Hyperbolic polynomial branch and extension conjecture

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Let KK) be a field and let f\binK[z]f\bin K[z] be a hyperbolic polynomial in the orbifold sense, with L∞≠KL_\infty\ne K. Write G∞(K,f,t)G_\infty(K,f,t) and G∞(Ksep,f,t)G_\infty(K^\mathrm{sep},f,t) for the arithmetic and geometric iterated Galois groups, respectively. The extension L∞/KL_\infty/K is the associated extension in the arboreal Galois representation.

Hyperbolic polynomial branch and extension conjecture. The following are equivalent:

  1. Both G∞(K,f,t)G_\infty(K,f,t) and G∞(Ksep,f,t)G_\infty(K^\mathrm{sep},f,t) are branch.
  2. The extension L∞/KL_\infty/K is finite.
  3. None of the critical points of ff in KK is periodic.

This conjecture relates branching of arithmetic and geometric iterated Galois groups to finiteness of the extension and the absence of periodic critical points. The source presents it as a conjecture after proving that branching implies finiteness, but gives no resolution of the equivalence.

References

Primary source

Jorge Fariña-Asategui, “Arboreal Galois representations of rational functions: fixed-point proportion and the extension problem”, arXiv:2601.19414 (2026).

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