We construct a metric simplicial complex which is an almost isometric model of the moduli space M(S) of Riemann surfaces. We then use this model to compute the "tangent cone at infinity" of M(S): it is the topological cone on the quotient of the complex of curves C(S) by the mapping class group of S, endowed with an explicitly described metric. The main ingredient is Minsky's product regions theorem.
The moduli space of lattices of $\mathbb{C}$ is a Riemann surface of finite hyperbolic area with the square lattice as an origin. We select a lattice from the induced uniform distribution and calculate the statistics of the Teichmüller distance to the origin. This in turn identifies distribution of the distance in Teichmüller space to the central "square" punctured torus in the moduli space of punctured tori. There are singularities in this p.d.f. arising from the topology of the moduli space. We also consider the statistics of the distance in Teichmüller space to the rectangular punctured tor…
It is known that every finitely unbranched covering $α:\widetilde{S}_{g(α)}\rightarrow S$ of a compact Riemann surface $S$ with genus $g\geq2$ induces an isometric embedding $Γ_α$ from the Teichmüller space $T(S)$ to the Teichüller space $T(\widetilde{S}_{g(α)})$. Actually, it has been showed that the isometric embedding $Γ_α$ can be extended isometrically to the augmented Teichmüller space $\widehat{T}(S)$ of $T(S)$. Using this result, we construct a directed limit $\widehat{T}_{\infty}(S)$ of augmented Teichmüller spaces, where the index runs over all finitely unbranched coverings of $S$. Th…
We prove an analogue of Farb-Masur's theorem that the length-spectra metric on moduli space is "almost isometric" to a simple model $\mathcal {V}(S)$ which is induced by the cone metric over the complex of curves. As an application, we know that the Teichmüller metric and the length-spectra metric are "almost isometric" on moduli space, while they are not even quasi-isometric on Teichmüller space.
Let $S$ be a closed, oriented surface with a finite (possibly empty) set of points removed. In this paper we relate two important but disparate topics in the study of the moduli space $\M(S)$ of Riemann surfaces: Teichmüller geometry and the Deligne-Mumford compactification. We reconstruct the Deligne-Mumford compactification (as a metric stratified space) purely from the intrinsic metric geometry of $\M(S)$ endowed with the Teichmüller metric. We do this by first classifying (globally) geodesic rays in $\M(S)$ and determining precisely how pairs of rays asymptote. We construct an "iterated ED…
We describe a method to compute the norm on the cotangent space to the moduli space of Riemann surfaces associated to the Finsler Teichmüller metric. Our method involves computing the periods of abelian double covers and is easy to implement for Riemann surfaces presented as algebraic curves using existing tools for approximating period matrices of plane algebraic curves. We illustrate our method by depicting the unit sphere in the cotangent space to moduli space at a particular surface of genus zero with five punctures and by corroborating the proof of a theorem of Royden's for our example.
This survey covers earlier work of the author as well as recent work on Riemann's moduli space, its canonical cell decomposition and compactification, and the related operadic structure of arc complexes.
We study the dynamics of the Teichmuller flow in the moduli space of Abelian differentials (and more generally, its restriction to any connected component of a stratum). We show that the (Masur-Veech) absolutely continuous invariant probability measure is exponentially mixing for the class of Holder observables. A geometric consequence is that the $\SL(2,\R)$ action in the moduli space has a spectral gap.
We show that any grafting ray in Teichmüller space determined by an arational lamination or a multi-curve is (strongly) asymptotic to a Teichmüller geodesic ray. As a consequence the projection of a generic grafting ray to moduli space is dense. We also show that the set of points in Teichmüller space obtained by integer (2π-) graftings on any hyperbolic surface projects to a dense set, which implies that complex projective surfaces with any fixed Fuchsian holonomy are dense in moduli space.
We study the coarse geometry of the moduli space of dilation tori with two singularities and the dynamical properties of the action of the Teichmuller flow on this moduli space. This leads to a proof that the vertical foliation of a dilation torus is almost always Morse-Smale. As a corollary, we get that the generic piecewise affine circle homeomorphism with two break points -with respect to the Lebesgue measure- is Morse-Smale.
