Finitely ramified iterated extensions

Abstract

Let K be a number field, t a parameter, F=K(t) and f in K[x] a polynomial of degree d. The polynomial P_n(x,t)= f^n(x) - t in F[x] where f^n is the n-fold iterate of f, is absolutely irreducible over F; we compute a recursion for its discriminant. Let L=L(f) be the field obtained by adjoining to F all roots, in a fixed algebraic closure, of P_n for all n; its Galois group Gal(L/F) is the iterated monodromy group of f. The iterated extension L/F is finitely ramified if and only if f is post-critically finite (pcf). We show that, moreover, for pcf polynomials f, every specialization of L/F at t=t_0 in K is finitely ramified over K, pointing to the possibility of studying Galois groups with restricted ramification via tree representations associated to iterated monodromy groups of pcf polynomials. We discuss the wildness of ramification in some of these representations, describe prime decomposition in terms of certain finite graphs, and also give some examples of monogene number fields.