Arithmetic degree and its application to Zariski dense orbit conjecture

We prove that for a dominant rational self-map $f$ on a quasi-projective variety defined over $\bar{\mathbb{Q}}$, there is a point whose $f$-orbit is well-defined and its arithmetic degree is arbitrarily close to the first dynamical degree of $f$. As an application, we prove that Zariski dense orbit conjecture holds for a birational map defined over $\bar{\mathbb{Q}}$ whose first dynamical degree is strictly larger than its third dynamical degree. In particular, the conjecture holds for birational maps on threefolds whose first dynamical is degree greater than $1$.