Let M be the moduli space of irreducible flat PSL(2,R) connections on a punctured surface of finite type with parabolic holonomies around punctures. By using a notion of admissibility of an ideal arc, M is covered by dense open subsets associated to ideal triangulations of the surface. A principal bundle over M is constructed which, when restricted to the Teichmuller component of M, is isomorphic to the decorated Teichmuller space of Penner. The construction gives a generalization to M of Penner's coordinates for the Teichmuller space.
This is a commentary on Teichmüllers' paper "Veränderliche Riemannsche Flächen" (Variable Riemann Surfaces), published in 1944. This paper is the last one that Teichmüller wrote on the problem of moduli. At most places the paper contains ideas and no technical details. The author presents a completely new approach to Teichmüller space, compared to the approach he took in his first seminal paper "Extremale quasikonforme Abbildungen und quadratische Differentiale" and its sequel "Bestimmung der extremalen quasikonformen Abbildungen bei geschlossenen orientierten Riemannschen Flächen" in which he…
Let $X_0$ be a complete hyperbolic surface of infinite type that has a geodesic pants decomposition with cuff lengths bounded above. The length spectrum Teichmüller space $T_{ls}(X_0)$ consists of homotopy classes of hyperbolic metrics on $X_0$ such that the ratios of the corresponding simple closed geodesic for the hyperbolic metric on $X_0$ and for the other hyperbolic metric are bounded from the below away from 0 and from the above away from $\infty$ (cf. \cite{ALPS}). This paper studies earthquakes in the length spectrum Teichmüller space $T_{ls}(X_0)$. We find a necessary condition and se…
In this paper we study the systole function along Weil-Petersson geodesics. We show that the square root of the systole function is uniformly Lipschitz on Teichmüller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson metric. As an application, we study the growth of the Weil-Petersson inradius of moduli space of Riemann surfaces of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures as a function of $g$ and $n$. We show that the Weil-Petersson inradius is comparable to $\sqrt{\ln{g}}$ with respect to $g$, and is comparable to $1$ with respect to $n$. Moreover, we also study the asymptotic behavior, as $g$ goes to infinity, of t…
This paper extends the decorated Teichmüller theory developed before for punctured surfaces to the setting of ``bordered'' surfaces, i.e., surfaces with boundary, and there is non-trivial new structure discovered. The main new result identifies the arc complex of a bordered surface up to proper homotopy equivalence with a certain quotient of the moduli space, namely, the quotient by the natural action of the positive reals by homothety on the hyperbolic lengths of geodesic boundary components. One tool in the proof is a homeomorphism between two versions of a ``decorated'' moduli space for bor…
In this paper, we present a unified study of the moduli space of tropical curves and Outer space which we link via period maps to the moduli space of tropical abelian varieties and the space of positive definite quadratic forms. Our work is a first step towards exhibiting Outer space and the space of positive definite quadratic forms as analogues of Teichmüller space and Siegel space, respectively, in tropical geometry. All these spaces and the maps among them are described within the category of ideal stacky fans, which we describe in detail.
In this article we first show that any finite cover of the moduli space of closed Riemann surfaces of genus $g$ with $g\geq 2$ does not admit any Riemannian metric $ds^2$ of nonnegative scalar curvature such that $ds^2 \succ ds_{T}^2$ where $ds_{T}^2$ is the Teichmüller metric. Our second result is the proof that any cover $M$ of the moduli space $\mathbb{M}_{g}$ of a closed Riemann surface $S_{g}$ does not admit any complete Riemannian metric of uniformly positive scalar curvature in the quasi-isometry class of the Teichmüller metric, which implies a conjecture of Farb-Weinberger.
We prove that the pressure metric on the Teichmüller space of a bordered surface is incomplete and its partial completion can be given by the moduli space of metric graphs for a fat graph associated to the same bordered surface equipped with pressure metric. As a corollary, we show that the pressure metric is not a constant multiple of the Weil-Petersson metric which is different from the closed surface case.
