We study rational double Hurwitz cycles, i.e. loci of marked rational stable
curves admitting a map to the projective line with assigned ramification
profiles over two fixed branch points. Generalizing the phenomenon observed for
double Hurwitz numbers, such cycles are piecewise polynomial in the entries of
the special ramification; the chambers of polynomiality and wall crossings have
an explicit and "modular" description. A main goal of this paper is to
simultaneously carry out this investigation for the corresponding objects in
tropical geometry, underlining a precise combinatorial duality between
classical and tropical Hurwitz theory
