Hyperbolic ends with particles and grafting on singular surfaces

We prove that any 3-dimensional hyperbolic end with particles (cone singularities along infinite curves of angles less than π) admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. Using a form of duality between hyperbolic ends with particles and convex globally hyperbolic maximal (GHM) de Sitter spacetime with particles, it follows that any 3-dimensional convex GHM de Sitter spacetime with particles also admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. We prove that the grafting map from the product of Teichmüller space with the space of measured laminations to the space of complex projective structures is a homeomorphism for surfaces with cone singularities of angles less than π, as well as an analogue when grafting is replaced by “smooth grafting”.     

Ads Manifolds With Particles and Earthquakes on Singular Surfaces

We prove two related results. The first is an “earthquake theorem” for closed hyperbolic surfaces with cone singularities where the total angle is less than π: any two such metrics in are connected by a unique left earthquake. The second result is that the space of “globally hyperbolic” AdS manifolds with “particles” – cone singularities (of given angle) along time-like lines – is parametrized by the product of two copies of the Teichmüller space with some marked points (corresponding to the cone singularities). The two statements are proved together. F.B. was partially supported by the A.N.R. project GEODYCOS. J.-M.S. was partially supported by the A.N.R. programs RepSurf, 2006-09, ANR-06-BLAN-0311, GeomEinstein, 2006-09, 06-BLAN-0154, and FOG, 2007-10, ANR-07-BLAN-0251-01.     

Maximal surfaces and the universal Teichmüller space

We show that any element of the universal Teichmüller space is realized by a unique minimal Lagrangian diffeomorphism from the hyperbolic plane to itself. The proof uses maximal surfaces in the 3-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. We show that, in AdS _n+1, any subset E of the boundary at infinity which is the boundary at infinity of a space-like hypersurface bounds a maximal space-like hypersurface. In AdS₃, if E is the graph of a quasi-symmetric homeomorphism, then this maximal surface is unique, and it has negative sectional curvature. As a by-product, we find a simple characterization of quasi-symmetric homeomorphisms of the circle in terms of 3-dimensional projective geometry.     

Counting closed geodesics in globally hyperbolic maximal compact AdS 3-manifolds

We propose a definition for the length of closed geodesics in a globally hyperbolic maximal compact (GHMC) Anti-De Sitter manifold. We then prove that the number of closed geodesics of length less than R grows exponentially fast with R and the exponential growth rate is related to the critical exponent associated to the two hyperbolic surfaces coming from Mess parametrization. We get an equivalent of three results for quasi-Fuchsian manifolds in the GHMC setting: Bowen’s rigidity theorem of critical exponent, Sanders’ isolation theorem and McMullen’s examples lightening the behaviour of this exponent when the surfaces range over Teichmüller space.     

On local comparison between various metrics on Teichmüller spaces

There are several Teichmüller spaces associated to a surface of infinite topological type, after the choice of a particular basepoint (a complex or a hyperbolic structure on the surface). Such spaces include the quasiconformal Teichmüller space, the length spectrum Teichmüller space, the Fenchel-Nielsen Teichmüller space, and there are others. In general, these spaces are set-theoretically different. An important question is therefore to understand relations between them. Each of these spaces is equipped with its own metric, and under some hypotheses, there are inclusions between them. In this paper, we obtain local metric comparison results on these inclusions, namely, we show that the inclusions are locally bi-Lipschitz under certain hypotheses. To obtain these results, we use some hyperbolic geometry estimates that give new results also for surfaces of finite type. We recall that in the case of a surface of finite type, all these Teichmüller spaces coincide setwise. In the case of a surface of finite type with no boundary components (but possibly with punctures), we show that the restriction of the identity map to any thick part of Teichmüller space is globally bi-Lipschitz with respect to the length spectrum metric on the domain and the classical Teichmüller metric on the range. In the case of a surface of finite type with punctures and boundary components, there is a metric on the Teichmüller space which we call the arc metric, whose definition is analogous to the length spectrum metric, but which uses lengths of geodesic arcs instead of lengths of closed geodesics. We show that the restriction of the identity map to any “relative thick” part of Teichmüller space is globally bi-Lipschitz, with respect to any of the three metrics: the length spectrum metric, the Teichmüller metric and the arc metric on the domain and on the range.     

