It also yields the scaling Universality, dynamical and parameter, for the corresponding combinatorics. The MLC Conjecture was open for the most classical period-doubling Feigenbaum parameter as well as for the complex tripling renormalizations. Universality for the latter was conjectured by Goldberg-Khanin-Sinai in the early 1980s