Let F be a non-abelian finite rank free group, and let H_g be the fundamental group of a surface of genus g with one boundary component represented by D_g in H_g. So, H_g is the free group <a_1,b_1,...,a_g,b_g> and D_g is the product of commutators [a_1,b_1]...[a_g,b_g]. Given x in F, we are interested in the number num(x) of primitive, i.e. root-free, images of monomorphisms (H_g,D_g) -> (F,x). Our main result is that f(g) >= 2^g where f(g)=sup num(x), where sup is taken over all elements x in F. This answers a question of Zlil Sela that is related to his work on the Tarski problem. We also show that f is independent of F and go on to obtain similar results where the monomorphisms considered are additionally required to have minimal genus.
We count the number of conjugacy classes of maximal, genus g, surface subroups in hyperbolic 3-manifold groups. For any closed hyperbolic 3-manifold, we show that there is an upper bound on this number which grows factorially with g. We also give a class of closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds for which there is a lower bound of the same type.
A Gauss diagram is a simple, combinatorial way to present a link. It is known that any Vassiliev invariant may be obtained from a Gauss diagram formula that involves counting subdiagrams of certain combinatorial types. In this paper we present simple formulas for an infinite family of invariants in terms of counting surfaces of a certain genus and number of boundary components in a Gauss diagram associated with a closed braid. We then identify the resulting invariants with partial derivatives of the HOMFLY-PT polynomial.
A Gauss diagram is a simple, combinatorial way to present a knot. It is known that any Vassiliev invariant may be obtained from a Gauss diagram formula that involves counting (with signs and multiplicities) subdiagrams of certain combinatorial types. These formulas generalize the calculation of a linking number by counting signs of crossings in a link diagram. Until recently, explicit formulas of this type were known only for few invariants of low degrees. In this paper we present simple formulas for an infinite family of invariants in terms of counting surfaces of a certain genus and number o…
The set of unrestricted homotopy classes $[M,S^n]$ where $M$ is a closed and connected spin $(n+1)$-manifold is called the $n$-th cohomotopy group $π^n(M)$ of $M$. Moreover it is known that $π^n(M) = H^n(M;\mathbb Z) \oplus \mathbb Z_2$ by methods from homotopy theory. We will provide a geometrical description of the $\mathbb Z_2$ part in $π^n(M)$ analogous to Pontryagin's computation of the stable homotopy group $π_{n+1}(S^n)$. This $\mathbb Z_2$ number can be computed by counting embedded circles in $M$ with a certain framing of their normal bundle. This is a analogous result to the mod $2$ …
We consider the natural problem of counting isotopy classes of essential surfaces in 3-manifolds, focusing on closed essential surfaces in a broad class of hyperbolic 3-manifolds. Our main result is that the count of (possibly disconnected) essential surfaces in terms of their Euler characteristic always has a short generating function and hence has quasi-polynomial behavior. This gives remarkably concise formulae for the number of such surfaces, as well as detailed asymptotics. We give algorithms that allow us to compute these generating functions and the underlying surfaces, and apply these …
We prove a quantitative estimate, with a power saving error term, for the number of simple closed geodesics of length at most $L$ on a compact surface equipped with a Riemannian metric of negative curvature. The proof relies on the exponential mixing rate for the Teichmüller geodesic flow.
It is a longstanding problem to determine the precise relationship between the geodesic length spectrum of a hyperbolic manifold and its commensurability class. A well known result of Reid, for instance, shows that the geodesic length spectrum of an arithmetic hyperbolic surface determines the surface's commensurability class. It is known, however, that non-commensurable arithmetic hyperbolic surfaces may share arbitrarily large portions of their length spectra. In this paper we investigate this phenomenon and prove a number of quantitative results about the maximum cardinality of a family of …
We introduced an asymptotic quantity that counts area-minimizing surfaces in negatively curved closed 3-manifolds and show that quantity to only be minimized, among all metrics of sectional curvature less than or equal -1, by the hyperbolic metric.
A fast algorithm for counting intersections of two normal curves on a triangulated surface is proposed. It yields a convenient way for treating mapping class groups of punctured surfaces by presenting mapping classes by matrices, and the composition by an exotic matrix multiplication. An efficient solution of the word problem for mapping class groups of punctured surfaces is proposed, with efficiency understood in a more restrictive way than the most common one.
We give the asymptotic growth of the number of (multi-)arcs of bounded length between boundary components on complete finite-area hyperbolic surfaces with boundary. Specifically, if $S$ has genus $g$, $n$ boundary components and $p$ punctures, then the number of orthogeodesic arcs in each pure mapping class group orbit of length at most $L$ is asymptotic to $L^{6g-6+2(n+p)}$ times a constant. We prove an analogous result for arcs between cusps, where we define the length of such an arc to be the length of the sub-arc obtained by removing certain cuspidal regions from the surface.
For closed odd-dimensional manifolds with sectional curvature less or equal than -1, we define the minimal surface entropy that counts the number of surface subgroups. It attains the minimum if and only if the metric is hyperbolic. Moreover, we compute the entropy associated with other locally symmetric spaces and cusped hyperbolic 3-manifolds.
