We show that the asymptotic growth rate for the minimal cardinality of a set of simple closed curves on a closed surface of genus $g$ which fill and pairwise intersect at most $K\ge 1$ times is $2\sqrt{g}/\sqrt{K}$ as $g \to \infty$ . We then bound from below the cardinality of a filling set of systoles by $g/\log(g)$. This illustrates that the topological condition that a set of curves pairwise intersect at most once is quite far from the geometric condition that such a set of curves can arise as systoles.
Lebesgue curve is a space-filling curve that fills the unit square through linear interpolation. In this study, we generalise Lebesgue's construction to generate space-filling curves from any given planar substitution satisfying a mild condition. The generated space-filling curves for some known substitutions are elucidated. Some of those substitutions further induce relatively dense fractal-like sets in the plane, whenever some additional assumptions are met.
We study filling sets of simple closed curves on punctured surfaces. In particular we study lower bounds on the cardinality of sets of curves that fill and that pairwise intersect at most k times on surfaces with given genus and number of punctures. We are able to establish orders of growth for even k and show that for odd k the orders of growth behave differently. We also study the corresponding questions when one requires that the curves be represented as systoles on hyperbolic complete finite area surfaces.
Let $Σ$ be a compact, orientable surface of negative Euler characteristic, and let $h$ be a complete hyperbolic metric on $Σ$. A geodesic curve $γ$ in $Σ$ is filling, if it cuts the surface into topological disks and annuli. We propose an efficient algorithm for deciding whether a geodesic curve, represented as a word in some generators of $π_1(Σ)$, is filling. In the process, we find an explicit bound for the combinatorial length of a curve given by its Dehn-Thurston coordinate, in terms of the hyperbolic length. This gives us an efficient method for producing a collection which is guaranteed…
A pair of distinct free homotopy classes of closed curves in an orientable surface $F$ with negative Euler characteristic is said to be length equivalent if for any hyperbolic structure on $F$, the length of the geodesic representative of one class is equal to the length of the geodesic representative of the other class. Suppose $α$ and $β$ are two intersecting oriented closed curves on $F$ and $P$ and $Q$ are any two intersection points between them. If the two terms $\langleα*_Pβ\rangle$ and $\langleα*_Qβ\rangle$ in $[\langleα\rangle,\langleβ\rangle]$, the Goldman bracket between them, are t…
A symplectic rational cuspidal curve with positive self-intersection number admits a concave neighborhood, and thus a corresponding contact manifold on the boundary. In this article, we study symplectic fillings of such contact manifolds, providing a complementary perspective to our earlier article on symplectic isotopy classes of rational cuspidal curves. We explore aspects of these symplectic fillings through Stein handlebodies and rational blow-downs. We give examples of such contact manifolds which are identifiable as links of normal surface singularities, other examples which admit no sym…
Let $S_g$ denoting the genus $g$ closed orientable surface. An {\em origami} (or flat structure) on $S_g$ is obtained from a finite collection of unit Euclidean squares by gluing each right edge to a left one and each top edge to a bottom one. Coherent filling pairs of simple closed curves, $(α,β)$ in $S_g$ are pairs for which their minimal intersection is equal to their algebraic intersection. And, a minimally intersecting filling of $(α,β)$ in $S_g$ is a pair whose intersection number is the minimal among all filling pairs of $S_g$. A coherent pair of curves is naturally associated with an o…
Skeleton is a new notion designed for constructing space-filling curves of self-similar sets. It is shown in [Dai, Rao and Zhang, Space-filling curves of self-similar sets (II): Edge-to-trail substitution rule,https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6544/ab1275] that for a connected self-similar set, space-filling curves can be constructed provided that it possesses a skeleton. In this paper, we give a criterion of existence of skeletons by using the so-called neighbor graph of a self-similar set. In particular, we show that a connected self-similar set satisfying the finite type condition always possess…
Let $F_g$ denote a closed oriented surface of genus $g$. A set of simple closed curves is called a filling of $F_g$ if its complement is a disjoint union of discs. The mapping class group $\text{Mod}(F_g)$ of genus $g$ acts on the set of fillings of $F_g$. The union of the curves in a filling forms a graph on the surface which is a so-called decorated fat graph. It is a fact that two fillings of $F_g$ are in the same $\text{Mod}(F_g)$-orbit if and only if the corresponding fat graphs are isomorphic. We prove that any filling of $F_2$ whose complement is a single disc (i.e., a so-called minimal…
This note is about a type of quantitative density of closed geodesics on closed hyperbolic surfaces. The main results are upper bounds on the length of the shortest closed geodesic that $\varepsilon$-fills the surface.
