The sectional curvature of the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmuller space is known to be negative. We show that this Weil-Petersson sectional curvature is not pinched from above by any negative constants, i.e., there is no negative upper bound.
In this paper, we study the asymptotic geometry of Teichmuller space of Riemann surfaces and give bounds on the Weil-Petersson sectional curvature of Teichmuller space, in terms of the length of the shortest geodesic on the surface. This will also imply that the sectional curvature is not pinched from above or below by any negative constant.
The universal Teichmüller space is an infinitely dimensional generalization of the classical Teichmüller space of Riemann surfaces. It carries a natural Hilbert structure, on which one can define a natural Riemannian metric, the Weil-Petersson metric. In this paper we investigate the Weil-Petersson Riemannian curvature operator $\tilde{Q}$ of the universal Teichmüller space with the Hilbert structure, and prove the following: (i) $\tilde{Q}$ is non-positive definite. (ii) $\tilde{Q}$ is a bounded operator. (iii) $\tilde{Q}$ is not compact; the set of the spectra of $\tilde{Q}$ is not discrete.…
We present a brief but nearly self-contained proof of a formula for the Weil-Petersson Hessian of the geodesic length of a closed curve (either simple or not simple) on a hyperbolic surface. The formula is the sum of the integrals of two naturally defined positive functions over the geodesic, proving convexity of this functional over Teichmuller space (due to Wolpert (1987)). We then estimate this Hessian from below in terms of local quantities and distance along the geodesic. The formula extends to proper arcs on punctured hyperbolic surfaces, and the estimate to laminations. Wolpert's result…
Over the past two decades the theory of the Weil-Petersson metric has been extended to general Teichmüller spaces of infinite type, including for example the universal Teichmüller space. In this paper we give a survey of the main results in the Weil-Petersson geometry of infinite-dimensional Teichmüller spaces. This includes the rigorous definition of complex Hilbert manifold structures, Kähler geometry and global analysis, and generalizations of the period mapping. We also discuss the motivations of the theory in representation theory and physics beginning in the 1980s. Some examples of the a…
We construct a Weil-Petersson geodesic completion of Teichmuller space through the formalism of Coxeter complex with the Teichmuller space as its non-linear non-homogeneous fundamental domain. We show that the metric and geodesic completions both satisfy a finite rank property, demonstrating a similarity with the non-compact symmetric spaces of semi-simple Lie groups.
We prove that the universal Teichmuller space T(1) carries a new structure of a complex Hilbert manifold. We show that the connected component of the identity of T(1), the Hilbert submanifold T_{0}(1), is a topological group. We define a Weil-Petersson metric on T(1) by Hilbert space inner products on tangent spaces, compute its Riemann curvature tensor, and show that T(1) is a Kahler-Einstein manifold with negative Ricci and sectional curvatures. We introduce and compute Mumford-Miller-Morita characteristic forms for the vertical tangent bundle of the universal Teichmuller curve fibration ove…
The Teichmüller curve is the fiber space over Teichmüller space of closed Riemann surfaces, where the fiber over a point in Teichmüller space is the underlying surface. We derive formulas for sectional curvatures on the Teichmüller curve. In particular, our method can be applied to investigate the geometry of the Weil-Petersson geodesic as a three-manifold, and the degeneration of the curvatures near the infinity of the augmented Teichmüller space along a Weil-Petersson geodesic, as well as the minimality of hyperbolic surfaces in this three-manifold.
We present a view of the current understanding of the geometry of Weil-Petersson (WP) geodesics on the completion of the Teichmüller space. We sketch a collection of results by other authors and then proceed to develop the properties of the WP CAT(0) geometry. Our approach includes a simplified proof of the Masur-Wolf theorem, a classification of flats and of geodesic limits.
Using the identification of the symmetric space $\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})/\mathrm{SO}(n)$ with the Teichmüller space of flat $n$-tori of unit volume, we explore several metrics and compactifications of these spaces, drawing inspiration both from Teichmüller theory and symmetric spaces. We define and study analogs of the Thurston, Teichmüller, and Weil-Petersson metrics. We show the Teichmüller metric is a symmetrization of the Thurston metric, which is a polyhedral Finsler metric, and the Weil-Petersson metric is the Riemannian metric of $\mathrm{SL}(n,\mathbb{R})/\mathrm{SO}(n)$ as a symmetr…
We highlight recent progresses in the study of the Weil-Petersson (WP) geometry of finite dimensional Teichmüller spaces. For recent progress on and the understanding of infinite dimensional Teichmüller spaces the reader is directed to the recent work of Teo-Takhtajan. As part of the highlight, we also present possible directions for future investigations.
