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.
We prove moreover that Teich(S) admits no geodesically complete Gromov-hyperbolic metric of finite covolume when d(S) >= 3, and that no complete Riemannian metric of pinched negative curvature exists on Moduli space M(S) when d(S) >= 2.
In this paper, we introduce a new asymmetric weak metric on the Teichm{ü}ller space of a closed orientable surface with (possibly empty) punctures.This new metric, which we call the Teichm{ü}ller-Randers metric, is an asymmetric deformation of the Teichm{ü}ller metric, and is obtained by adding to the infinitesimal form of the Teichm{ü}ller metric a differential 1-form. We study basic properties of the Teichm{ü}ller-Randers metric. In the case when the 1-form is exact, any Teichm{ü}ller geodesic between two points is a unique Teichm{ü}ller--Randers geodesic between them. A particularly interes…
We comment on Teichm{ü}ller 's paper ''Vollst{ä}ndige L{ö}sung einer Extremalaufgabe der quasikonformen Abbildung'' (Complete solution of an ex-tremal problem of the quasiconformal mapping),, published in 1941. In this paper, Teichm{ü}ller gives a proof of the existence of extremal quasiconformal mappings in the case of the pentagon (disc with five distinguished points on the boundary). The final version of this paper will appear as a chapter in Volume VI of the Handbook of Teichm{ü}ller theory.
In this paper, the Teichm{ü}ller spaces of surfaces appear from two points of views: the conformal category and the hyperbolic category. In contrast to the case of surfaces of topologically finite type, the Teichm{ü}ller spaces associated to surfaces of topologically infinite type depend on the choice of a base structure. In the setting of surfaces of infinite type, the Teichm{ü}ller spaces can be endowed with different distance functions such as the length-spectrum distance, the bi-Lipschitz distance, the Fenchel-Nielsen distance, the Teichm{ü}ller distance and there are other distance functi…
For each right-angled hexagon in the hyperbolic plane, we construct a one-parameter family of right-angled hexagons with a Lipschitz map between any two elements in this family, realizing the smallest Lipschitz constant in the homotopy class of this map relative to the boundary. As a consequence of this construction, we exhibit new geodesics for the arc metric on the Teichm{ü}ller space of an arbitrary surface of negative Euler characteristic with nonempty boundary. We also obtain new geodesics for Thurston's metric on Teichm{ü}ller spaces of hyperbolic surfaces without boundary.
In this paper, we show that the analogue of Thurston's asymmetric metric on the Teichm{ü}ller space of flat structures on the torus is weak Finsler and we give a geometric description of its unit sphere at each point in the tangent space to Teichm{ü}ller space. We then introduce a family of weak Finsler metrics which interpolate between Thurston's asymmetric metric and the Teichm{ü}ller metric of the torus (which coincides with the the hyperbolic metric). We describe the infinitesimal unit spheres of the metrics in this family.The final version of this paper will appear in Annales Academiæ \ S…
These are notes on the hyperbolic geometry of surfaces, Teichm{ü}ller spaces and Thurston's metric on these spaces. They are associated with lectures I gave at the Morningside Center of Mathematics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in March 2019 and at the Chebyshev Laboratory of the Saint Petersburg State University in May 2019. In particular, I survey several results on the behavior of stretch lines, a distinguished class of geodesics for Thurston's metric and I point out several analogies between this metric and Teichm{ü}ller's metric. Several open questions are addressed. The final versio…
For $g \ge 5$, we give a complete classification of the connected components of strata of abelian differentials over Teichmüller space, establishing an analogue of Kontsevich and Zorich's classification of their components over moduli space. Building off of work of the first author (arXiv:1901.05482), we find that the non-hyperelliptic components are classified by an invariant known as an $r$-spin structure. This is accomplished by computing a certain monodromy group valued in the mapping class group. To do this, we determine explicit finite generating sets for all $r$-spin stabilizer subgroup…
We survey some major contributions to Riemann's moduli space and Teichm{ü}ller space. Our report has a historical character, but the stress is on the chain of mathematical ideas. We start with the introduction of Riemann surfaces, and we end with the discovery of some of the basic structures of Riemann's moduli space and Teichm{ü}ller space. We point out several facts which seem to be unknown to many algebraic geometers and analysts working in the theory. The period we are interested in starts with Riemann, in 1851, and ends in the early 1960s, when Ahlfors and Bers confirmed that Teichm{ü}lle…
This is a commentary on Teichm{ü}ller's paper Unter-suchungen{ü}ber konforme und quasikonforme Abbildungen (Inves-tigations on conformal and quasiconformal mappings) published in 1938. The paper contains fundamental results in conformal geometry , in particular a lemma, known as the Modulsatz, which insures the almost circularity of certain loci defined as complementary components of simply connected regions in the Riemann sphere, and another lemma, which we call the Main Lemma, which insures the circularity near infinity of the image of circles by a qua-siconformal map. The two results find w…