Let $S=S_{g,p}$ be a compact, orientable surface of genus $g$ with $p$ punctures and such that $d(S):=3g-3+p>0$. The mapping class group $\textup{Mod}_S$ acts properly discontinuously on the Teichmüller space $\mathcal T(S)$ of marked hyperbolic structures on $S$. The resulting quotient $\mathcal M(S)$ is the moduli space of isometry classes of hyperbolic surfaces. We provide a version of precise reduction theory for finite index subgroups of $\textup{Mod}_S$, i.e., a description of exact fundamental domains. As an application we show that the asymptotic cone of the moduli space $\mathcal M(S)…
Some connected components of a moduli space are mundane in the sense that they are distinguished only by obvious topological invariants or have no special characteristics. Others are more alluring and unusual either because they are not detected by primary invariants, or because they have special geometric significance, or both. In this paper we describe new examples of such `exotic' components in moduli spaces of SO(p,q)-Higgs bundles on closed Riemann surfaces or, equivalently, moduli spaces of surface group representations into the Lie group SO(p,q). Furthermore, we discuss how these exotic…
A Teichmüller curve is an algebraic and isometric immersion of an algebraic curve into the moduli space of Riemann surfaces. We give the first explicit algebraic models of Teichmüller curves of positive genus. Our methods are based on the study of certain Hilbert modular forms and the use of Ahlfors's variational formula to identify eigenforms for real multiplication on genus two Jacobians. We also present evidence that Teichmüller curves admit a rich arithmetic geometry by exhibiting examples with small primes of bad reduction and notable divisors supported at their cusps.
Generalising a seminal result of Epstein and Penner for cusped hyperbolic manifolds, Cooper and Long showed that each decorated strictly convex projective cusped manifold has a canonical cell decomposition. Penner used the former result to describe a natural cell decomposition of decorated Teichmüller space of punctured surfaces. We extend this cell decomposition to the moduli space of decorated strictly convex projective structures of finite volume on punctured surfaces. The proof uses Fock and Goncharov's $\mathcal{A}$-coordinates for doubly decorated structures. In addition, we describe a s…
Let $S$ be a closed and oriented surface of genus $g$ at least $2$. In this (mostly expository) article, the object of study is the space $\mathcal{P}(S)$ of marked isomorphism classes of projective structures on $S$. We show that $\mathcal{P}(S)$, endowed with the canonical complex structure, carries exotic hermitian structures that extend the classical ones on the Teichmüller space $\mathcal{T}(S)$ of $S$. We shall notice also that the Kobayashi and Carathéodory pseudodistances, which can be defined for any complex manifold, can not be upgraded to a distance. We finally show that $\mathcal{P…
We study the $\mathrm{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$-action on the moduli space of (triangulable) dilation tori with one boundary component. We prove that every orbit is either closed or dense, and that every orbit of the Teichmuller flow escapes to infinity.
In this article we show that any finite cover of the moduli space of closed Riemann surfaces of $g$ genus with $g\geq 2$ does not admit any complete finite-volume Hermitian metric of non-negative scalar curvature. Moreover, we also show that the total mass of the scalar curvature of any almost Hermitian metric, which is equivalent to the Teichmüller metric, on any finite cover of the moduli space is negative provided that the scalar curvature is bounded from below.
For a non-uniform lattice in SL(2,R), we consider excursions in cusp neighborhoods of a random geodesic on the corresponding finite area hyperbolic surface or orbifold. We prove a strong law for a certain partial sum involving these excursions. This generalizes a theorem of Diamond and Vaaler for continued fractions. In the Teichmuller setting, we consider invariant measures for the SL(2,R) action on the moduli spaces of quadratic differentials. By the work of Eskin and Mirzakhani, these measures are supported on affine invariant submanifolds of a stratum of quadratic differentials. For a Teic…
We define new coordinates for Fock-Goncharov's higher Teichmüller spaces for a surface with holes, which are the moduli spaces of representations of the fundamental group into a reductive Lie group $G$. Some additional data on the boundary leads to two closely related moduli spaces, the $\mathscr{X}$-space and the $\mathscr{A}$-space, forming a cluster ensemble. Fock and Goncharov gave nice descriptions of the coordinates of these spaces in the cases of $G = PGL_m$ and $G=SL_m$, together with Poisson structures. We consider new coordinates for higher Teichmüller spaces given as ratios of the c…
Let $S$ be a surface, $G$ a simply-connected classical group, and $G'$ the associated adjoint form of the group. We show that the spaces of moduli spaces of framed local systems $\X_{G',S}$ and $\A_{G,S}$, which were constructed by Fock and Goncharov (\cite{FG1}), have the structure of cluster varieties, and thus together form a cluster ensemble. This simplifies some of the proofs in \cite{FG1}, and also allows one to quantize higher Teichmuller space following the formalism of \cite{FG2}, \cite{FG3}, and \cite{FG5}, which was previously only possible when $G$ was of type $A$.