Dynamics on Teichmüller spaces and self-covering of Riemann surfaces

A non-injective holomorphic self-cover of a Riemann surface induces a non-surjective holomorphic self-embedding of its Teichmüller space. We investigate the dynamics of such self-embeddings by applying our structure theorem of self-covering of Riemann surfaces and examine the distribution of its isometric vectors on the tangent bundle over the Teichmüller space. We also extend our observation to quasiregular self-covers of Riemann surfaces and give an answer to a certain problem on quasiconformal equivalence to a holomorphic self-cover.     

A function model for the Teichmüller space of a closed hyperbolic Riemann surface

We introduce a function model for the Teichmüller space of a closed hyperbolic Riemann surface.Then we introduce a new metric on the Teichmüller space by using the maximum norm on the function space.We prove that the identity map from the Teichmüller space equipped with the Teichmüller metric to the Teichmüller space equipped with this new metric is uniformly continuous. Moreover, we prove that the inverse of the identity, i.e., the identity map from the Teichmüller space equipped with this new metric to the Teichmüller space equipped with the Teichmüller metric, is continuous(but not uniformly). Therefore, the topology induced by the new metric is the same as the topology induced by the Teichmüller metric on the Teichmüller space.Finally, we give a remark about the pressure metric on the function model and the Weil-Petersson metric on the Teichmüller space.     

Geometric aspects of the moduli space of riemann surfaces

We describe some recent progress in the study of moduli space of Riemann surfaces in this survey paper. New complete Kähler metrics were introduced on the moduli space and Teichmüller space. Their curvature properties and asymptotic behavior were studied in details. These natural metrics served as bridges to connect all the known canonical metrics, especially the Kähler-Einstein metric. We showed that all the known complete metrics on the moduli space are equivalent and have Poincaré type growth. Furthermore, the Kähler-Einstein metric has strongly bounded geometry. This also implied that the logarithm cotangent bundle of the moduli space is stable in the sense of Mumford.

     

Statistical Hyperbolicity in Teichmüller Space

In this paper we explore the idea that Teichmüller space is hyperbolic “on average.” Our approach focuses on studying the geometry of geodesics which spend a definite proportion of time in some thick part of Teichmüller space. We consider several different measures on Teichmüller space and find that this behavior for geodesics is indeed typical. With respect to each of these measures, we show that the average distance between points in a ball of radius r is asymptotic to 2r, which is as large as possible. Our techniques also lead to a statement quantifying the expected thinness of random triangles in Teichmüller space, showing that “most triangles are mostly thin.”     

Length spectra and the Teichmüller metric for surfaces with boundary

We consider some metrics and weak metrics defined on the Teichmüller space of a surface of finite type with nonempty boundary, that are defined using the hyperbolic length spectrum of simple closed curves and of properly embedded arcs, and we compare these metrics and weak metrics with the Teichmüller metric. The comparison is on subsets of Teichmüller space which we call “ε ₀-relative e{\epsilon}-thick parts”, and whose definition depends on the choice of some positive constants ε ₀ and e{\epsilon}. Meanwhile, we give a formula for the Teichmüller metric of a surface with boundary in terms of extremal lengths of families of arcs.     

The Weil–Petersson Kähler Form and Affine Foliations on Surfaces

The space of broken hyperbolic structures generalizes the usual Teichmüller space of a punctured surface, and the space of projectivized broken measured foliations – or, equivalently, the space of projectivized affine foliations of a punctured surface – likewise generalizes the space of projectivized measured foliations. Just as projectivized measured foliations provide Thurston's boundary for Teichmüller space, so too do projectivized broken measured foliations provide a boundary for the space of broken hyperbolic structures. In this paper, we naturally extend the Weil–Petersson Kähler two-form to a corresponding two-form on the space of broken hyperbolic structures as well as Thurston's symplectic form to a corresponding two-form on the space of broken measured foliations, and we show that the former limits in an appropriate sense to the latter. The proof in sketch follows earlier work of the authors for measured foliations and depends upon techniques from decorated Teichmüller theory, which is also applied here to a further study of broken hyperbolic structures.     

On the Geometry of Hyperbolic Surfaces with a Conical Singularity

The geometry of compact hyperbolic surfaces with conical singularities isinvestigated. The Teichmüller space of a hyperbolic pair of pants with asingle singularity is studied. A finite number of real parameters whichdetermine the geometry of a hyperbolic torus of genus two with a singlesingularity, is given.     

