Matings and the other side of the dictionary

International audienceIn the theory of rational maps an important role is played by matings. These are probably the best understood of all rational functions, but they are bizarre, and involve gluing dendrites together to get spheres carrying Peano curves. In the theory of Kleinian groups, there is a parallel construction, the construction of double limits, that is central to Thurston’s hyperbolization theorem for 3-manifolds that fiber over the circle with pseudo-Anosov monodromy. It also involves gluing dendrites and Peano curves. Clearly these two constructions form one entry of the Sullivan dictionary. This article attempts to spell out the similarities and differences