Tips of Tongues in the Double Standard Family

Abstract: We answer a question raised by Misiurewicz and Rodrigues concerning the family of degree 2 circle maps $F_\lambda:\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\to \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$ defined by [F_\lambda(x) := 2x + a+ \frac{b}{\pi} \sin(2\pi x){\quad\text{with}\quad} \lambda:=(a,b)\in \mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}\times (0,1).] We prove that if $F_\lambda^{\circ n}-{\rm id}$ has a zero of multiplicity $3$ in $\mathbb{R}/\mathbb{Z}$, then there is a system of local coordinates $(\alpha,\beta):W\to \mathbb{R}^2$ defined in a neighborhood $W$ of $\lambda$, such that $\alpha(\lambda) =\beta(\lambda)=0$ and $F_\mu^{\circ n} - {\rm id}$ has a multiple zero with $\mu\in W$ if and only if $\beta^3(\mu) = \alpha^2(\mu)$. This shows that the tips of tongues are regular cusps.