We prove that every Weil-Petersson isometry of the Teichmuller space T(g,n) is induced by an element of the extended mapping class group; here 3g-3+n > 1 and (g,n) is not (1,2). Our method follows Ivanov's proof of the Royden's analogous theorem for the Teichmuller metric: we study the action of an isometry on the frontier of the metric completion of the Teichmuller space, and show that the isometry then induces an automorphism on the relevant complex of curves. Some synthetic geometry of the Weil-Petersson metric completes the proof.
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…
We consider harmonic maps$u(z): \mathcal{X}_z\to N$ in a fixed homotopy class from Riemann surfaces $\mathcal{X}_z$ of genus $g\geq 2$ varying in the Teichmü{}ller space $\mathcal T$ to a Riemannian manifold $N$ with non-positive Hermitian sectional curvature. The energy function $E(z)=E(u(z))$ can be viewed as a function on $\mathcal T$ and we study its first and the second variations. We prove that the reciprocal energy function $E(z)^{-1}$ is plurisuperharmonic on Teichmüller space. We also obtain the (strict) plurisubharmonicity of $\log E(z)$ and $E(z)$. As an application, we get the foll…
We construct a new Riemannian metric on Goldman space $\mathcal{B}(S)$, the space of the equivalence classes of convex projective structures on the surface $S$, and then prove the new metric, as well as the metric of Darvishzadeh and Goldman, restricts to be the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichm$\ddot{u}$ller space, embedded as a submanifold of Goldman space $\mathcal{B}(S)$. Moreover, Teichm$\ddot{u}$ller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson metric then is totally geodesic in the Riemannian manifold $\mathcal{B}(S)$.
In this paper we study the injectivity radius based at a fixed point along Weil-Petersson geodesics. We show that the square root of the injectivity radius based at a fixed point is $ 0.3884$-Lipschitz on Teichmüller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson metric. As an application we reprove that the square root of the systole function is uniformly Lipschitz on Teichmüller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson metric, where the Lipschitz constant can be chosen to be $0.5492$. Applications to asymptotic geometry of moduli space of Riemann surfaces for large genus will also be discussed.
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…
Convexity properties of Weil-Petersson geodesics on the Teichmüller space of punctured Riemann surfaces are investigated. A normal form is presented for the Weil-Petersson Levi-Civita connection for pinched hyperbolic metrics. The normal form is used to establish approximation of geodesics in boundary spaces. Considerations are combined to establish convexity along Weil-Petersson geodesics of the functions the distance between horocycles for a hyperbolic metric.
We study the Hilbert manifold structure on $T_{0}(1)$ -- the connected component of the identity of the Hilbert manifold T(1). We characterize points on $T_{0}(1)$ in terms of Bers and pre-Bers embeddings, and prove that the Grunsky operators $B_{1}$ and $B_{4}$, associated with the points in $T_{0}(1)$ via conformal welding, are Hilbert-Schmidt. We define a ``universal Liouville action'' -- a real-valued function $\SSS_{1}$ on $T_{0}(1)$, and prove that it is a Kähler potential of the Weil-Petersson metric on $T_{0}(1)$. We also prove that $\SSS_{1}$ is $-\tfrac{1}{12π}$ times the logarithm o…
In general, it is difficult to measure distances in the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmüller space. Here we consider the distance between strata in the Weil-Petersson completion of Teichmüller space of a surface of finite type. Wolpert showed that for strata whose closures do not intersect, there is a definite separation independent of the topology of the surface. We prove that the optimal value for this minimal separation is a constant $δ_{1,1}$ and show that it is realized exactly by strata whose nodes intersect once. We also give a nearly sharp estimate for $δ_{1,1}$ and give a lower bound …
On a convex body in a Euclidean space, we introduce a new variational formulation for its Funk metric, a Finsler metric compatible with the tautological Finsler structure of the convex body. We generalize the metric on Teichmuller spaces with the Weil-Petersson distance function. A set of similarities the resulting metric structure shares with Thurston's asymmetric metric is noted.
We give a new proof that the completion of the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmüller space is Gromov-hyperbolic if the surface is a five-times punctured sphere or a twice-punctured torus. Our methods make use of the synthetic geometry of the Weil-Petersson metric.
