It is well-known that on any Veech surface, the dynamics in any minimal direction is uniquely ergodic. In this paper it is shown that for any genus 2 translation surface which is not a Veech surface there are uncountably many minimal but not uniquely ergodic directions.
We prove that a certain family of flat surfaces in genus 3 does not fulfill Veech's Dichotomy. These flat surfaces provide uncountably many minimal but nonergodic directions. The conditions on this family are a combinatorical one and an irrationality condition. The Arnoux-Yoccoz surface fulfills this conditions.
The paper is devoted to generic translation flows corresponding to Abelian differentials with one zero of order two on flat surfaces of genus two. These flows are weakly mixing by the Avila-Forni theorem. Our main result gives first quantitative estimates on their spectrum, establishing the Hoelder property for the spectral measures of Lipschitz functions. The proof proceeds via uniform estimates of twisted Birkhoff integrals in the symbolic framework of random Markov compacta and arguments of Diophantine nature in the spirit of Salem, Erdos and Kahane.
We announce a classification of genus 2 Veech surfaces in the stratum with a single double zero. Furthermore, we classify all completely periodic translation surfaces in genus 2.
The Gauss-Bonnet formula for classical translation surfaces relates the cone angle of the singularities (geometry) to the genus of the surface (topology). When considering more general translation surfaces, we observe so-called wild singularities for which the notion of cone angle is not applicable any more. We study whether there still exist relations between the geometry and the topology for translation surfaces with wild singularities. By considering short saddle connections, we determine under which conditions the existence of a wild singularity implies infinite genus. We apply this to sho…
We review the different notions about translation surfaces which are necessary to understand McMullen's classification of $GL_2^+(\mathbb{R})$-orbit closures in genus two. In Section 2 we recall the different definitions of a translation surface, in increasing order of abstraction, starting with cutting and pasting plane polygons, ending with Abelian differentials. In Section 3 we define the moduli space of translation surfaces and explain its stratification by the type of zeroes of the Abelian differential, the local coordinates given by the relative periods, its relationship with the moduli …
We analyze the rel leaf of the Arnoux-Yoccoz translation surface in genus 3. We show that the leaf is dense in the stratum $\mathcal{H}(2,2)^{\mathrm{odd}}$ but that the real-rel trajectory of the surface is divergent. On this real-rel trajectory, the vertical foliation of one surface is invariant under a pseudo-Anosov map (and in particular is uniquely ergodic), but the vertical foliations on all other surfaces are completely periodic.
We study a diophantine property for translation surfaces, defined in term of saddle connections and inspired by the classical theorem of Khinchin. We prove that the same dichotomy holds as in Khinchin' result, then we deduce a sharp estimation on how fast the typical Teichmuller geodesic wanders towards infinity in the moduli space of translation surfaces. Finally we prove some stronger result in genus one.
We show that all GL(2, R)-equivariant point markings over orbit closures of primitive genus two translation surfaces arise from marking pairs of points exchanged by the hyperelliptic involution, Weierstrass points, or the golden points in the golden eigenform locus. As corollaries, we classify the holomorphically varying families of points over orbifold covers of genus two Hilbert modular surfaces, solve the finite blocking problem on genus two translation surfaces, and show that there is at most one nonarithmetic rank two orbit closure in the minimal stratum in genus four.
We consider smooth flows preserving a smooth invariant measure, or, equivalently, locally Hamiltonian flows on compact orientable surfaces and show that, when the genus of the surface is two, almost every such locally Hamiltonian flow with two non degenerate isomorphic saddle has singular spectrum. More in general, singularity of the spectrum holds for special flows over a full measure set of interval exchange transformations with a hyperelliptic permutation (of any number of exchanged intervals), under a roof with symmetric logarithmic singularities. The result is proved using a criterion for…
In the moduli space $H_g$ of normalized translation surfaces of genus $g$, consider, for a small parameter $ρ>0$, those translation surfaces which have two non-parallel saddle-connections of length $\leq ρ$. We prove that this subset of $H_g$ has measure $o(ρ^2)$ w.r.t. any probability measure on $H_g$ which is invariant under the natural action of $SL(2,R)$. This implies that any such probability measure is regular, a property which is important in relation with the recent fundamental work of Eskin-Kontsevich-Zorich on the Lyapunov exponents of the KZ-cocycle.