We develop a natural and geometric way to realize the hyperbolic plane as the moduli space of marked genus 1 Riemann surfaces. To do so, a metric is defined on the Teichmüller space of the torus, inspired by Thurston's Lipschitz metric for the case of hyperbolic surfaces. Based on extremal Lipschitz maps, the Teichmüller space of the torus with this new metric is shown to be isometric to the hyperbolic plane under the usual identification. This also gives a new way to recover the complex-analytic Teichmüller metric via metric geometry on the underlying surfaces. Along the way, we prove a few r…
This is an informal set of lecture notes on moduli spaces of curves based on a set of lectures given at the ICTP last summer. It begins at an elementary level and discusses the genus 1 case in detail. The notes then give an informal treatement of Teichmuller space and higher genus moduli spaces. The point of view is generally topological and analytical.
We consider (local) parametrizations of Teichmuller space $T_{g,n}$ (of genus $g$ hyperbolic surfaces with $n$ boundary components) by lengths of $6g-6+3n$ geodesics. We find a large family of suitable sets of $6g-6+3n$ geodesics, each set forming a special structure called "admissible double pants decomposition". For admissible double pants decompositions containing no double curves we show that the lengths of curves contained in the decomposition determine the point of $T_{g,n}$ up to finitely many choices. Moreover, these lengths provide a local coordinate in a neighborhood of all points of…
This short expository note gives an elementary introduction to the study of dynamics on certain moduli spaces, and in particular the recent breakthrough result of Eskin, Mirzakhani, and Mohammadi. We also discuss the context and applications of this result, and connections to other areas of mathematics such as algebraic geometry, Teichmuller theory, and ergodic theory on homogeneous spaces.
Let S be a surface with genus g and n boundary components and let d(S) = 3g-3+n denote the number of curves in any pants decomposition of S. We employ metric properties of the graph of pants decompositions CP(S) prove that the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmuller space Teich(S) is Gromov-hyperbolic if and only if d(S) <= 2. When d(S) >= 3 the Weil-Petersson metric has higher rank in the sense of Gromov (it admits a quasi-isometric embedding of R^k, k >= 2); when d(S) <= 2 we combine the hyperbolicity of the complex of curves and the relative hyperbolicity of CP(S) prove Gromov-hyperbolicity. W…
Consider the 1-dimensional Hurwitz space parameterizing covers of P^1 branched at four points. We study its intersection with divisor classes on the moduli space of curves. As an application, we calculate the slope of the Teichmuller curve parameterizing square-tiled cyclic covers and recover the sum of its Lyapunov exponents obtained by Forni, Matheus and Zorich. Motivated by the work of Eskin, Kontsevich and Zorich, we exhibit a relation among the slope of Hurwitz spaces, the sum of Lyapunov exponents and the Siegel-Veech constant for the moduli space of quadratic differentials.
A closed hyperbolic surface of genus $g\ge 2$ can be decomposed into pairs of pants along shortest closed geodesics and if these curves are sufficiently short (and with lengths uniformly bounded away from 0), then the geometry of the surface is essentially determined by the combinatorics of the pants decomposition. These combinatorics are determined by a trivalent graph, so we call such surfaces {\em trivalent}. In this paper, in a first attempt to understand the "shape" of the subset $\ts$ of moduli space consisting of surfaces whose systoles fill, we compare it metrically, asymptotically in …
Based on Teichmüller theory, we construct a degenerating family $\overline{Y}_g^{orb} \rightarrow \overline{M}_g^{orb}$ over the Deligne-Mumford compactification of the moduli space with the natural orbifold structure such that any fibered complex surface admitting unstable fibers can be pulled back from this family.
