Variation of the canonical height for a family of polynomials

Abstract

A theorem of Tate asserts that, for an elliptic surface E/X defined over a number field k, and a section P of E, there exists a divisor D on X such that the canonical height of the specialization of P to the fibre above t differs from the height of t relative to D by at most a bounded amount. We prove the analogous statement for a one-parameter family of polynomial dynamical systems. Moreover, we compare, at each place of k, the local canonical height with the local contribution to the height relative to D, and show that the difference is analytic near the support of D, a result which is analogous to results of Silverman in the elliptic surface context.