The Lyapunov exponent of holomorphic maps

Abstract

For any polynomial map with a single critical point, we prove that its lower Lyapunov exponent at the critical value is negative if and only if the map has an attracting cycle. Similar statement holds for the exponential maps and some other complex dynamical systems. We prove further that for the unicritical polynomials with positive area Julia sets almost every point of the Julia set has zero Lyapunov exponent. Part of this statement generalizes as follows: every point with positive upper Lyapunov exponent in the Julia set of an arbitrary polynomial is not a Lebegue density point.