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.     

Riemann surfaces

Since the classical work of Riemann, Plein, Chobe, and Poincaré, in mathematics the interest in the theory of Riemann surfaces and groups has not abated. The present survey covers papers reviewed in RZhMat during the period 1967–1976 primarily in the sections Algebra. Topology. Geometry. The following topics are considered most completely and thoroughly: the topology of Riemann surfaces and their automorphisms, Fuchsian groups, Teichmüller spaces, and spaces of moduli.Translated from Itogi Nauki i Tekhniki, Algebra, Topologiya, Geometriya, Vol. 16, pp. 191–245, 1978,     

Uniformization of surfaces of genus two with automorphisms

Research partially supported by the United Nations Development Program CHI-84004     

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.     

On gonality of Riemann surfaces

A compact Riemann surface X is called a (p, n)-gonal surface if there exists a group of automorphisms C of X (called a (p, n)-gonal group) of prime order p such that the orbit space X/C has genus n. We derive some basic properties of (p, n)-gonal surfaces considered as generalizations of hyperelliptic surfaces and also examine certain properties which do not generalize. In particular, we find a condition which guarantees all (p, n)-gonal groups are conjugate in the full automorphism group of a (p, n)-gonal surface, and we find an upper bound for the size of the corresponding conjugacy class. Furthermore we give an upper bound for the number of conjugacy classes of (p, n)-gonal groups of a (p, n)-gonal surface in the general case. We finish by analyzing certain properties of quasiplatonic (p, n)-gonal surfaces. An open problem and two conjectures are formulated in the paper.     

Limit surfaces of Riemann examples

The family of embedded, singly periodic minimal surfaces of Riemann have as limit-surfaces the helicoid, the catenoid, a single plane, or an infinite set of equally-spaced parallel planes.     

Circle packing and Riemann surfaces

Research of both authors was supported in part by the N.S.F.