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Two rational sphere maps are Möbius conjugate if $S=h\circ R\circ h^{-1}$ for a Möbius transformation $h$. This is precisely global holomorphic conjugacy between Riemann-sphere self-maps. It preserves degree, local degrees of a holomorphic map, exact periods and return periodic-orbit multipliers, and transports the Fatou set and Julia set by $h$. Since a Möbius map and its inverse are Lipschitz on the compact sphere, this last assertion follows directly from equicontinuity of the iterate families. An affine holomorphic conjugacy is the special case where $h$ fixes infinity.

Let $R$ be a nonconstant rational map of the Riemann sphere, and write $R^n$ for its $n$-fold iterate, with $R^0$ the identity. The appropriate notion of convergence is uniform convergence on compact subsets in the chordal metric, which treats poles as ordinary values at infinity. A family of meromorphic maps is a normal family if every sequence in it has a subsequence converging locally uniformly in that metric; the limit is meromorphic or constant, possibly the constant infinity.

The Fatou set $F(R)$ consists of points with a neighborhood on which the iterate family is normal. The complementary Julia set is $J(R)=\hat{\mathbb{C}}\setminus F(R)$. Thus the sphere is the disjoint union of an open stability region $F(R)$ and a closed instability region $J(R)$. These definitions concern all subsequences of iterates, rather than assuming that the iterates themselves converge on every stable region.

Equicontinuity makes this distinction precise. On a compact subset $K$ of a neighborhood, the family is equicontinuous if, for every $ϵ>0$, some $\delta >0$ makes $\chi (R^n(z),R^n(w))<ϵ$ whenever $z,w\in K$ and $\chi (z,w)<\delta$, uniformly in $n$. The Arzelà-Ascoli theorem says that equicontinuity of continuous maps from a compact domain to a compact metric target gives relative compactness for uniform convergence. Apply it to a compact exhaustion and take a diagonal subsequence to obtain local normality. Locally uniform spherical limits of meromorphic maps are again meromorphic or constant, by using finite target charts and the locally uniform limit theorem for holomorphic functions. Conversely, if equicontinuity failed, there would be maps $f_j$ and points $z_j,w_j\to z$ with $\chi (f_j(z_j),f_j(w_j))$ bounded below by a positive number. A subsequence converging uniformly on a compact neighborhood contradicts this. Hence local normality and local equicontinuity are equivalent here.

Both sets are completely invariant:For the inverse direction, if the family is normal near $R(z)$, composition with $R$ makes $R^{n+1}$ normal near $z$, and adding the identity does not affect normality. For the forward direction, suppose the iterates are equicontinuous near $z$. A nonconstant holomorphic sphere map is open. Thus each sufficiently small neighborhood of $z$ maps onto a neighborhood of $R(z)$; every nearby target point $w$ has a preimage $x$ as close to $z$ as desired. Thenis uniformly small. Applying this at each point of the image neighborhood proves equicontinuity there. This argument works at rational critical points and requires no single-valued inverse branch. Surjectivity of $R$ supplies the asserted image equalities. Also $F(R^k)=F(R)$ and $J(R^k)=J(R)$ for $k\ge 1$: one direction follows by taking a subfamily, and the other by splitting $R^n$ into the finitely many residue classes $R^r\circ (R^k{)}^m$, $0\le r<k$.

For degree $d\ge 2$, the Julia set is nonempty. Otherwise the family would be equicontinuous on the whole compact sphere, giving a subsequence $R^{n_j}$ converging uniformly to a continuous sphere map $G$. Maps sufficiently close in chordal distance are homotopic, using the unique short spherical geodesic between their values. They therefore have equal topological degrees. This is impossible because $\mathrm{deg}{R}^{n_j}=d^{n_j}\to \infty$ whereas $G$ has one fixed degree.

It cannot be a nonempty finite set either. Complete invariance would make $R$ a permutation of that finite set, with just one sphere preimage for each of its points. That preimage would have local degree of a holomorphic map $d$. Every holomorphic cycle in this set would consequently be superattracting for its return map, hence lie in $F(R)$, a contradiction. In particular $J(R)$ contains at least three points.