T-curves are piecewise linear curves which have been used with success since the beginning of the 1990's to construct new real algebraic curves with prescribed topology mainly on the real projective plane. In fact T-curves can be used on any real projective toric surface. We generalize here the construction of the latter by departing from non-convex polygons and we get a class of surfaces, the ambient surfaces, that we characterize topologically and on which T-curves are also well defined. Associated to each T-curve we construct a surface, the T-filling, which is topologically the analog of th…
We prove a quantitative estimate with a power saving error term for the number of filling closed geodesics of a given topological type and length $\leq L$ on an arbitrary closed, orientable, negatively curved surface. More generally, we prove estimates of the same kind for the number of free homotopy classes of filling closed curves of a given topological type on a closed, orientable surface whose geometric intersection number with respect to a given filling geodesic current is $\leq L$. The proofs rely on recent progress made on the study of the effective dynamics of the mapping class group o…
In this short note, we construct a minimally intersecting pair of simple closed curves that fill a genus 2 surface with an odd, greater than 3, number of punctures. This finishes the determination of minimally intersecting filling pairs for all surfaces completing the work of Aougab-Huang and Aougab-Taylor.
Let $S$ be a surface of negative Euler characteristic and consider a finite filling collection $Γ$ of closed curves on $S$ in minimal position. An observation of Foulon and Hasselblatt shows that $PT(S) \setminus \hatΓ$ is a finite-volume hyperbolic 3-manifold, where $PT(S)$ is the projectivized tangent bundle and $\hatΓ$ is the set of tangent lines to $Γ$. In particular, $vol(PT(S) \setminus \hatΓ)$ is a mapping class group invariant of the collection $Γ$. When $Γ$ is a filling pair of simple closed curves, we show that this volume is coarsely comparable to Weil-Petersson distance between str…
Given a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold M with a quasigeodesic flow we construct a π_1-equivariant sphere-filling curve in the boundary of hyperbolic space. Specifically, we show that any complete transversal P to the lifted flow on H^3 has a natural compactification as a closed disc that inherits a π_1 action. The embedding of P in H^3 extends continuously to the compactification and the restriction to the boundary is a surjective π_1-equivariant map from S^1 to S^2_\infty. This generalizes the result of Cannon and Thurston for fibered hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
Let $F_g$ be a closed orientable surface of genus $g$. A set $Ω= \{ γ_1, \dots, γ_s\}$ of pairwise non-homotopic simple closed curves on $F_g$ is called a \emph{filling system} or simply a \emph{filling} of $F_g$, if $F_g\setminus Ω$ is a union of $b$ topological discs for some $b\geq 1$. A filling system is called \emph{minimal}, if $b=1$. The \emph{size} of a filling is defined as the number of its elements. We prove that the maximum size of a filling of $F_g$ with $b$ complementary discs is $2g+b-1$. Next, we show that for $g\geq 2, b\geq 1\text{ with }(g,b)\neq (2,1)$ (resp. $(g,b)=(2,1)$)…
Let $S$ be a closed, genus $g$ surface. The space of geodesic currents on $S$ encompasses the set of closed curves up to homotopy, as well as Teichmüller space, and many other spaces of structures on $S$. We show that one can define a mapping class group equivariant, length-minimizing projection from the set of filling geodesic currents down to Teichmüller space, and prove some basic properties of this projection to show that it is well-behaved.
This paper is about the geometry of flip-graphs associated to triangulations of surfaces. More precisely, we consider a topological surface with a privileged boundary curve and study the spaces of its triangulations with n vertices on the boundary curve. The surfaces we consider topologically fill this boundary curve so we call them filling surfaces. The associated flip-graphs are infinite whenever the mapping class group of the surface (the group of self-homeomorphisms up to isotopy) is infinite, and we can obtain moduli spaces of flip-graphs by considering the flip-graphs up to the action of…
It has been observed that most manifolds in the Callahan-Hildebrand-Weeks census of cusped hyperbolic $3$-manifolds are obtained by surgery on the minimally twisted 5-chain link. A full classification of the exceptional surgeries on the 5-chain link has recently been completed. In this article, we provide a complete classification of the sets of exceptional slopes and fillings for all cusped hyperbolic surgeries on the minimally twisted 5-chain link, thereby describing the sets of exceptional slopes and fillings for most hyperbolic manifolds of small complexity. The classification produces the…
Let $K= K(w,b,t)$ be a 1-bridge braid in a solid torus $V$, and let $γ$ be a $(p,q)$ curve on the torus $T = \partial V$ of the exterior $M_K$ of $K$. It will be shown that Dehn filling on $T$ along $γ$ produces a solid torus if and only if $p$ and $q$ satisfy one of four conditions determined by the parameters $(w,b,t)$ of the knot $K$. This solves the classification problem raised by Menasco and Zhang for such Dehn fillings.