In this short note we explain how to adapt the construction of two Riemannian metrics on the $\mathrm{SL}(3,\mathbb{R})$-Hitchin component to the deformation space of globally hyperbolic anti-de Sitter structures: the pressure metric and the Loftin metric (studied by Qiongling Li). We show that the former is degenerate and we characterize its degenerate locus, whereas the latter is nowhere degenerate and the Fuchsian locus is a totally geodesic copy of Teichmüller space endowed with a multiple of the Weil-Petersson metric.
Let $\mathcal{M}_{g,ε}$ be the $ε$-thick part of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}_g$ of closed genus $g$ surfaces. In this article, we show that the number of balls of radius $r$ needed to cover $\mathcal{M}_{g,ε}$ is bounded below by $(c_1g)^{2g}$ and bounded above by $(c_2g)^{2g}$, where the constants $c_1,c_2$ depend only on $ε$ and $r$, and in particular not on $g$. Using the counting result we prove that there are Riemann surfaces of arbitrarily large injectivity radius that are not close (in the Teichmüller metric) to a finite cover of a fixed closed Riemann surface. This result illustrates…
A closed Teichmuller geodesic in the moduli space M_g of Riemann surfaces of genus g is called L-short if it has length at most L/g. We show that, for any L > 0, there exist e_2 > e_1 > 0, independent of g, so that the L-short geodesics in M_g all lie in the intersection of the e_1-thick part and the e_2-thin part. We also estimate the number of L-short geodesics in M_g, bounding this from above and below by polynomials in g whose degrees depend on L and tend to infinity as L does.
The Hitchin component is a connected component of the character variety of reductive group homomorphisms from the fundamental group of a closed surface S of genus greater than 1 to the Lie group PSL_m(R). The Teichmuller space of S naturally embeds into the Hitchin component. The limit points in the Thurston compactification of the Teichmuller space are well-understood. Our main goal is to provide non-trivial sufficient conditions on a sequence of Hitchin representations so that the limit of this sequence in the Parreau boundary can be described as an action on a tree. These non-trivial condit…
The Teichmuller unipotent flow can be defined concretely on certain moduli spaces of singular flat surfaces by shearing polygonal presentations of the surfaces. Thurston's earthquake flow on moduli spaces of hyperbolic surfaces is more mysterious. Both flows have deep and important connections to other areas of mathematics. In this expository survey we give a geometric account of the main ideas behind Mirzakhani's theorem relating these two flows. Our presentation avoids some technical prerequisites that featured in the original more analytic presentation.
The action of the mapping class group of a surface on the collection of homotopy classes of disjointly embedded curves or arcs in the surface is discussed here as a tool for understanding Riemann's moduli space and its topological and geometric invariants. Furthermore, appropriate completions, elaborations, or quotients of the set of all such homotopy classes of curves or arcs give for instance Thurston's boundary for Teichmüller space or a combinatorial description of moduli space in terms of fatgraphs. Related open problems and questions are discussed.
Let S be a surface of genus g with p punctures with negative Euler characteristic. We study the diameter of the $ε$-thick part of moduli space of S equipped with the Teichmüller or Thurston's Lipschitz metric. We show that the asymptotic behaviors in both metrics are of order $\log \frac{g+p}ε$. The same result also holds for the $ε$-thick part of the moduli space of metric graphs of rank n equipped with the Lipschitz metric. The proof involves a sorting algorithm that sorts an arbitrary labeled tree with n labels with simultaneous Whitehead moves, where the number of steps is of order log(n).
For bordered surfaces S, we develop a complete parallel between the geometry of the combinatorial Teichmüller space $T_S^{comb}$ equipped with Kontsevich symplectic form $ω_K$, and then the usual Weil-Petersson geometry of Teichmüller space $T_S$. The basis for this is an identification of $T_S^{comb}$ with a space of measured foliations with transverse boundary conditions. We equip $T_S^{comb}$ with an analog of the Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates (defined similarly as Dehn-Thurston coordinates) and show they are Darboux for $ω_K$ (analog of Wolpert formula). We then set up the geometric recursio…
