Mandelbrot set 2026-10-14
For , the Mandelbrot set is . Thus it records the nonescaping finite critical orbit. The connected Julia set criterion for a polynomial says that the corresponding filled Julia set is connected exactly for these quadratic parameters. Parameters with an attracting fixed point form the main cardioid: its multiplier gives the fixed point and parameter , with . Its boundary has a cusp at . There the critical orbit increases along the real interval to the parabolic fixed point , so the cusp belongs to the set. The real section extends from to ; the familiar period-two bulb is attached at .
Assume is connected. Then the filled Julia set is connected and full, so its complement is simply connected. The local Bottcher coordinate therefore extends by the functional equation to a conformal isomorphism
If a finite critical point lay in , differentiating
at would give
Neither factor on the right vanishes on the exterior disc under a conformal coordinate, a contradiction. Hence every finite critical point lies in . This is one direction of the connected Julia set criterion for a polynomial.