Length spectra and the Teichmüller metric for surfaces with boundary

We consider some metrics and weak metrics defined on the Teichmüller space of a surface of finite type with nonempty boundary, that are defined using the hyperbolic length spectrum of simple closed curves and of properly embedded arcs, and we compare these metrics and weak metrics with the Teichmüller metric. The comparison is on subsets of Teichmüller space which we call “ε ₀-relative \({\epsilon}\)-thick parts”, and whose definition depends on the choice of some positive constants ε ₀ and \({\epsilon}\). Meanwhile, we give a formula for the Teichmüller metric of a surface with boundary in terms of extremal lengths of families of arcs.     

Strebel differentials and Hamilton sequences

Let T(S) be a Teichmüller space of a hyperbolic Riemann surface S, viewed as a set of Teichmüller equivalence classes of Beltrami differentials on S. It is shown in this paper that for any extremal Beltrami differential μ₀ at a given point τ of T(S), there is a Hamilton sequence for μ₀ formed by Strebel differentials in a natural way. Especially, such a kind of Hamilton sequence possesses some special properties. As applications, some results on point shift differentials are given.     

Divergence of Geodesics in Teichmüller Space and the Mapping Class Group

We show that both Teichmüller space (with the Teichmüller metric) and the mapping class group (with a word metric) have geodesic divergence that is intermediate between the linear rate of flat spaces and the exponential rate of hyperbolic spaces. For every two geodesic rays in Teichmüller space, we find that their divergence is at most quadratic. Furthermore, this estimate is shown to be sharp via examples of pairs of rays with exactly quadratic divergence. The same statements are true for geodesic rays in the mapping class group. We explicitly describe efficient paths “near infinity” in both spaces.     

Periodic points on Veech surfaces and the Mordell-Weil group over a Teichmüller curve

Periodic points are points on Veech surfaces, whose orbit under the group of affine diffeomorphisms is finite. We characterize those points as being torsion points if the Veech surfaces is suitably mapped to its Jacobian or an appropriate factor thereof. For a primitive Veech surface in genus two we show that the only periodic points are the Weierstraß points and the singularities. Our main tool is the Hodge-theoretic characterization of Teichmüller curves. We deduce from it a finiteness result for the Mordell-Weil group of the family of Jacobians over a Teichmüller curve. The link to the classification of periodic points is provided by interpreting them as sections of the family of curves over a covering of the Teichmüller curve.     

An isomorphism theorem for Teichmüller curves

It is proved that for any Fuchsian group Γ such that ℍ/Γ is a hyperbolic Riemann surface, the Teichmüller curve V(Γ) has a unique complex manifold structure so that the natural projection of the Bers fiber space F(Γ) onto V(Γ) is holomorphic with local holomorphic sections. An isomorphism theorem for Teichmüller curves is deduced, which generalizes a classical result that the Teichmüller curve V(Γ) depends only on the type of Γ and not on the orders of the elliptic elements of Γ when ℍ/Γ is a compact hyperbolic Riemann surface.     

Augmented Teichmüller spaces and orbifolds

We study complex analytic properties of the augmented Teichmüller spaces [`(T)]<sub>g,n</sub>{\overline{\mathcal{T}}_{g,n}} obtained by adding to the classical Teichmüller spaces T<sub>g,n</sub>{\mathcal{T}_{g,n}} points corresponding to Riemann surfaces with nodal singularities. Unlike T<sub>g,n</sub>{\mathcal{T}_{g,n}}, the space [`(T)]_g,n{\overline{\mathcal{T}}_{g,n}} is not a complex manifold (it is not even locally compact). We prove, however, that the quotient of the augmented Teichmüller space by any finite index subgroup of the Teichmüller modular group has a canonical structure of a complex orbifold. Using this structure, we construct natural maps from [`(T)]{\overline{\mathcal{T}}} to stacks of admissible coverings of stable Riemann surfaces. This result is important for understanding the cup-product in stringy orbifold cohomology. We also establish some new technical results from the general theory of orbifolds which may be of independent interest.     

On new kinds of Teichmüller spaces

We introduce a Teichmüller space for a Riemann surface withn distinguished points. Ifn=0 this is the ordinary Teichmüller space. Forn=1, in special cases, it represents the Teichmüller curve and the universal covering space of the Teichmüller curve. The corresponding modular groups and Riemann spaces are investigated. Some purely topological applications on homotopy of self-maps of surfaces are obtained. Research partially supported by NSF Grant GP-19572. The author is currently a Guggenheim Memorial Fellow.