Interaction cohomology of forward or backward self-similar systems

We investigate the dynamics of forward or backward self-similar systems (iterated function systems) and the topological structure of their invariant sets. We define a new cohomology theory (interaction cohomology) for forward or backward self-similar systems. We show that under certain conditions, the space of connected components of the invariant set is isomorphic to the inverse limit of the spaces of connected components of the realizations of the nerves of finite coverings U of the invariant set, where each U consists of (backward) images of the invariant set under elements of finite word length. We give a criterion for the invariant set to be connected. Moreover, we give a sufficient condition for the first cohomology group to have infinite rank. As an application, we obtain many results on the dynamics of semigroups of polynomials. Moreover, we define postunbranched systems and we investigate the interaction cohomology groups of such systems. Many examples are given.