We continue our study, initiated in our earlier paper, of Riemann surfaces with constant curvature and isolated conic singularities. Using the machinery developed in that earlier paper of extended configuration families of simple divisors, we study the existence and deformation theory for spherical conic metrics with some or all of the cone angles greater than $2π$. Deformations are obstructed precisely when the number $2$ lies in the spectrum of the Friedrichs extension of the Laplacian. Our main result is that, in this case, it is possible to find a smooth local moduli space of solutions by allowing the cone points to split. This analytic fact reflects geometric constructions in papers by Mondello and Panov.
In this note, we prove that the abstract gradient flow introduced by Baird-Fardoun-Regbaoui \cite{BFR}is well-posed on a closed Riemann surface with conical singularity. Long time existence and convergence of the flow are proved under certain assumptions. As an application, the prescribed Gaussian curvature problem is solved when the singular Euler characteristic of the conical surface is non-positive.
We introduce a compactification of the space of simple positive divisors on a Riemann surface, as well as a compactification of the universal family of punctured surfaces above this space. These are real manifolds with corners. We then study the space of constant curvature metrics on this Riemann surface with prescribed conical singularities at these divisors. Our interest here is in the local deformation for these metrics, and in particular the behavior as conic points coalesce. We prove a sharp regularity theorem for this phenomenon in the regime where these metrics are known to exist. This …
In this paper, we prove the existence and uniqueness theorem for parabolic conical metrics on Riemann surfaces in the situation of generalized real angles, positive, zero and negative, by complex analysis, and give an example of this theorem to clarify concrete expressions of parabolic metrics on the two-sphere and generalize the well-known Schwarz-Christoffel formula.
Let $\mathsf m$ be any conical (or smooth) metric of finite volume on the Riemann sphere $\Bbb CP^1$. On a compact Riemann surface $X$ of genus $g$ consider a meromorphic funciton $f: X\to {\Bbb C}P^1$ such that all poles and critical points of $f$ are simple and no critical value of $f$ coincides with a conical singularity of $\mathsf m$ or $\{\infty\}$. The pullback $f^*\mathsf m$ of $\mathsf m$ under $f$ has conical singularities of angles $4π$ at the critical points of $f$ and other conical singularities that are the preimages of those of $\mathsf m$. We study the $ζ$-regularized determina…
The problem of prescribing Gaussian curvature on Riemann surface with conical singularity is considered. Let $(Σ,β)$ be a closed Riemann surface with a divisor $β$, and $K_λ=K+λ$, where $K:Σ\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ is a Hölder continuous function satisfying $\max_ΣK= 0$, $K\not\equiv 0$, and $λ\in\mathbb{R}$. If the Euler characteristic $χ(Σ,β)$ is negative, then by a variational method, it is proved that there exists a constant $λ^\ast>0$ such that for any $λ\leq 0$, there is a unique conformal metric with the Gaussian curvature $K_λ$; for any $λ$, $0<λ<λ^\ast$, there are at least two conformal…
We prove that any compact surface with constant positive curvature and conical singularities can be decomposed into irreducible components of standard shape, glued along geodesic arcs connecting conical singularities. This is a spherical analog of the geometric triangulations for flat surfaces with conical singularities. The irreducible components include not only spherical triangles but also other interesting spherical polygons. In particular, we present the class of \textit{half-spherical concave polygons} that are spherical polygons without diagonals and that can be arbitrarily complicated.…
In this article we give a criterion for the existence of a metric of curvature $1$ on a $2$-sphere with $n$ conical singularities of prescribed angles $2π\vartheta_1,\dots,2π\vartheta_n$ and non-coaxial holonomy. Such a necessary and sufficient condition is expressed in terms of linear inequalities in $\vartheta_1,\dots,\vartheta_n$.
The Koebe-Andreev-Thurston circle packing theorem, as well as its generalization to circle patterns due to Bobenko and Springborn, holds for Euclidean and hyperbolic metrics possibly with conical singularities, but fails for spherical metrics because of the non-uniqueness coming from Möbius transformations. In this paper, we show that a unique existence result for circle pattern with spherical conical metric holds if one prescribes the geodesic total curvature of each circle instead of the cone angles.
Suppose that $θ_1,θ_2,\dots,θ_n$ are positive numbers and $n\ge 3$. Does there exist a sphere with a spherical metric with $n$ conical singularities of angles $2πθ_1,2πθ_2,\dots,2πθ_n$? A sufficient condition was obtained by Gabriele Mondello and Dmitri Panov (arXiv:1505.01994). We show that it is also necessary when we assume that $θ_1,θ_2,\dots,θ_n \not\in \mathbb{N}$.