The Montel theorem in the form used here says that a family of meromorphic maps on a domain, each omitting the same three distinct points of the sphere, is normal for spherical convergence. It also shows that $J(R)$ is perfect. If $a$ were isolated in $J(R)$, choose a disc $U$ with $U\cap J(R)=\{a\}$ and four distinct points of $J(R)$. For each $n$, complete invariance makes $R^n(U)\cap J(R)$ have at most the single point $R^n(a)$. Partition the iterates into finitely many families according to which of the four points, if any, that single value equals. Each family omits at least three fixed points, so each is normal by Montel; their finite union is normal. This would put $a$ in $F(R)$, a contradiction. Therefore the degree-at-least-two Julia set is compact, infinite and has no isolated points.

The same omitted-value argument explains its global reach. If an open $U$ meets $J(R)$, then ${\bigcup }_{n\ge 0}{R}^n(U)$ can omit at most two sphere points, since three omissions would imply normality on $U$. If $J(R)$ had an interior and were not the whole sphere, these image sets would remain in $J(R)$ and their complement would contain the nonempty open set $F(R)$, impossible. Thus a proper Julia set has empty interior and equals the boundary of $F(R)$. If the Julia set is the whole sphere, the Fatou set is empty instead.

An attracting periodic point and its holomorphic cycle has a contracting return map in a small disc, so its basin is in the Fatou set. Repelling periodic points belong to the Julia set: return iterates fix the point but have derivatives equal to unbounded powers of their periodic-orbit multiplier, contradicting derivative bounds for a normal subsequence near that fixed value. A standard further global property is that repelling periodic points are dense in the Julia set. Fatou components can also support convergence towards a parabolic cycle on the boundary, or rotation behavior in a Siegel disc or a Herman ring; normality need not mean attraction. For example, $R(z)=z^d$ has $J(R)=\{|z|=1\}$, with the interior converging to zero and the exterior to infinity. On the unit circle, arbitrarily close radii have incompatible limiting behavior, preventing normality there.

Degree one has a different picture. A rational map of degree one is a Möbius transformation. Up to Möbius conjugacy, an elliptic map is $z\mapsto az$ with $|a|=1$; its iterates are rotations and are equicontinuous on the sphere, so $F$ is the whole sphere and $J$ is empty (including the identity). For $z\mapsto az$ with $|a|>1$, all compact subsets away from zero converge to infinity, while $z_n=a^{-n}\to 0$ and $R^n(z_n)=1$ prevent equicontinuity at zero. Thus $J=\{0\}$; for $|a|<1$ the reciprocal coordinate gives $J=\{\infty \}$. A nonidentity parabolic map is conjugate to $z\mapsto z+1$. Its iterates converge locally uniformly to infinity on the finite plane, but $z_n=-n\to \infty$ has $R^n(z_n)=0$, so $J=\{\infty \}$. Holomorphic conjugacy carries these sets to the corresponding fixed points of the original map. These finite Julia sets explain why the degree restriction in many global Julia-set properties is essential.

For $f_c(z)=z^2+c$, the Mandelbrot set is the set of parameters for which the finite critical orbit $0,f_c(0),f_c^2(0),\dots$ remains bounded. It is a compact connected parameter set. Its main cardioid consists of parameters with an attracting fixed point, with a period-two bulb attached on the left, smaller bulbs attached recursively and fine filamentary structure. It is symmetric about the real axis and meets that axis in $[-2,1/4]$. The quadratic filled Julia set is connected exactly when $c$ belongs to this parameter set; outside it, the rational critical point escapes and the Julia set is a Cantor set. Thus it organizes the contrasting phase-space dynamics of the quadratic family, rather than itself being a Julia set in the dynamical $z$-plane.

