Crystallography and Riemann surfaces

The level set of an elliptic function is a doubly periodic point set in ℂ. To obtain a wider spectrum of point sets, we consider, more generally, a Riemann surface S immersed in ℂ² and its sections (“cuts”) by ℂ More specifically, we consider surfaces S defined in terms of a fundamental surface element obtained as a conformai map of triangular domains in ℂ. The discrete group of isometries of ℂ² generated by reflections in the triangle edges leaves S invariant and generalizes double-periodicity. Our main result concerns the special case of maps of right triangles, with the right angle being a regular point of the map. For this class of maps we show that only seven Riemann surfaces, when cut, form point sets that are discrete in ℂ. Their isometry groups all have a rank 4 lattice subgroup, but only three of the corresponding point sets are doubly periodic in ℂ. The remaining surfaces form quasiperiodic point sets closely related to the vertex sets of quasiperiodic tilings. In fact, vertex sets of familiar tilings are recovered in all cases by applying the construction to a piecewise flat approximation of the corresponding Riemann surface. The geometry of point sets formed by cuts of Riemann surfaces is no less “rigid” than the geometry determined by a tiling, and has the distinct advantage in having a regular behavior with respect to the complex parameter which specifies the cut.     

Genus 2 Belyĭ surfaces with a unicellular uniform dessin

A bicoloured graph embedded in a compact oriented surface and dividing it into a union of simply connected components (faces) is known as a dessin d’enfant. It is well known that such a graph determines a complex structure on the underlying topological surface, but a given compact Riemann surface may correspond to different dessins. In this paper we deal with all unicellular (one-faced) uniform dessins of genus 2 and their underlying Riemann surfaces. A dessin is called uniform if white vertices, black vertices and faces have constant degree, say p, q and r respectively. A uniform dessin d’enfant of type (p, q, r) on a given surface S corresponds to the inclusion of the torsion-free Fuchsian group K uniformizing S inside a triangle group Δ(p, q, r). Hence the existence of different uniform dessins on S is related to the possible inclusion of K in different triangle groups. The main result of the paper states that two unicellular uniform dessins belonging to the same genus 2 surface must necessarily be isomorphic or obtained by renormalisation. The problem is approached through the study of the face-centers of the dessins. The displacement of such a point by the elements of K must belong to a prescribed discrete set of (hyperbolic) distances determined by the signature (p, q, r). Therefore looking for face-centers amounts to finding points correctly displaced by every element of K.     

An extremality property of Jenkins-Strebel differentials

Given a compact Riemann surface S with finitely many punctures, in this paper we obtain a new extremality property of a Jenkins-Strebel differentialψon S. As a consequence, we obtain the solutions of several kinds of moduli problems on 5.     

On the enumeration of circular maps with given number of edges

A map is a closed Riemann surface S with an embedded graph G such that S \ G is homeomorphic to a disjoint union of open disks. Tutte began a systematic study of maps in the 1960s, and contemporary authors are actively developing it. We introduce the concept of circular map and establish its equivalence to the concept of map admitting a coloring of the faces in two colors. The main result is a formula for the number of circular maps with given number of edges.     

Platonic surfaces

If S _O is a Riemann surface with a complete metric of finite area and constant curvature -1, let S _C denote the conformal compactification of S _O. We show that, under the assumption that the cusps of S _O are large, there is a close relationship between the hyperbolic metrics on S _O and S _C. We use this relationship to show that , where the Platonic surface P _k is the conformal compactification of the modular surface S _k. Received: November, 1996; revised: February, 1998     

Numerical Schottky Uniformizations

A real algebraic curve of algebraic genus g ≥ 2 is a pair (S, τ), where S is a closed Riemann surface of genus g and τ is a reflection on S (anticonformal involution with fixed points). In this note, we discuss a numerical (Burnside) program which permits to obtain a Riemann period matrix of the surface S in terms of an uniformizing real Schottky group. If we denote by Aut₊(S, τ) the group of conformal automorphisms of S commuting with the real structure τ, then it is a well known fact that |Aut₊(S,τ)| ≥ 12(g−1). We say that (S,τ) is maximally symmetric if |Aut₊(S,τ)|=12(g−1). We work explicitly such a numerical program in the case of maximally symmetric real curves of genus two. We construct a real Schottky uniformization for each such real curve and we use the numerical program to obtain a real algebraic curve, a Riemann period matrix and the accessory parameters in terms of the corresponding Schottky uniformization. In particular, we are able to give for Bolza’s curve a Schottky uniformization (at least numerically), providing an example for which the inverse uniformization theorem is numerically solved.Partially supported by Projects Fondecyt 1030252 1030373 and UTFSM 12.03.21     