We study the quantity $\mbox{KVol}$ defined as the supremum, over all pairs of closed curves, of their algebraic intersection, divided by the product of their lengths, times the area of the surface. The surfaces we consider live in the stratum $\mathcal{H}(2)$ of translation surfaces of genus $2$, with one conical point. We provide an explicit sequence $L(n,n)$ of surfaces such that $\mbox{KVol}(L(n,n)) \longrightarrow 2$ when $n$ goes to infinity, $2$ being the conjectured infimum for $\mbox{KVol}$ over $\mathcal{H}(2)$.
We prove that the dilatation of any pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism on a translation surface that belong to a hyperelliptic component is bounded from below uniformly by sqrt{2}. This is in contrast to Penner's asymptotic. Penner proved that the logarithm of the least dilatation of any pseudo-Anosov homeomorphism on a surface of genus g tends to zero at rate 1/g (as g goes to infinity). We also show that our uniform lower bound sqrt{2} is sharp. More precisely the least dilatation of a pseudo-Anosov on a genus g>1 translation surface in a hyperelliptic component belongs to the interval ]sqrt{2},sqr…
Let $S$ be a (topological) compact closed surface of genus two. We associate to each translation surface $(X,ω) \in \mathcal{H}(2)\sqcup\mathcal{H}(1,1)$ a subgraph $\hat{\mathcal{C}}_{\rm cyl}$ of the curve graph of $S$. The vertices of this subgraph are free homotopy classes of curves which can be represented either by a simple closed geodesic, or by a concatenation of two parallel saddle connections (satisfying some additional properties) on $X$. The subgraph $\hat{\mathcal{C}}_{\rm cyl}$ is by definition $\mathrm{GL}^+(2,\mathbb{R})$-invariant. Hence, it may be seen as the image of the cor…
In translation surfaces of finite area (corresponding to holomorphic differentials), directions of saddle connections are dense in the unit circle. On the contrary, saddle connections are fewer in translation surfaces with poles (corresponding to meromorphic differentials). The Cantor-Bendixson rank of their set of directions is a measure of descriptive set-theoretic complexity. Drawing on a previous work of David Aulicino, we prove a sharp upper bound that depends only on the genus of the underlying topological surface. The proof uses a new geometric lemma stating that in a sequence of three …
Algebraically periodic directions on translation surfaces were introduced by Calta in her study of genus two translation surfaces. We say that a translation surface with three or more algebraically periodic directions is an algebraically periodic surface. We show that for an algebraically periodic surface the slopes of the algebraically periodic directions are given by a number field which we call the periodic direction field. We show that translation surfaces with pseudo-Anosov automorphisms provide examples. In this case the periodic direction field is the holonomy field. We show that every …
We establish bounds on the minimal asymptotic pseudo-Anosov translation lengths on the complex of curves of orientable surfaces. In particular, for a closed surface with genus $g \geqslant 2$, we show that there are positive constants $a_1 < a_2$ such that the minimal translation length is bounded below and above by $a_1/ g^2$ and $a_2/g^2$.
The aim of this paper is to obtain an asymptotic expansion for ergodic integrals of translation flows on flat surfaces of higher genus (Theorem 1) and to give a limit theorem for these flows (Theorem 2).