Let $S$ be a closed oriented surface of genus at least $2$, and denote by $\mathcal{T}(S)$ its Teichm{ü}ller space. For any isotopy class of closed curves $γ$, we compute the first three derivatives of the length function $\ell\_γ:\mathcal{T}(S)\rightarrow\mathbf{R}\_+$ in the shearing coordinates associated to a maximal geodesic lamination $λ$. We show that if $γ$ intersects every leaf of $λ$, then the Hessian of $\ell\_γ$ is positive-definite. We extend this result to length functions of measured laminations. We also provide a method to compute higher derivatives of length functions of geode…
The type problem is the problem of deciding, for a simply connected Riemann surface, whether it is conformally equivalent to the complex plane or to the unit dic in the complex plane. We report on Teichm{ü}ller's results on the type problem from his two papers Eine Anwendung quasikonformer Abbildungen auf das Typenproblem (An application of quasiconformal map-pings to the type problem) (1937) and Untersuchungen{ü}ber kon-forme und quasikonforme Abbildungen (Investigations on con-formal and quasiconformal mappings) (1938). They concern simply connected Riemann surfaces defined as branched cover…
This is a mathematical commentary on Teichm{ü}ller's paper ``Bestimmung der extremalen quasikonformen Abbildungen bei geschlossenen orientierten Riemannschen Fl{ä}chen'' (Determination of extremal quasiconformal maps of closed oriented Riemann surfaces). This paper is among the last (and may be the last one) that Teichm{ü}ller wrote on the theory of moduli. It contains the proof of the so-called Teichm{ü}ller existence theorem for a closed surface of genus at least 2. For this proof, the author defines a mapping between a space of equivalence classes of marked Riemann surfaces (the Teichm{ü}ll…
We provide a commentary on Teichm{ü}ller's paper "Extremale quasikonforme Abbildungen und quadratische Differentiale" (Extremal quasiconformal mappings of closed oriented Riemann surfaces), Abh. Preuss. Akad. Wiss., Math.-Naturw. Kl. 1940, No.22, 1-197 (1940). The paper is quoted in several works, although it was read by very few people. Some of the results it contains were rediscovered later on and published without any reference to Teichm{ü}ller.In this commentary, we highlight the main results and the main ideas contained in that paper and we describe some of the important developments they…
This is a commentary on Teichm{ü}ller's paper Ein Verschiebungssatz der quasikonformen Abbildung (A displacement theorem of quasiconformal mapping), published in 1944. We explain in detail how Teichm{ü}ller solves the problem of finding the quasiconformal mapping from the unit disc to itself, sending 0 to a strictly negative point on the real line, holding the boundary of the disc pointwise fixed and with the smallest quasiconformal dilatation. We mention also some consequences of this extremal problem and we ask a question.
The arc metric is an asymmetric metric on the Teichm{ü}ller space T(S) of a surface S with nonempty boundary. In this paper we study the relation between Thurston's compactification and the horofunction compactification of T(S) endowed with the arc metric. We prove that there is a natural homeomorphism between the two compactifications.
Grothendieck's Esquisse d'un programme is often referred to for the ideas it contains on dessins d'enfants, the Teichm{ü}ller tower, and the actions of the absolute Galois group on these objects or their etale fundamental groups. But this program contains several other important ideas. In particular, motivated by surface topology and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, Grothendieck calls there for a recasting of topology, in order to make it fit to the objects of semialgebraic and semianalytic geometry, and in particular to the study of the Mumford-Deligne compactifications of moduli spaces. A …
An expansion is developed for the Weil-Petersson Riemann curvature tensor in the thin region of the Teichmüller and moduli spaces. The tensor is evaluated on the gradients of geodesic-lengths for disjoint geodesics. A precise lower bound for sectional curvature in terms of the surface systole is presented. The curvature tensor expansion is applied to establish continuity properties at the frontier strata of the augmented Teichmüller space. The curvature tensor has the asymptotic product structure already observed for the metric and covariant derivative. The product structure is combined with t…
An almost Fuchsian 3-manifold is a quasi-Fuchsian manifold which contains an incompressible closed minimal surface with principal curvatures in the range of $(-1,1)$. Such a 3-manifold $M$ admits a foliation of parallel surfaces, whose locus in Teichmüller space is represented as a path $γ$, we show that $γ$ joins the conformal structures of the two components of the conformal boundary of $M$. Moreover, we obtain an upper bound for the Teichmüller distance between any two points on $γ$, in particular, the Teichmüller distance between the two components of the conformal boundary of $M$, in term…
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.
