Polynomial diffeomorphisms of C 2 . VIII: Quasi-expansion

We introduce the notion of quasi-expansion in the context of polynomial diffeomorphisms of C 2 . Like hyperbolic diffeomorphisms, quasi-expanding maps have uniformly large multipliers at saddle points. On the other hand, unlike the hyperbolic case, quasi-expanding maps can have tangencies between stable and unstable manifolds. We characterize quasi-expansion in a number of ways and develop some of the structure they possess. Quasi-expansion was motivated by the study of real polynomial diffeomorphisms of maximal entropy, and our study of maximal entropy diffeomorphisms relies on the results of this paper.