AbstractWe study the discrete dynamical system defined on a subset of $$R^2$$
R
2
given by the iterates of the secant method applied to a real polynomial p. Each simple real root $$\alpha $$
α
of p has associated its basin of attraction $${\mathcal {A}}(\alpha )$$
A
(
α
)
formed by the set of points converging towards the fixed point $$(\alpha ,\alpha )$$
(
α
,
α
)
of S. We denote by $${\mathcal {A}}^*(\alpha )$$
A
∗
(
α
)
its immediate basin of attraction, that is, the connected component of $${\mathcal {A}}(\alpha )$$
A
(
α
)
which contains $$(\alpha ,\alpha )$$
(
α
,
α
)
. We focus on some topological properties of $${\mathcal {A}}^*(\alpha )$$
A
∗
(
α
)
, when $$\alpha $$
α
is an internal real root of p. More precisely, we show the existence of a 4-cycle in $$\partial {\mathcal {A}}^*(\alpha )$$
∂
A
∗
(
α
)
and we give conditions on p to guarantee the simple connectivity of $${\mathcal {A}}^*(\alpha )$$
A
∗
(
α
)
.