Given two triangles whose angles are all acute, we find a homeomorphism with the smallest Lipschitz constant between them and we give a formula for the Lipschitz constant of this map. We show that on the set of pairs of acute triangles with fixed area, the function which assigns the logarithm of the smallest Lipschitz constant of Lipschitz maps between them is a symmetric metric. We show that this metric is Finsler, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a path in this metric space to be geodesic and we determine the isometry group of this metric space. This study is motivated by Thu…
We show that any element of the universal Teichmüller space is realized by a unique minimal Lagrangian diffeomorphism from the hyperbolic plane to itself. The proof uses maximal surfaces in the 3-dimensional anti-de Sitter space. We show that, in $AdS^{n+1}$, any subset $E$ of the boundary at infinity which is the boundary at infinity of a space-like hypersurface bounds a maximal space-like hypersurface. In $AdS^3$, if $E$ is the graph of a quasi-symmetric homeomorphism, then this maximal surface is unique, and it has negative sectional curvature. As a by-product, we find a simple characteriza…
Inspired by Katz-Mazur theorem on crystalline cohomology and by Eskin-Kontsevich-Zorich's numerical experiments, we conjecture that the polygon of Lyapunov spectrum lies above (or on) the Harder-Narasimhan polygon of the Hodge bundle over any Teichmüller curve. We also discuss the connections between the two polygons and the integral of eigenvalues of the curvature of the Hodge bundle by using Atiyah-Bott, Forni and Möller's works. We obtain several applications to Teichmüller dynamics conditional to the conjecture.
For a holomorphic vector bundle $E$ over a Hermitian manifold $M$ there are two important notions of curvature positivity, the Griffiths positivity and Nakano positivity. We study the consequence of these positivities and the relevant estimates. If $E$ is Griffiths negative over Kähler manifold, then there is a Kähler metric on its total space $E$, and we calculate the curvature and prove the non-positivity of the curvature along the tautological direction. The Nakano positivity can be formulated as a positivity for the Nakano curvature operator and we give estimate the Nakano curvature operat…
A brief history of the investigation of the Weil-Petersson curvature and a summary of Teichmüller theory are provided. A report is presented on the program to describe an intrinsic geometry with the Weil-Petersson metric and geodesic-length functions. Formulas for the metric, covariant derivative and formulas for the curvature tensor are presented. A discussion of methods is included. Recent and new applications are sketched, including results from the work of Liu-Sun-Yau, an examination of the Yamada model metric and a description of Jacobi fields along geodesics to the boundary.
The landslide flow, introduced in [5], is a smoother analog of the earthquake flow on Teichmüller space which shares some of its key properties. We show here that further properties of earthquakes apply to landslides. The landslide flow is the Hamiltonian flow of a convex function. The smooth grafting map $sgr$ taking values in Teichmüller space, which is to landslides as grafting is to earthquakes, is proper and surjective with respect to either of its variables. The smooth grafting map $SGr$ taking values in the space of complex projective structures is symplectic (up to a multiplicative con…
In this paper we prove that for all $n=4k-2$, $k\ge2$ there exists closed $n$-dimensional Riemannian manifolds $M$ with negative sectional curvature that do not have the homotopy type of a locally symmetric space, such that $π_{1}(\mathcal{T}^{<0}(M))$ is non-trivial. $\mathcal{T}^{<0}(M)$ denotes the Teichmüller space of all negatively curved Riemannian metrics on $M$, which is the topological quotient of the space of all negatively curved metrics modulo the space of self-diffeomorphisms of $M$ that are homotopic to the identity. Gromov Thurston branched cover manifolds provide examples of ne…
We prove that the supremum of principal curvatures of a minimal embedded disc in hyperbolic three-space spanning a quasicircle in the boundary at infinity is estimated in a sublinear way by the norm of the quasicircle in the sense of universal Teichmüller space, if the quasicircle is sufficiently close to being the boundary of a totally geodesic plane. As a by-product we prove that there is a universal constant C independent of the genus such that if the Teichmüller distance between the ends of a quasi-Fuchsian manifold $M$ is at most C, then $M$ is almost-Fuchsian. The main ingredients of the…
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.
Let $QF(S)$ be the quasifuchsian space of a closed surface $S$ of genus $g\geq 2$. We construct a new mapping class group invariant Kähler metric on $QF(S)$. It is an extension of the Weil-Petersson metric onthe Teichmüller space $\mathcal T(S)\subset QF(S)$. We also calculate its curvature and prove some negativity for the curvature along the tautological directions.
