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.
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.
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The combinatorial structure of the unit tangent spheres and cotangent spheres of Teichm{ü}ller space with Thurston's Finsler metric
Gakushuin University(学习院大学);Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics(马克斯·普朗克数学研究所);Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée, CNRS et Université de Strasbourg(斯特拉斯堡大学法国国家科学研究中心高级数学研究所)
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…
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.
We produce a one-parameter family of coordinates $\{Ψ_h\}_{h\in\mathbb{R}}$ of the decorated Teichmüller space of an ideally triangulated punctured surface $(S,T)$ with negative Euler characteristic, which is a deformation of Penner's simplicial coordinate \cite{P1}. If $h\geqslant0$, the decorated Teichmüller space in the $Ψ_h$ coordinate becomes an explicit convex polytope $P(T)$ independent of $h$, and if $h<0$, the decorated Teichmüller space becomes an explicit bounded convex polytope $P_h(T)$ so that $P_h(T)\subset P_{h'}(T)$ if $h<h'$. As a consequence, Bowditch-Epstein and Penner's cel…
In this paper, we introduce a new variation of the Teichmüller space, namely the deformation space of hyperbolic structures on a surface with both enhancement and decoration. We construct the parameterization of this deformation space, which is a common generalization of the shear coordinates and the $λ$-length coordinates. Furthermore, we introduce the lamination space corresponding to this deformation space, and show the compatibility of the shear coordinates and the $λ$-length coordinates.
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.
We define an associative algebra AS_h(S) generated by framed arcs and links over a punctured surface S which is a quantization of the Poisson algebra C(S) of arcs and curves on S. We then construct a Poisson algebra homomorphism from C(S) to the space of smooth functions on the decorated Teichmuller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson Poisson structure. The construction relies on a collection of geodesic lengths identities in hyperbolic geometry which generalize Penner's Ptolemy relation, the trace identities and Wolpert's cosine formula. As a consequence, we derive an explicit formula for 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…
The punctured solenoid $§$ is an initial object for the category of punctured surfaces with morphisms given by finite covers branched only over the punctures. The (decorated) Teichmüller space of $§$ is introduced, studied, and found to be parametrized by certain coordinates on a fixed triangulation of $§$. Furthermore, a point in the decorated Teichmüller space induces a polygonal decomposition of $§$ giving a combinatorial description of its decorated Teichmüller space itself. This is used to obtain a non-trivial set of generators of the modular group of $§$, which is presumably the main res…
We introduce coordinates for a principal bundle $S\tilde T(F)$ over the super Teichmueller space $ST(F)$ of a surface $F$ with $s\geq 1$ punctures that extend the lambda length coordinates on the decorated bundle $\tilde T(F)=T(F)\times {\mathbb R}_+^s$ over the usual Teichmueller space $T(F)$. In effect, the action of a Fuchsian subgroup of $PSL(2,{\mathbb R})$ on Minkowski space ${\mathbb R}^{2,1}$ is replaced by the action of a super Fuchsian subgroup of $OSp(1|2)$ on the super Minkowski space ${\mathbb R}^{2,1|2}$, where $OSp(1|2)$ denotes the orthosymplectic Lie supergroup, and the lambda…
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…
Based on hyperbolic geometric considerations, Roger and Yang introduced an extension of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra that includes arcs. In particular, their skein algebra is a deformation quantization of a certain commutative curve algebra, and there is a Poisson algebra homomorphism between the curve algebra and the algebra of smooth functions on decorated Teichmuller space. In this paper, we consider surfaces with punctures which is not the 3-holed sphere and which have an ideal triangulation without self-folded edges or triangles. For those surfaces, we prove that Roger and Yang's Po…
For an arc on a bordered surface with marked points, we associate a holonomy matrix using a product of elements of the supergroup $\mathrm{OSp}(1|2)$, which defines a flat $\mathrm{OSp}(1|2)$-connection on the surface. We show that our matrix formulas of an arc yields its super $λ$-length in Penner-Zeitlin's decorated super Teichmüller space. This generalizes the matrix formulas of Fock-Goncharov and Musiker-Williams. We also prove that our matrix formulas agree with the combinatorial formulas given in the authors' previous works. As an application, we use our matrix formula in the case of an …
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 …
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 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.
The space of broken hyperbolic structures generalizes the Teichmüller space of a punctured surface, and the space of projectivized broken measured foliations (equivalently, the space of projectivized affine foliations) generalizes the space of projectivized measured foliations. Just as projectivized measured foliations provide Thurston's boundary for Teichmüller space, so too do projectivized broken measured foliations form a boundary for the space of broken hyperbolic structures. In this paper, we naturally extend the Weil-Petersson Kähler two-form and the Thurston symplectic form to their br…