A separation theorem for entire transcendental maps

Abstract

We study the distribution of periodic points for a wide class of maps, namely entire transcendental functions of finite order and with bounded set of singular values, or compositions thereof. Fix $p\in\N$ and assume that all dynamic rays which are invariant under $f^p$ land. An interior $p$-periodic point is a fixed point of $f^p$ which is not the landing point of any periodic ray invariant under $f^p$. Points belonging to attracting, Siegel or Cremer cycles are examples of interior periodic points. For functions as above we show that rays which are invariant under $f^p$, together with their landing points, separate the plane into finitely many regions, each containing exactly one interior $p-$periodic point or one parabolic immediate basin invariant under $f^p$. This result generalizes the Goldberg-Milnor Separation Theorem for polynomials, and has several corollaries. It follows, for example, that two periodic Fatou components can always be separated by a pair of periodic rays landing together; that there cannot be Cremer points on the boundary of Siegel discs; that "hidden components" of a bounded Siegel disc have to be either wandering domains or preperiodic to the Siegel disc itself; or that there are only finitely many non-repelling cycles of any given period, regardless of the number of singular values.