We study the deformation of spherical conical metrics with at least some of the cone angles larger than $2π$. We show in this note via synthetic geometry that for one family of such metrics, there is local rigidity in the choice of cone positions if angles are fixed. This gives an evidence of the analytic obstruction considered in recent works of Mazzeo and author.
In this article we address a number of features of the moduli space of spherical metrics on connected, compact, orientable surfaces with conical singularities of assigned angles, such as its non-emptiness and connectedness. We also consider some features of the forgetful map from the above moduli space of spherical surfaces with conical points to the associated moduli space of pointed Riemann surfaces, such as its properness, which follows from an explicit systole inequality that relates metric invariants (spherical systole) and conformal invariant (extremal systole).
We present and prove Polyakov-Alvarez type comparison formulas for the determinants of Friederichs extensions of Laplacians corresponding to conformally equivalent metrics on a compact Riemann surface with conical singularities. In particular, we find how the determinants depend on the orders of conical singularities. We also illustrate these general results with several examples: based on our Polyakov-Alvarez type formulas we recover known and obtain new explicit formulas for determinants of Laplacians on singular surfaces with and without boundary. In one of the examples we show that on the …
We consider an inverse problem associated with some 2-dimensional non-compact surfaces with conical singularities, cusps and regular ends. Our motivating example is a Riemann surface $\mathcal M = Γ\backslash{\bf H}^2$ associated with a Fuchsian group of the 1st kind $Γ$ containing parabolic elements. $\mathcal M$ is then non-compact, and has a finite number of cusps and elliptic singular points, which is regarded as a hyperbolic orbifold. We introduce a class of Riemannian surfaces with conical singularities on its finite part, having cusps and regular ends at infinity, whose metric is asympt…
We show that the monodromy of a spherical conical metric is reducible if and only if it has a real-valued eigenfunction with eigenvalue 2 in the holomorphic extension of the associated Laplace--Beltrami operator. Such an eigenfunction produces a meromorphic vector field, which is then related to the developing maps of the conical metric. We also give a lower bound of the first nonzero eigenvalue, and a complete classification of the eigenspace dimension depending on the monodromy. This paper can be seen as a new connection between the complex analysis method and the PDE approach in the study o…
A spherical conical metric $g$ on a surface $Σ$ is a metric of constant curvature $1$ with finitely many isolated conical singularities. The uniformization problem for such metrics remains largely open when at least one of the cone angles exceeds $2π$. The eigenfunctions of the Friedrichs Laplacian $Δ_g$ with eigenvalue $λ=2$ play a special role in this problem, as they represent local obstructions to deformations of the metric $g$ in the class of spherical conical metrics. In the present paper we apply the theory of multivalued harmonic maps to spheres to the question of existence of such eig…
Let $f: X\to {\Bbb C}P^1$ be a meromorphic function of degree $N$ with simple poles and simple critical points on a compact Riemann surface $X$ of genus $g$ and let $\mathsf m$ be the standard round metric of curvature $1$ on the Riemann sphere ${\Bbb C}P^1$. Then the pullback $f^*\mathsf m$ of $\mathsf m$ under $f$ is a metric of curvature $1$ with conical singularities of conical angles $4π$ at the critical points of $f$. We study the $ζ$-regularized determinant of the Laplace operator on $X$ corresponding to the metric $f^*\mathsf m$ as a functional on the moduli space of the pairs $(X, f)$…
A conformal metric $g$ with constant curvature one and finite conical singularities on a compact Riemann surface $Σ$ can be thought of as the pullback of the standard metric on the 2-sphere by a multi-valued locally univalent meromorphic function $f$ on $Σ\backslash \{{\rm singularities}\}$, called the {\it developing map} of the metric $g$. When the developing map $f$ of such a metric $g$ on the compact Riemann surface $Σ$ has reducible monodromy, we show that, up to some M{\" o}bius transformation on $f$, the logarithmic differential $d\,(\log\, f)$ of $f$ turns out to be an abelian differen…
Robert Bryant (Theorie des varietes minimales et applications, 1988, 154: 321-347) proved that an isolated singularity of a conformal metric of positive constant curvature on a Riemann surface is a conical one. Using Complex Analysis, we find all of the local models for an isolated singularity of a flat metric whose area satisfies some polynomial growth condition near the singularity. In particular, we show that an isolated singularity of a flat metric with finite area is also a conical one.
An HCMU metric is a conformal metric which has a finite number of singularities on a compact Riemann surface and satisfies the equation of the extremal Kähler metric. In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a kind of HCMU metrics which has both cusp singularities and conical singularities.