We give a criterion which allows to prove non-ergodicity for certain infinite periodic billiards and directional flows on Z-periodic translation surfaces. Our criterion applies in particular to a billiard in an infinite band with periodically spaced vertical barriers and to the Ehrenfest wind-tree model, which is a planar billiard with a $Z^2$-periodic array of rectangular obstacles. We prove that, in these two examples, both for a full measure set of parameters of the billiard tables and for tables with rational parameters, for almost every direction the corresponding billiard flow is not erg…
We present a Galois-theoretical criterion for the simplicity of the Lyapunov spectrum of the Kontsevich-Zorich cocycle over the Teichmueller flow on the $SL_2(R)$-orbit of a square-tiled surface. The simplicity of the Lyapunov spectrum has been proved by A. Avila and M. Viana with respect to the so-called Masur-Veech measures associated to connected components of moduli spaces of translation surfaces, but is not always true for square-tiled surfaces of genus $\geq 3$. We apply our criterion to square-tiled surfaces of genus 3 with one single zero. Conditionally to a conjecture of Delecroix and…
A translation structure on a surface is an atlas of charts to the plane so that the transition functions are translations. We allow our surfaces to be non-compact and infinite genus. We endow the space of all pointed surfaces equipped with a translation structure with a topology, which we call the immersive topology because it is related to the manner in which disks can be immersed into such a surface. We prove that a number of operations typically done to translation surfaces are continuous with respect to the topology. We show that the topology is Hausdorff, and that the collection of surfac…
A planar polygonal billiard $¶$ is said to have the finite blocking property if for every pair $(O,A)$ of points in $¶$ there exists a finite number of ``blocking'' points $B_1, ..., B_n$ such that every billiard trajectory from $O$ to $A$ meets one of the $B_i$'s. Generalizing our construction of a counter-example to a theorem of Hiemer and Snurnikov (see \cite{Mo}), we show that the only regular polygons that have the finite blocking property are the square, the equilateral triangle and the hexagon. Then we extend this result to translation surfaces. We prove that the only Veech surfaces wit…
The aim of this paper is to obtain an asymptotic expansion for ergodic integrals of translation flows on flat surfaces of higher genus (Theorem 1) and to give a limit theorem for these flows (Theorem 2).
In this paper, we investigate the closure of a large class of Teichmüller discs in the stratum Q(1,1,1,1) or equivalently, in a GL^+_2(R)-invariant locus L of translation surfaces of genus three. We describe a systematic way to prove that the GL^+_2(R)-orbit closure of a translation surface in L is the whole of L. The strategy of the proof is an analysis of completely periodic directions on such a surface and an iterated application of Ratner's theorem to unipotent subgroups acting on an ``adequate'' splitting. This analysis applies for example to all Teichmueller discs stabilized obtained by …
In this paper, we show that the minimal asymptotic translation length of the Torelli group $\mathcal{I}_g$ of the surface $S_g$ of genus $g$ on the curve graph asymptotically behaves like $1/g$, contrary to the mapping class group $Mod(S_g)$, which behaves like $1/g^2$. We also show that the minimal asymptotic translation length of the pure braid group $PB_n$ on the curve graph asymptotically behaves like $1/n$, contrary to the braid group $B_n$, which behaves like $1/n^2$.
The field of definition of an affine invariant submanifold M is the smallest subfield of the reals such that M can be defined in local period coordinates by linear equations with coefficients in this field. We show that the field of definition is equal to the intersection of the holonomy fields of translation surfaces in M, and is a real number field of degree at most the genus. We show that the projection of the tangent bundle of M to absolute cohomology H^1 is simple, and give a direct sum decomposition of H^1. Applications include explicit full measure sets of translation surfaces whose orb…
We consider the flow in direction $θ$ on a translation surface and we study the asymptotic behavior for $r\to 0$ of the time needed by orbits to hit the $r$-neighborhood of a prescribed point, or more precisely the exponent of the corresponding power law, which is known as hitting time. For flat tori the limsup of hitting time is equal to the diophantine type of the direction $θ$. In higher genus, we consider a generalized geometric notion of diophantine type of a direction $θ$ and we seek for relations with hitting time. For genus two surfaces with just one conical singularity we prove that t…
The family of translation surfaces $(X_g,ω_g)$ constructed by Arnoux and Yoccoz from self-similar interval exchange maps encompasses one example from each genus $g$ greater than or equal to $3$. We triangulate these surfaces and deduce general properties they share. The surfaces $(X_g,ω_g)$ converge to a surface $(X_\infty,ω_\infty)$ of infinite genus and finite area. We study the exchange on infinitely many intervals that arises from the vertical flow on $(X_\infty,ω_\infty)$ and compute the affine group of $(X_\infty,ω_\infty)$, which has an index $2$ cyclic subgroup generated by a hyperboli…
We show that the translation length of any parabolic isometry on a complete semi-uniformly visible CAT(0) space is always zero. As a consequence, we will classify the isometries on visible CAT(0) spaces in terms of translation lengths. We will also show that the moduli space $\mathbb{M}(S_{g,n})$ of surface $S_{g,n}$ of $g$ genus with $n$ punctures admits no complete visible CAT(0) Riemannian metric if $3g+n\geq 5$, which answers the Brock-Farb-McMullen question in the visible case.