The study of the mapping class group of the plane minus a Cantor set uses a graph of loops, which is an analogous of the curve graph in the study of mapping class groups of compact surfaces. The Gromov boundary of this loop graph can be described in terms of "cliques of high-filling rays": high-filling rays are simple geodesics of the surface which are complicated enough to be infinitely far away from any loop in the graph. Moreover, these rays are arranged in cliques: any two high-filling rays which are both disjoint from a third one are necessarily mutually disjoint. Every such clique is a p…
An "origami" (or flat structure) on a closed oriented surface, $S_g$, of genus $g \geq 2$ is obtained from a finite collection of unit Euclidean squares by gluing each right edge to a left one and each top edge to a bottom one. The main objects of study in this note are "origami pairs of curves" -- filling pairs of simple closed curves, $ (α,β)$, in $S_g$ such that their minimal intersection is equal to their algebraic intersection -- they are "coherent". An origami pair of curves is naturally associated with an origami on $S_g$. Our main result establishes that for any origami pair of curves …
For each closed surface of genus $g\ge3$, we find a finite subcomplex of the separating curve complex that is rigid with respect to incidence-preserving maps.
Let $S$ be a connected orientable surface of finite topological type. We prove that there is an exhaustion of the curve complex $\mathcal{C}(S)$ by a sequence of finite rigid sets.
A rigid set in a curve complex of a surface is a subcomplex such that every locally injective simplicial map from the set into the curve complex is induced by a homeomorphism of the surface. In this paper, we find finite rigid sets in the curve complexes of connected non-orientable surfaces of genus $g$ with $n$ holes for $g+n \neq 4$.
We prove that any mapping torus of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class with bounded normalized Weil-Petersson translation length contains a finite set of transverse and level closed curves, and drilling out this set of curves results in one of a finite number of cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds. The number of manifolds in the finite list depends only on the bound for normalized translation length. We also prove a complementary result that explains the necessity of removing level curves by producing new estimates for the Weil-Petersson translation length of compositions of pseudo-Anosov mapping classes …
Let $S_{g}$ denote the closed orientable surface of genus $g$. We construct exponentially many mapping class group orbits of pairs of simple closed curves which fill $S_{g}$ and intersect minimally, by showing that such orbits are in correspondence with the solutions of a certain permutation equation in the symmetric group. Next, we demonstrate that minimally intersecting filling pairs are combinatorially optimal, in the sense that there are many simple closed curves intersecting the pair exactly once. We conclude by initiating the study of a topological Morse function $\mathcal{F}_{g}$ over t…
Let M be a two cusped hyperbolic 3-manifold and let M(r) be the result of r Dehn filling of a fixed cusp of M. We study canonical components of the SL(2,C) character varieties of M(r). We show that the gonality of these sets is bounded, independent of the filling parameter. We also obtain bounds, depending on r, for the genus of these sets. We compute the gonality for the double twist knots, demonstrating canonical components with arbitrarily large gonality.
We prove the filling area conjecture in the hyperelliptic case. In particular, we establish the conjecture for all genus 1 fillings of the circle, extending P. Pu's result in genus 0. We translate the problem into a question about closed ovalless real surfaces. The conjecture then results from a combination of two ingredients. On the one hand, we exploit integral geometric comparison with orbifold metrics of constant positive curvature on real surfaces of even positive genus. Here the singular points are Weierstrass points. On the other hand, we exploit an analysis of the combinatorics on unio…
We propose to imagine that every Riemannian metric on a surface is discrete at the small scale, made of curves called walls. The length of a curve is its number of wall crossings, and the area of the surface is the number of crossings of the walls themselves. We show how to approximate a Riemannian (or self-reverse Finsler) metric by a wallsystem. This work is motivated by Gromov's filling area conjecture (FAC) that the hemisphere minimizes area among orientable Riemannian surfaces that fill a circle isometrically. We introduce a discrete FAC: every square-celled surface that fills isometrical…