A Riemannian cone $(C, g_C)$ is by definition a warped product $C = \mathbb{R}^+ \times L$ with metric $g_C = dr^2 \oplus r^2 g_L$, where $(L,g_L)$ is a compact Riemannian manifold without boundary. We say that $C$ is a Calabi-Yau cone if $g_C$ is a Ricci-flat Kähler metric and if $C$ admits a $g_C$-parallel holomorphic volume form; this is equivalent to the cross-section $(L,g_L)$ being a Sasaki-Einstein manifold. In this paper, we give a complete classification of all smooth complete Calabi-Yau manifolds asymptotic to some given Calabi-Yau cone at a polynomial rate at infinity. As a special …
We use the momentum construction of Calabi to study the conical Kähler-Ricci flow on Hirzebruch surfaces with cone angle along the exceptional curve, and show that either the flow Gromov-Hausdorff converges to the Riemann sphere or a single point in finite time, or the flow contracts the cone divisor to a single point and Gromov-Hausdorff converges to a two dimensional projective orbifold. This gives the first example of the conical Kähler-Ricci flow contracting the cone divisor to a single point. At the end, we introduce a conjectural picture of the geometry of finite time non-collapsing sing…
The Schwarz--Pick lemma is a fundamental result in complex analysis. It is well-known that Yau generalized it to the higher dimensional manifolds by applying his maximum principle for complete Riemannian manifolds. Jeffres obtained Schwarz lemma for volume forms of conical Kähler metrics, based on a barrier function and the maximum principle argument. In this note, we generalize Jeffres' result to general cone angles including the case when the pullback of the metric would blows up along the divisors.
We show that general Dunkl connections on $\mathbb{C}^2$ do not preserve non-zero Hermitian forms. Our proof relies on recent understanding of the non-trivial topology of the moduli space of spherical tori with one conical point.
We study the asymptotics of the determinant of Laplacian on a translation surface (a compact Riemann surface equipped with a conformal flat conical metric with trivial holonomy) of genus g with 2g-2 conical points of angle 4πas two conical points collide.
Let $X$ be a compact Riemann surface of genus $g\geq 2$ equipped with flat conical metric $|Ω|$, where $Ω$ be a holomorphic quadratic differential on $X$ with $4g-4$ simple zeroes. Let $K$ be the canonical line bundle on $X$. Introduce the Cauchy-Riemann operators $\bar \partial$ and $\partial$ acting on sections of holomorphic line bundles over $X$ ($K^2$ in the definition of $Δ^{(2)}_{|Ω|}$ below) and, respectively, anti-holomorphic line bundles ($\bar { K}^{-1}$ below). Consider the Laplace operator $Δ^{(2)}_{|Ω|}:=|Ω| \partial |Ω|^{-2}\bar\partial$ acting in the Hilbert space of square int…
By constructing an ODE through a kind of meromorphic 1-forms, we will give an explicit construction of a kind of conformal metrics of constant curvature on Riemann surfaces with singularities. As an application, we will classify constant curvature one metrics on $S^{2}$ with two conical singularities, which was first proved by Troyanov in \cite{Tr89} by using projective connection.
The Hurwitz space is the moduli space of pairs $(X,f)$ where $X$ is a compact Riemann surface and $f$ is a meromorphic function on $X$. We study the Laplace operator $Δ^{|df|^2}$ of the flat singular Riemannian manifold $(X,|df|^2)$. We define a regularized determinant for $Δ^{|df|^2}$ and study it as a functional on the Hurwitz space. We prove that this functional is related to a system of PDE which admits explicit integration. This leads to an explicit expression for the determinant of the Laplace operator in terms of the basic objects on the underlying Riemann surface (the prime form, theta…
We study the isoperimetric structure of Riemannian manifolds that are asymptotic to cones with non-negative Ricci curvature. Specifically, we generalize to this setting the seminal results of G. Huisken and S.-T. Yau on the existence of a canonical foliation by volume preserving stable constant mean curvature surfaces at infinity of asymptotically flat manifolds as well as the results of the second-named author with S. Brendle and J. Metzger on the isoperimetric structure of asymptotically flat manifolds. We also include an observation on the isoperimetric cone angle of such manifolds. This re…
Let $(M,g_0)$ be a compact $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifold with a finite number of singular points, where the metric is asymptotic to a non-negatively curved cone over $(\mathbb{S}^{n-1},g)$. We show that there exists a smooth Ricci flow starting from such a metric with curvature decaying like C/t. The initial metric is attained in Gromov-Hausdorff distance and smoothly away from the singular points. In the case that the initial manifold has isolated singularities asymptotic to a non-negatively curved cone over $(\mathbb{S}^{n-1}/Γ,g)$, where $Γ$ acts freely and properly discontinuously, w…
Compact polyhedral surfaces (or, equivalently, compact Riemann surfaces with conformal flat conical metrics) of an arbitrary genus are considered. After giving a short self-contained survey of their basic spectral properties, we study the zeta-regularized determinant of the Laplacian as a functional on the moduli space of these surfaces. An explicit formula for this determinant is obtained.
