Weak hyperbolicity on periodic orbits for polynomials

We prove that if the multipliers of the repelling periodic orbits of a complex polynomial grow at least like n^5+ε with the period, for some ε>0, then the Julia set of the polynomial is locally connected when it is connected. As a consequence for a polynomial the presence of a Cremer cycle implies the presence of a sequence of repelling periodic orbits with “small” multipliers. Somewhat surprisingly the proof is based on measure theorical considerations. To cite this article: J. Rivera-Letelier, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 334 (2002) 1113–1118.