Uniformization of conformal involutions on stable Riemann surfaces

Let S be a closed Riemann surface of genus g. It is well known that there are Schottky groups producing uniformizations of S (Retrosection Theorem). Moreover, if τ: S → S is a conformal involution, it is also known that there is a Kleinian group K containing, as an index two subgroup, a Schottky group G that uniformizes S and so that K/G induces the cyclic group 〈τ〉. Let us now assume S is a stable Riemann surface and τ: S → S is a conformal involution. Again, it is known that S can be uniformized by a suitable noded Schottky group, but it is not known whether or not there is a Kleinian group K, containing a noded Schottky group G of index two, so that G uniformizes S and K/G induces 〈τ〉. In this paper we discuss this existence problem and provide some partial answers: (1) a complete positive answer for genus g ≤ 2 and for the case that S/〈τ〉 is of genus zero; (2) the existence of a Kleinian group K uniformizing the quotient stable Riemann orbifold S/〈τ〉. Applications to handlebodies with orientation-preserving involutions are also provided.     

Pseudo-holomorphic maps and bubble trees

This paper proves a strong convergence theorem for sequences of pseudo-holomorphic maps from a Riemann surface to a symplectic manifoldN with tamed almost complex structure. (These are the objects used by Gromov to define his symplectic invariants.) The paper begins by developing some analytic facts about such maps, including a simple new isoperimetric inequality and a new removable singularity theorem. The main technique is a general procedure for renormalizing sequences of maps to obtain “bubbles on bubbles.” This is a significant step beyond the standard renormalization procedure of Sacks and Uhlenbeck. The renormalized maps give rise to a sequence of maps from a “bubble tree”—a map from a wedge Σ V S² V S² V ... →N. The main result is that the images of these renormalized maps converge in L^1,2 ∪C° to the image of a limiting pseudo-holomorphic map from the bubble tree. This implies several important properties of the bubble tree. In particular, the images of consecutive bubbles in the bubble tree intersect, and if a sequence of maps represents a homology class then the limiting map represents this class.     

Shared values of meromorphic functions on compact Riemann surfaces

Let S be a compact Riemann surface of genus g and gonality d. We derive upper bounds (in terms of g and/or d) for the number of values that two non-constant meromorphic functions on S can share. The case d = 2 (i.e., the surface is hyperelliptic or elliptic) is studied in more detail.Received: 14 April 2004     

Topological Loewner theory on Riemann surfaces

We prove that topological evolution families on a Riemann surface S are rather trivial unless S is conformally equivalent to the unit disc or the punctuated unit disc. We also prove that, except for the torus where there is no non-trivial continuous Loewner chain, there is a topological evolution family associated to any topological Loewner chain and, conversely, any topological evolution family comes from a topological Loewner chain on the same Riemann surface.     

Moduli spaces of vector bundles over a Klein surface

A compact topological surface S, possibly non-orientable and with non-empty boundary, always admits a Klein surface structure (an atlas whose transition maps are dianalytic). Its complex cover is, by definition, a compact Riemann surface M endowed with an anti-holomorphic involution which determines topologically the original surface S. In this paper, we compare dianalytic vector bundles over S and holomorphic vector bundles over M, devoting special attention to the implications that this has for moduli varieties of semistable vector bundles over M. We construct, starting from S, totally real, totally geodesic, Lagrangian submanifolds of moduli varieties of semistable vector bundles of fixed rank and degree over M. This relates the present work to the constructions of Ho and Liu over non-orientable compact surfaces with empty boundary (Ho and Liu in Commun Anal Geom 16(3):617–679, 2008).     

