UVictoria Women in Math Lecture Series: Niki-Myrto Mavraki

Iteration has revealed mathematical structure for millennia—from ancient Babylonian root-finding techniques to the intricate fractals developed by Fatou and Julia during the First World War. Yet many mysteries remain. One such puzzle centers on preperiodic points, values that eventually fall into a repeating orbit under iteration.

This lecture explores what happens when two different dynamical systems unexpectedly share many such points. Why should two unrelated processes exhibit the same finite cycles? And what can these coincidences tell us about deeper structures in number theory and arithmetic dynamics?

Grounded in the theme of “unlikely intersections,” this talk offers an accessible look at a rich area of modern mathematics.