In this paper we prove that all initially-smooth solutions of the Euler-Weil-Petersson equation, which describes geodesics on the universal Teichmüller space under the Weil-Petersson metric, will remain smooth for all time. This extends the work of Escher-Kolev for strong Riemannian metrics to the borderline case of $H^{3/2}$ metrics. In addition we show that all initially-smooth solutions of the Wunsch equation, which describes geodesics on the universal Teichmüller curve under the Velling-Kirillov metric, must blow up in finite time due to wave breaking, extending work of Castro-Córdoba and …
Harmonic mappings into Teichmuller spaces appear in the study of manifolds which are fibrations whose fibers are Riemann surfaces. In this article we will study the existence and uniquenesses questions of harmonic mappings into Teichmuller spaces, as well as some local and global behavior of the harmonic images induced by the Weil-Petersson geometry of Teichmuller spaces.
We survey the renormalized volume of hyperbolic 3-manifolds, as a tool for Teichmuller theory, using simple differential geometry arguments to recover results sometimes first achieved by other means. One such application is McMullen's quasifuchsian (or more generally Kleinian) reciprocity, for which different arguments are proposed. Another is the fact that the renormalized volume of quasifuchsian (or more generally geometrically finite) hyperbolic 3-manifolds provides a Kahler potential for the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmuller space. Yet another is the fact that the grafting map is symple…
We extend a theorem of Masur and Wolf which says that given a hyperbolic surface S, every isometry of the Teichmuller space for S with the Weil-Petersson metric is induced by an element of the mapping class group for S. Our argument handles the previously untreated cases of the four-holed sphere, the one-holed torus, and the two-holed torus.
Given a surface of higher genus, we will look at the Weil-Petersson completion of the Teichmuller space of the surface, and will study the isometric action of the mapping class group on it. The main observation is that the geometric characteristics of the setting bear strong similarities to the ones in semi-simple Lie group actions on noncompact symmetric spaces.
Given a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold T_ψthat fibers over the circle with monodromy ψ: S -> S, the monodromy $ψ$ determines an isometry of Teichmuller space with its Weil-Petersson metric whose translation distance ||ψ||_WP is positive. We show there is a constant K >= 1 depending only on the topology of S so that the volume of T_ψsatisfies ||ψ||_WP/K <= vol(T_ψ) <= K ||ψ||_WP.
We find bounds for Weil-Petersson holomorphic sectional curvature, and the Weil-Petersson curvature operator in several regimes, that do not depend on the topology of the underlying surface. Among other results, we show that the minimal (most negative) eigenvalue of the curvature operator at any point in the Teichmüller space $\Teich(S_g)$ of a closed surface $S_g$ of genus $g$ is uniformly bounded away from zero. Restricting to a thick part of $\Teich(S_g)$, we show that the minimal eigenvalue is uniformly bounded below by an explicit constant which does not depend on the topology of the surf…
We characterization hyperbolic metrics on compact surfaces with boundary using a variational principle. As a consequence, a new parametrization of the Teichmuller space of compact surface with boundary is produced. In the new parametrization, the Teichmuller space becomes an open convex polytope. It is conjectured that the Weil-Petersson symplectic form can be expressed explicitly in terms of the new coordinate.
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.
We introduce a method for constructing Weil-Petersson (WP) geodesics with certain behavior in the Teichmüller space. This allows us to study the itinerary of geodesics among the strata of the WP completion and its relation to subsurface projection coefficients of their end invariants. As an application we demonstrate the disparity between short curves in the universal curve over a WP geodesic and those of the associated hyperbolic $3$-manifold.
In this paper we prove that the limit set of any Weil-Petersson geodesic ray with uniquely ergodic ending lamination is a single point in the Thurston compactification of Teichmüller space. On the other hand, we construct examples of Weil-Petersson geodesics with minimal nonuniquely ergodic ending laminations and limit set a circle in the Thurston compactification.
This is a survey paper on the topic of Weil-Petersson geometry of Teichmuller spaces. Even though historically the subject has been developed as a branch of complex analysis, the treatment here is from the view-point of differential geometry, much influenced by the works of Eells, Earle, Fischer, Tromba and Wolpert over the several decades. The Weil-Petersson geometry has negative sectional curvature, and the main theme of this article is to exploit the convexity of the Weil-Petersson distance function induced by the negativity of the curvature, from Riemannian geometric approaches as well as …
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…
In this paper we construct examples of Weil-Petersson geodesics with nonminimal ending laminations which have 1-dimensional limit sets in the Thurston compactification of Teichmüller space.
New results on the convexity of geodesic-length functions on Teichmüller space are presented. A formula for the Hessian of geodesic-length is presented. New bounds for the gradient and Hessian of geodesic-length are described. A relationship of geodesic-length functions to Weil-Petersson distance is described. Applications to the behavior of Weil-Petersson geodesics are discussed.