Flat surfaces that correspond to $k$-differentials on compact Riemann surfaces are of finite area provided there is no pole of order $k$ or higher. We denote by \textit{flat surfaces with poles of higher order} those surfaces with flat structures defined by a $k$-differential with at least one pole of order at least $k$. Flat surfaces with poles of higher order have different geometrical and dynamical properties than usual flat surfaces of finite area. In particular, they can have a finite number of saddle connections. We give lower and upper bounds for the number of saddle connections and rel…
Let $Σ$ be a hyperbolic surface. We study the set of curves on $Σ$ of a given type, i.e. in the mapping class group orbit of some fixed but otherwise arbitrary $γ_0$. For example, in the particular case that $Σ$ is a once-punctured torus, we prove that the cardinality of the set of curves of type $γ_0$ and of at most length $L$ is asymptotic to $L^2$ times a constant.
We define a norm on homology of punctured tori equipped with a complete hyperbolic metric of finite volume and use it to find asymptotics on the growth of the number of simple geodesics of bounded length.
It is well known that every quasi-Fuchsian manifold admits at least one closed incompressible minimal surface, and at most finitely many of them. In this paper, for any prescribed integer $N>0$, we construct a quasi-Fuchsian manifold which contains at least $2^N$ such minimal surfaces. As a consequence, there exists some simple close Jordan curve on $S^2_\infty$ such that there are at least $2^N$ disk-type complete minimal surface in $\mathbb{H}^3$ sharing this Jordan curve as the asymptotic boundary.
We prove a quantitative estimate with a power saving error term for the number of filling closed geodesics of a given topological type and length $\leq L$ on an arbitrary closed, orientable, negatively curved surface. More generally, we prove estimates of the same kind for the number of free homotopy classes of filling closed curves of a given topological type on a closed, orientable surface whose geometric intersection number with respect to a given filling geodesic current is $\leq L$. The proofs rely on recent progress made on the study of the effective dynamics of the mapping class group o…
We discuss analogues of the prime number theorem for a hyperbolic rational map f of degree at least two on the Riemann sphere. More precisely, we provide counting estimates for the number of primitive periodic orbits of f ordered by their multiplier, and also obtain equidistribution of the associated holonomies; both estimates have power savings error terms. Our counting and equidistribution results will follow from a study of dynamical zeta functions that have been twisted by characters of $S^1$. We will show that these zeta functions are non-vanishing on a half plane $\Re(s) > δ- ε$, where $…
We count the number of isotopy classes of closed, connected, orientable, essential surfaces embedded in the exterior B of the knot K13n586.The main result is that the count of surfaces by genus is equal to the Euler totent function. This is the first manifold for which we know the number of surfaces for any genus. The main argument is to show when normal surfaces in B are connected by counting their number of components. We implement tools from Agol, Hass and Thurston to convert the problem of counting components of surfaces into counting the number of orbits in a set of integers under a colle…
Square-tiled surfaces can be classified by their number of squares and their cylinder diagrams (also called realizable separatrix diagrams). For the case of $n$ squares and two cone points with angle $4 π$ each, we set up and parametrize the classification into four diagrams. Our main result is to provide formulae for enumeration of square-tiled surfaces in these four diagrams, completing the detailed count for genus two. The formulae are in terms of various well-studied arithmetic functions, enabling us to give asymptotics for each diagram using a new calculation for additive convolutions of …
Given a surface with boundary and some points on its boundary, a polygon diagram is a way to connect those points as vertices of non-overlapping polygons on the surface. Such polygon diagrams represent non-crossing permutations on a surface with any genus and number of boundary components. If only bigons are allowed, then it becomes an arc diagram. The count of arc diagrams is known to have a rich structure. We show that the count of polygon diagrams exhibits the same interesting behaviours, in particular it is almost polynomial in the number of points on the boundary components, and the leadi…
We show that the number of square-tiled surfaces of genus $g$, with $n$ marked points, with one or both of its horizontal and vertical foliations belonging to fixed mapping class group orbits, and having at most $L$ squares, is asymptotic to $L^{6g-6+2n}$ times a product of constants appearing in Mirzakhani's count of simple closed hyperbolic geodesics. Many of the results in this paper reflect recent discoveries of Delecroix, Goujard, Zograf, and Zorich, but the approach considered here is very different from theirs. We follow conceptual and geometric methods inspired by Mirzakhani's work.
In this paper we consider an elementary, and largely unexplored, combinatorial problem in low-dimensional topology. Consider a real 2-dimensional compact surface $S$, and fix a number of points $F$ on its boundary. We ask: how many configurations of disjoint arcs are there on $S$ whose boundary is $F$? We find that this enumerative problem, counting curves on surfaces, has a rich structure. For instance, we show that the curve counts obey an effective recursion, in the general framework of topological recursion. Moreover, they exhibit quasi-polynomial behaviour. This "elementary curve-counting…
The number of closed billiard trajectories in a rational-angled polygon grows quadratically in the length. This paper gives an analogue on K3 surfaces, by considering special Lagrangian tori. The analogue of the angle of a billiard trajectory is a point on a twistor sphere, and the number of directions admitting a special Lagrangian torus fibration with volume bounded by $ V $ grows like $ V^{20} $ with a power-saving term. Bergeron--Matheus have explicitly estimated the exponent of the error term as $ {20-\frac{4}{697633} }$. The counting result on K3 surfaces is deduced from a count of primi…
For every positive, continuous and homogeneous function $f$ on the space of currents on a compact surface $\overlineΣ$, and for every compactly supported filling current $α$, we compute as $L \to \infty$, the number of mapping classes $ϕ$ so that $f(ϕ(α))\leq L$. As an application, when the surface in question is closed, we prove a lattice counting theorem for Teichmüller space equipped with the Thurston metric.
