Dynamical degrees of twisted rational maps

Abstract

Twisted rational maps arise naturally in relative algebraic dynamics: if a rational self-map preserves a fibration, then the induced map on the generic fiber is usually not an ordinary rational self-map over the function field, but a twisted one. This suggests that twisted rational maps form a natural framework for studying relative dynamics. In this framework we extend the theory of dynamical degrees, the numerical invariants measuring the asymptotic complexity of a dynamical system: the defining limits exist, are independent of the choice of polarization, and are birational invariants. We also identify the relative dynamical degrees of a semi-conjugacy with the dynamical degrees of the induced twisted rational map on the generic fiber, and prove the corresponding mixed degree formula. Finally, using the spectral interpretation of dynamical degrees and valuative methods at infinity, we prove an algebraicity result for the first dynamical degree of twisted endomorphisms of affine varieties.