The affine map $h(z)=1/2-z$, its own inverse, givesThis value is unique even among Möbius conjugacies. The finite fixed point of $P$ is zero and its periodic-orbit multiplier is one. Holomorphic conjugacy preserves that periodic-orbit multiplier. Infinity has periodic-orbit multiplier zero for a quadratic polynomial, so a corresponding multiplier-one fixed point of $w^2+c$ must be finite; it obeys $2w=1$ and $w^2+c=w$, forcing $c=1/4$. To locate it explicitly, a quadratic fixed point of periodic-orbit multiplier $\lambda$ gives $c=\lambda /2-{\lambda }^2/4$. The boundary parametrization $|\lambda |=1$ has its cusp at $\lambda =1$, so $c=1/4$ is the right-hand cusp on the Mandelbrot boundary. It is in the set: the critical orbit starts at zero, stays in $[0,1/2]$ and increases to the fixed point $1/2$. For real $c>1/4$, the increment $f_c(x)-x=(x-1/2{)}^2+c-1/4$ is strictly positive; a bounded critical orbit would have a limit solving $x^2+c=x$, which has no real solution. These nearby real parameters escape, proving that the cusp belongs to the boundary of the full Mandelbrot set as well.

The fixed points of $P$ on the sphere are zero and infinity. There is no neighborhood of zero on which all iterates converge to zero, even pointwise: a negative real initial point satisfies $P(x)=x-x^2<x<0$, so its iterates decrease without a finite limit and escape to infinity. Every neighborhood of zero contains such points. At infinity there is a uniformly attracting neighborhood in the chordal metric. In the reciprocal coordinate $w=1/z$,For $|w|\le 1/4$, its modulus is at most $|w|/3$. Thus the reciprocal iterates tend uniformly to zero there, proving uniform convergence to infinity on the corresponding sphere neighborhood.

For the given disc, $|z-1/2|<1/2$ is equivalent to $|z{|}^2<\Re z$, and hence to $\Re (1/z)>1$. Under $w=1/z$ the iteration becomesIf $\Re w>1$, then $\Re (1/(w-1))>0$, so $\Re T(w)>\Re w+1$. Consequently the half-plane is forward invariant andThis proves uniform convergence to zero on the disc and therefore $\Delta \subset F(P)$. It is the explicit parabolic disk for z minus z squared.

Let $U=F_{\Delta }$. The iterate family is normal on the connected open set $U$. Every subsequential limit along $n_j\to \infty$ equals zero on $\Delta$; by the identity theorem it is zero throughout $U$. If the full sequence failed to converge uniformly on some compact subset, a further normal subsequence would contradict that conclusion. Hence $P^n\to 0$ locally uniformly throughout $U$. Complete invariance of the Fatou set puts $P(U)$ in a Fatou component. Since $P(\Delta )\subset \Delta$, that component is $U$, so $P(U)\subseteq U$.

We prove the reverse-image assertion, rather than assuming that a basin has only one component. Each connected component $V$ of $P^{-1}(U)$ maps properly to $U$: for compact $K\subset U$, the sphere preimage $P^{-1}(K)$ is compact, and its intersection with $V$ is closed in it because $V$ is a relatively closed component of $P^{-1}(U)$. Its image is open by holomorphic openness. To prove it is closed in $U$, lift a convergent sequence of image points to preimages in $V$. Their images eventually lie in a compact neighborhood inside $U$; properness gives a convergent preimage subsequence with limit in $V$ and the desired limiting image. Thus the image is also closed, and equals the connected target $U$. Moreover $U$ itself is one such component: it lies in $P^{-1}(U)$ by forward invariance, and any connected inverse-image component containing it lies in $F(P)$ and hence in $U$ by maximality.

Now $1/4\in \Delta$ and its entire preimage is $\{1/2\}$, counted twice. Every component $V$ of $P^{-1}(U)$ must contain a preimage of $1/4$, so every one must be $U$. ThereforeThis is the Fatou component containing an entire fiber is completely invariant argument. The convergence on this component is locally uniform: it cannot be uniform on all of $U$, because $P^n(U)=U$ for every $n$ and $U$ contains nonzero points.

Finally suppose zero belonged to the Fatou set. A normal subsequence on a disc around zero would have limit zero, since that disc meets $\Delta$ in an open set where the entire sequence tends to zero. The identity theorem forces this limit to be zero on the whole disc. Uniform convergence in a smaller finite coordinate disc would then imply derivative convergence at zero by the Cauchy integral formula. Butfor every $n$, whereas the derivative of the zero limit is zero. This contradiction proves