We refine the theory of the cohomological equation for translation flows on higher genus surfaces with the goal of proving optimal results on the Sobolev regularity of solutions and of distributional obstructions. For typical translation surfaces our results are sharp and we find the expected relation between the regularity of the distributional obstructions and the Lyapunov exponents of the Kontsevich-Zorich renormalization cocycle. As a consequence we exactly determine the dimension of the space of obstructions in each Sobolev regularity class in terms of the Kontsevich-Zorich exponents. For…
A translation surface S is said to have the finite blocking property if for every pair (O,A) of points in S there exists a finite number of "blocking" points B_1,...,B_n such that every geodesic from O to A meets one of the B_i's. S is said to be purely periodic if the directional flow is periodic in each direction whose directional flow contains a periodic trajectory (this implies that S admits a cylinder decomposition in such directions). We will prove that finite blocking property implies pure periodicity. We will also classify the surfaces that have the finite blocking property in genus 2:…
We compute the gap distribution of directions of saddle connections for two classes of translation surfaces. One class will be the translation surfaces arising from gluing two identical tori along a slit. These yield the first explicit computations of gap distributions for non-lattice translation surfaces. We show that this distribution has support at 0 and quadratic tail decay. We also construct examples of translation surfaces in any genus $d>1$ that have the same gap distribution as the gap distribution of two identical tori glued along a slit. The second class we consider are twice-marked …
We give a description of asymptotic quadratic growth rates for geodesic segments on covers of Veech surfaces in terms of the modular fiber parameterizing coverings of a fixed Veech surface. To make the paper self contained we derive the necessary asymptotic formulas from the Gutkin-Judge formula. As an application of the method we define and analyze d-symmetric elliptic differentials and their modular fibers F^{sym}_d. For given genus g, g-symmetric elliptic differentials (with fixed base lattice) provide a 2-dimensional family of translation surfaces. We calculate several asymptotic constants…
This paper deals with Prym eigenforms which are introduced previously by McMullen. We prove several results on the directional flow on those surfaces, related to complete periodicity (introduced by Calta). More precisely we show that any homological direction is algebraically periodic, and any direction of a regular closed geodesic is a completely periodic direction. As a consequence we draw that the limit set of the Veech group of every Prym eigenform in some Prym loci of genus 3,4, and 5 is either empty, one point, or the full circle at infinity. We also construct new examples of translation…
An Abelian differential gives rise to a flat structure (translation surface) on the underlying Riemann surface. In some directions the directional flow on the flat surface may contain a periodic region that is made up of maximal cylinders filled by parallel geodesics of the same length. The growth rate of the number of such regions counted with weights, as a function of the length, is quadratic with a coefficient, called Siegel-Veech constant, that is shared by almost all translation surfaces in the ambient stratum. We evaluate various Siegel-Veech constants associated to the geometry of confi…
Motivated by the study of billiards in polygons, we prove fine results for the distribution of gaps of directions of saddle connections on translation surfaces. As an application we prove that for almost every holomorphic differential $ω$ on a Riemann surface of genus $g \geq 2$ the smallest gap between saddle connection directions of length at most a fixed length decays faster than quadratically in the length. We also characterize the exceptional set: the decay rate is not faster than quadratic if and only if $ω$ is a lattice surface.