Fix a number $g>1$, let $S$ be a close surface of genus $g$, and $Teich(S)$ be the Teichmüller space of $S$ endowed with the Weil-Petersson metric. In this paper we show that the Riemannian sectional curvature operator of $Teich(S)$ is non-positive definite. As an application we show that any twist harmonic map from rank-one hyperbolic spaces $H_{Q,m}=Sp(m,1)/Sp(m)\cdot Sp(1)$ or $H_{O,2}=F_{4}^{-20}/SO(9)$ into $Teich(S)$ is a constant.
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 the holomorphic rigidity conjecture of Teichmüller space which loosely speaking states that the action of the mapping class group uniquely determines the Teichmüller space as a complex manifold. The method of proof is through harmonic maps. We prove that the singular set of a harmonic map from a smooth $n$-dimensional Riemannian domain to the Weil-Petersson completion $\overline{\mathcal T}$ of Teichmüller space has Hausdorff dimension at most $n-2$, and moreover, $u$ has certain decay near the singular set. Combining this with the earlier work of Schumacher, Siu and Jost-Yau, we prov…
In an earlier paper [Acta Mathematica, v. 176, 1996, 145-169, alg-geom/9505024 ] the present authors and Dennis Sullivan constructed the universal direct system of the classical Teichmüller spaces of Riemann surfaces of varying genus. The direct limit, which we called the universal commensurability Teichmüller space, $T_{infty}$, was shown to carry on it a natural action of the universal commensurability mapping class group, $MC_{\infty}$. In this paper we identify an interesting cofinal sub-system corresponding to the tower of finite-sheeted characteristic coverings over any fixed base surfac…
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 note, we consider two Riemannian metrics on a moduli space of metric graphs. Each of them could be thought of as an analogue of the Weil-Petersson metric on the moduli space of metric graphs. We discuss and compare geometric features of these two metrics with the "classic" Weil-Petersson metric in Teichmüller theory. This paper is motivated by Pollicott and Sharp's earlier work.
We consider the group of sense-preserving diffeomorphisms $\Diff S^1$ of the unit circle and its central extension, the Virasoro-Bott group, with their respective horizontal distributions chosen to be Ehresmann connections with respect to a projection to the smooth universal Teichmüller space and the universal Teichmüller curve associated to the space of normalized univalent functions. We find formulas for the normal geodesics with respect to the pullback of the invariant Kählerian metrics, namely, the Velling-Kirillov metric on the class of normalized univalent functions and the Weil-Petersso…
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…
Let G be a split semisimple algebraic group with trivial center. Let S be a compact oriented surface, with or without boundary. We define {\it positive} representations of the fundamental group of S to G(R), construct explicitly all positive representations, and prove that they are faithful, discrete, and positive hyperbolic; the moduli space of positive representations is a topologically trivial open domain in the space of all representations. When S have holes, we defined two moduli spaces closely related to the moduli spaces of G-local systems on S. We show that they carry a lot of interest…
The Pontryagin forms on 1-jet bundle of Riemannian metrics, are shown to provide, in a natural way, diffeomorphism-invariant pre-symplectic structures on the space of Riemannian metrics for dimensions $n=4r-2$. The equivariant Pontryagin forms provide canonical moment maps for these structures. In dimension two, the symplectic reduction corresponding to the pre-symplectic form and its moment map attached to the first Pontryagin form, is proved to coincide with the Teichmüller space endowed with the Weil-Petersson symplectic form.
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 $\mathcal T$ be the Teichmüller space of marked genus $g$, $n$ punctured Riemann surfaces with its bordification $\Tbar$ the {\em augmented Teichmüller space} of marked Riemann surfaces with nodes, \cite{Abdegn, Bersdeg}. Provided with the WP metric $\Tbar$ is a complete CAT(0) metric space, \cite{DW2, Wlcomp, Yam2}. An invariant of a marked hyperbolic structure is the length $\ell_α$ of the geodesic $α$ in a free homotopy class. A basic feature of Teichmüller theory is the interplay of two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry, Weil-Petersson (WP) geometry and the behavior of geodesic-length fu…
Donaldon constructed a hyperkähler moduli space $\mathcal{M}$ associated to a closed oriented surface $Σ$ with $\textrm{genus}(Σ) \geq 2$. This embeds naturally into the cotangent bundle $T^*\mathcal{T}(Σ)$ of Teichmüller space or can be identified with the almost-Fuchsian moduli space associated to $Σ$. The later is the moduli space of quasi-Fuchsian threefolds which contain a unique incompressible minimal surface with principal curvatures in $(-1,1)$. Donaldson outlined various remarkable properties of this moduli space for which we provide complete proofs in this paper: On the cotangent-bun…