Elastic Graphs for Main Molecule Matings

Abstract

Recent work of Dylan Thurston gives a condition for when a post-critically finite branched self-cover of the sphere is equivalent to a rational map. We apply D. Thurston's positive criterion for rationality to give a new proof of a theorem of Rees, Shishikura, and Tan about the mateability of quadratic polynomials when one polynomial is in the main molecule. These methods may be a step in understanding the mateability of higher degree post-critically finite polynomials and demonstrate how to apply the positive criterion to classical problems.