We compare two families of left-invariant metrics on a surface group $Γ=π_1(Σ)$ in the context of course-geometry. One family comes from Riemannian metrics of negative curvature on the the surface $Σ$, and another from quasi-Fuchsian representations of $Γ$. We show that the Teichmuller space $\Teich(Σ)$ is the only common part of these two families, even when viewed from the coarse-geometric perspective.
We use minimal (or CMC) surfaces to describe 3-dimensional hyperbolic, anti-de Sitter, de Sitter or Minkowski manifolds. We consider whether these manifolds admit ``nice'' foliations and explicit metrics, and whether the space of these metrics has a simple description in terms of Teichmüller theory. In the hyperbolic settings both questions have positive answers for a certain subset of the quasi-Fuchsian manifolds: those containing a closed surface with principal curvatures at most 1. We show that this subset is parameterized by an open domain of the cotangent bundle of Teichmüller space. Thes…
We study the geometry of the foliation by constant Gaussian curvature surfaces $(Σ_k)_k$ of a hyperbolic end, and how it relates to the structures of its boundary at infinity and of its pleated boundary. First, we show that the Thurston and the Schwarzian parametrizations are the limits of two families of parametrizations of the space of hyperbolic ends, defined by Labourie in 1992 in terms of the geometry of the leaves $Σ_k$. We give a new description of the renormalized volume using the constant curvature foliation. We prove a generalization of McMullen's Kleinian reciprocity theorem, which …
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)…
Let $X$ be a non-compact geometrically finite hyperbolic 3-manifold without cusps of rank 1. The deformation space $\mc{H}$ of $X$ can be identified with the Teichmüller space $\mc{T}$ of the conformal boundary of $X$ as the graph of a section in $T^*\mc{T}$. We construct a Hermitian holomorphic line bundle $\mc{L}$ on $\mc{T}$, with curvature equal to a multiple of the Weil-Petersson symplectic form. This bundle has a canonical holomorphic section defined by $e^{\frac{1}π{\rm Vol}_R(X)+2πi\CS(X)}$ where ${\rm Vol}_R(X)$ is the renormalized volume of $X$ and $\CS(X)$ is the Chern-Simons invari…
Uniform bounds are developed for derivatives of solutions of the $2$-dimensional constant negative curvature equation and the Weil-Petersson metric for the Teichmüller and moduli spaces. The dependence of the bounds on the geometry of the underlying Riemann surface is studied. The comparisons between the $C^0$, $C^{2,α}$ and $L^2$ norms for harmonic Beltrami differentials are analyzed. Uniform bounds are given for the covariant derivatives of the Weil-Petersson curvature tensor in terms of the systoles of the underlying Riemann surfaces and the projections of the differentiation directions ont…
We prove that for any convex globally hyperbolic maximal (GHM) anti-de Sitter (AdS) 3-dimensional space-time $N$ with particles (cone singularities of angles less than $π$ along time-like curves), the complement of the convex core in $N$ admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. This extends, and provides a new proof of, a result of \cite{BBZ2}. We also describe a parametrization of the space of convex GHM AdS metrics on a given manifold, with particles of given angles, by the product of two copies of the Teichmüller space of hyperbolic metrics with cone singularities of …
The Complex of Curves on a Surface is a simplicial complex whose vertices are homotopy classes of simple closed curves, and whose simplices are sets of homotopy classes which can be realized disjointly. It is not hard to see that the complex is finite-dimensional, but locally infinite. It was introduced by Harvey as an analogy, in the context of Teichmuller space, for Tits buildings for symmetric spaces, and has been studied by Harer and Ivanov as a tool for understanding mapping class groups of surfaces. In this paper we prove that, endowed with a natural metric, the complex is hyperbolic in …
We prove that any hyperbolic end with particles (cone singularities along infinite curves of angles less than $π$) admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. Using a form of duality between hyperbolic ends with particles and convex globally hyperbolic maximal (GHM) de Sitter spacetime with particles, it follows that any convex GHM de Sitter spacetime with particles also admits a unique foliation by constant Gauss curvature surfaces. We prove that the grafting map from the product of Teichmüller space with the space of measured laminations to the space of complex projective…
In a previous paper by Deroin-Tholozan, the authors construct a map $\mathbfΨ_ρ$ from the Teichmüller space of $S$ to itself and prove that, when $M$ has sectional curvature $\leq -1$, the image of $\mathbfΨ_ρ$ lies (almost always) in the domain $\mathrm{Dom}(ρ)$ of Fuchsian representations stricly dominating $ρ$. Here we prove that $\mathbfΨ_ρ: \mathrm{Teich}(S) \to \mathrm{Dom}(ρ)$ is a homeomorphism. As a consequence, we are able to describe the topology of the deformation space of anti-de Sitter structures on closed 3-manifolds.
