Degree growth, orbit graphs, and functoriality for birational dynamical systems

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to give a natural divisor-theoretic formulation of the counting method introduced by Halburd for computing degree growth, in a form applicable to birational dynamical systems on varieties of arbitrary dimension. Instead of counting only preimages of special values, we follow time-indexed divisorial conditions through singularity patterns. These conditions are recorded on normalized finite-window orbit graphs, where the relevant multiplicities are realized as divisorial valuations of pullbacks of time-indexed divisors. This construction explains how the elementary computations appearing in singularity patterns can be interpreted as degree relations on a single normal variety. We then show that further relations arise from the failure of functoriality of pullbacks: when the center of a divisor enters the relevant indeterminacy locus, a degree-drop divisor appears. Under suitable finite-type assumptions, the two kinds of relations lead to closed linear difference systems governing degree sequences. Several examples, including higher-dimensional ones, demonstrate that the two mechanisms are complementary and that their combination determines the degree growth in cases where either mechanism alone is insufficient.