Let be prime and define
The recursion shows that has degree . Moreover at zero, so is a simple root. Since the degree is greater than one, has a nonzero root . At , the critical point zero is periodic with period dividing . It is not fixed because , so primality makes its exact period . Thus is the center of a hyperbolic component of exact period .
The multiplier map on this component covers the unit disc. Move to its boundary along parameters whose attracting-cycle multiplier tends to . Compactness of the Mandelbrot set gives a limiting parameter . The periodic cycle persists with exact period : at multiplier , every point is a simple root of , so no collision to a lower-period orbit occurs. Its multiplier is the root of unity , and hence it is a parabolic cycle after squaring the return map. We have produced a parabolic cycle of exact period for every prime . Therefore the parabolic periods in the quadratic family form an infinite set.