This is the first part in a two-part series on complete Calabi-Yau manifolds asymptotic to Riemannian cones at infinity. We begin by proving general existence and uniqueness results. The uniqueness part relaxes the decay condition $O(r^{-n-ε})$ needed in earlier work to $O(r^{-ε})$, relying on some new ideas about harmonic functions. We then look at a few examples: (1) Crepant resolutions of cones. This includes a new class of Ricci-flat small resolutions associated with flag manifolds. (2) Affine deformations of cones. One focus here is the question of the precise rate of decay of the metric …
We give a classification of toric, Hermitian, Ricci flat, ALF Riemannian metrics in dimension 4, including metrics with conical singularities. The only smooth examples are on one hand the hyperKaehler ALF metrics, on the other hand, the Kerr, Taub-NUT and Chen-Teo metrics. There are examples with conical singularities with infinitely many distinct topologies. We provide explicit formulas.
We prove generalized lower Ricci bounds for Euclidean and spherical cones over compact Riemannian manifolds. These cones are regarded as complete metric measure spaces. We show that the Euclidean cone over an n-dimensional Riemannian manifold whose Ricci curvature is bounded from below by n-1 satisfies the curvature-dimension condition CD(0,n+1) and that the spherical cone over the same manifold fulfills the curvature-dimension condition CD(n,n+1).
We state that any constant curvature Riemannian metric with conical singularities of constant sign curvature on a compact (orientable) surface $S$ can be realized as a convex polyhedron in a Riemannian or Lorentzian) space-form. Moreover such a polyhedron is unique, up to global isometries, among convex polyhedra invariant under isometries acting on a totally umbilical surface. This general statement falls apart into 10 different cases. The cases when $S$ is the sphere are classical.
Rigidity results are obtained for Riemannian $d$-manifolds with $\sec \geqslant 1$ and spherical rank at least $d-2>0$. Conjecturally, all such manifolds are locally isometric to a round sphere or complex projective space with the (symmetric) Fubini--Study metric. This conjecture is verified in all odd dimensions, for metrics on $d$-spheres when $d \neq 6$, for Riemannian manifolds satisfying the Rakić duality principle, and for Kählerian manifolds.
We prove a compactness theorem for metrics with Bounded Integral Curvature on a fixed closed surface $Σ$. As a corollary, we obtain a compactification of the space of Riemannian metrics with conical singularities, where an accumulation of singularities is allowed.
Given a compact Riemann surface $Σ$ of genus $g_Σ\, \geq\, 2$, and an effective divisor $D\, =\, \sum_i n_i x_i$ on $Σ$ with $\text{degree}(D)\, <\, 2(g_Σ-1)$, there is a unique cone metric on $Σ$ of constant negative curvature $-4$ such that the cone angle at each $x_i$ is $2πn_i$ (see McOwen and Troyanov [McO,Tr]). We describe the Higgs bundle corresponding to this uniformization associated to the above conical metric. We also give a family of Higgs bundles on $Σ$ parametrized by a nonempty open subset of $H^0(Σ,\,K_Σ^{\otimes 2}\otimes{\mathcal O}_Σ(-2D))$ that correspond to conical metrics…
We prove generalized lower Ricci bounds for Euclidean and spherical cones over complete Riemannian manifolds. These cones are regarded as complete metric measure spaces. In general, they will be neither manifolds nor Alexandrov spaces. We show that the Euclidean cone over an n-dimensional Riemannian manifold whose Ricci curvature is bounded from below by n-1 satisfies the curvature-dimension condition CD(0; n+1) and that the spherical cone over the same manifold fulfills the curvature-dimension condition CD(n; n+1). More generally, for each N > 1 we prove that the condition CD(N-1;N) for a wei…
Branched covers between Riemann surfaces are associated with certain combinatorial data, and Hurwitz existence problem asks whether given data satisfying those combinatorial constraints can be realized by some branched cover. We connect recent development in spherical conic metrics to this old problem, and give a new method of finding exceptional (unrealizable) branching data. As an application, we find new infinite sets of exceptional branched cover data on the Riemann sphere.