Krein Formula and S-Matrix for Euclidean Surfaces with Conical Singularities

Using the Krein formula for the difference of the resolvents of two self-adjoint extensions of a symmetric operator with finite deficiency indices, we establish a comparison formula for ζ-regularized determinants of two self-adjoint extensions of the Laplace operator on a Euclidean surface with conical singularities (E.s.c.s.). The ratio of two determinants is expressed through the value S(0) of the S-matrix, S(λ), of the surface. We study the asymptotic behavior of the S-matrix, give an explicit expression for S(0) relating it to the Bergman projective connection on the underlying compact Riemann surface, and derive variational formulas for S(λ) with respect to coordinates on the moduli space of E.s.c.s. with trivial holonomy.     

The regularity of conformal target harmonic maps

We establish that any weakly conformal \(W^{1,2}\) map from a Riemann surface S into a closed oriented sub-manifold \(N^n\) of an euclidian space \({\mathbb {R}}^m\) realizes, for almost every sub-domain, a stationary varifold if and only if it is a smooth conformal harmonic map form S into \(N^n\).     

Involutions on surfaces with pg?=?q?=?0 and K2?=?3

We study surfaces of general type S with p _g  = 0 and K ² = 3 having an involution i such that the bicanonical map of S is not composed with i. It is shown that, if S/i is not rational, then S/i is birational to an Enriques surface or it has Kodaira dimension 1 and the possibilities for the ramification divisor of the covering map S → S/i are described. We also show that these two cases do occur, providing an example. In this example S has a hyperelliptic fibration of genus 3 and the bicanonical map of S is of degree 2 onto a rational surface.     

Harmonic maps and asymptotic Teichmüller space

In this paper, the asymptotic boundary behavior of a Hopf differential or the Beltrami coefficient of a harmonic map is investigated and certain compact properties of harmonic maps are established. It is shown that, if f is a quasiconformal harmonic diffeomorphism between two Riemann surfaces and is homotopic to an asymptotically conformal map modulo boundary, then f is asymptotically conformal itself. In addition, we prove that the harmonic embedding map from the Bers space B Q D (X) of an arbitrary hyperbolic Riemann surface X to the Teichmüller space T (X) induces an embedding map from the asymptotic Bers space A B Q D (X), a quotient space of B Q D (X), into the asymptotic Teichmüller space AT (X). The work was supported by a Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation (Grant No. 200518) of PR China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 10401036).     

Embeddable anticonformal automorphisms of Riemann surfaces

Let S be a Riemann surface and f be an automorphism of finite order of S. We call f embeddable if there is a conformal embedding such that is the restriction to e(S) of a rigid motion. In this paper we show that an anticonformal automorphism of finite order is embeddable if and only if it belongs to one of the topological conjugation classes here described. For conformal automorphisms a similar result was known by R.A. Rüedy [R3]. Received: February 8, 1996     

Zero-pole interpolation for meromophic matrix functions on an algebraic curve and transfer functions of 2D systems

We formulate and solve the problem of constructing a meromorphic bundle map over a compact Riemann surface X having a prescribed zero-pole structure (including directional information). The output bundle together with the zero-pole data is prespecified while the input bundle and the bundle map are to be determined. The Riemann surface X is assumed to be (birationally) embedded as an irreducible algebraic curve in ² and both input and output bundles are assumed to be equal to the kernels of determinantal representations for X. In this setting the solution can be found as the joint transfer function of a Livsic-Kravitsky two-operator commutative vessel (2D input-output dynamical system). Also developed is the basic theory of two-operator commutative vessels and the correct analogue of the transfer function for such a system (a meromorphic bundle map between input and output bundles defined over an algebraic curve associated with the vessel) together with a state space realization, a Mittag-Leffler type interpolation theorem and the state space similarity theorem for such bundle mappings. A more abstract version of the zero-pole interpolation problem is also presented.     

Schottky uniformization¶and vector bundles over Riemann surfaces

We study a natural map from representations of a free group of rank g in GL(n,ℂ), to holomorphic vector bundles of degree 0 over a compact Riemann surface X of genus g, associated with a Schottky uniformization of X. Maximally unstable flat bundles are shown to arise in this way. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for this map to be a submersion, when restricted to representations producing stable bundles. Using a generalized version of Riemann's bilinear relations, this condition is shown to be true on the subspace of unitary Schottky representations. Received: 13 June 2000 / Revised version: 29 December 2000