Parabolic Implosion in the Parameter Space of Cubic Polynomials

Abstract

Parabolic implosion describes the enrichment of Julia sets when a parabolic fixed point is perturbed. It is also natural to study parabolic implosion in parameter spaces. In particular, when one perturbs properly the family of cubic polynomials having a stable parabolic fixed point into nearby families, the enrichment of the bifurcation loci occurs. We investigate the topology of such enrichment in the parameter space of cubic polynomials and relate it to the corresponding enrichment of Julia sets of quadratic polynomials, the latter of which has been studied systematically by P. Lavaurs in the 80s.