We study the Teichmüller metric on the Teichmüller space of a surface of finite type, in regions where the injectivity radius of the surface is small. The main result is that in such regions the Teichmüller metric is approximated up to bounded additive distortion by the sup metric on a product of lower dimensional spaces. The main technical tool in the proof is the use of estimates of extremal lengths of curves in a surface based on the geometry of their hyperbolic geodesic representatives.
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 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…
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…
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…
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）
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…
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 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…
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.
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 comment on the paper Über Extremalprobleme der konformen Geometrie (On extremal problems in conformal geometry) by Teichmüller, published in 1941. This paper contains ideas on a wide generalization of his previous work on the solution of extremal problems in conformal geometry. The generalization concerns at the same time the fields of function theory, topology and algebra. The final version of this paper will appear as a chapter in Volume VI of the Handbook of Teichmüller theory. This volume is dedicated to the memory of Alexander Grothendieck.
Extremal length is an important conformal invariant on Riemann surface. It is closely related to the geometry of Teichmuller metric on Teichmuller space. By identifying extremal length functions with energy of harmonic maps from Riemann surfaces to $\mathbb{R}$-trees, we study the second variation of extremal length functions along Weil-Petersson geodesics. We show that the extremal length of any measured foliation is a pluri-subharmonic function on Teichmuller space.
We review some ideas of Grothendieck and others on actions of the absolute Galois group Γ Q of Q (the automorphism group of the tower of finite extensions of Q), related to the geometry and topology of surfaces (mapping class groups, Teichm{ü}ller spaces and moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces). Grothendieck's motivation came in part from his desire to understand the absolute Galois group. But he was also interested in Thurston's work on surfaces, and he expressed this in his Esquisse d'un programme, his R{é}coltes et semailles and on other occasions. He introduced the notions of dessin d'enfant…
This is a commentary on Teichmüllers' paper "Veränderliche Riemannsche Flächen" (Variable Riemann Surfaces), published in 1944. This paper is the last one that Teichmüller wrote on the problem of moduli. At most places the paper contains ideas and no technical details. The author presents a completely new approach to Teichmüller space, compared to the approach he took in his first seminal paper "Extremale quasikonforme Abbildungen und quadratische Differentiale" and its sequel "Bestimmung der extremalen quasikonformen Abbildungen bei geschlossenen orientierten Riemannschen Flächen" in which he…
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 highlight several analogies between the Finsler (infinitesimal) properties of Teichmüller's metric and Thurston's asymmetric metric on Teichmüller space. Thurston defined his asymmetric metric in analogy with Teichmüllers' metric, as a solution to an extremal problem, which consists, in the case of the asymmetric metric, of finding the best Lipschitz maps in the hoomotopy class of homeomorphisms between two hyperbolic surface. (In the Teichmüller metric case, one searches for the best quasiconformal map between two conformal surfaces.) It turns out also that some properties of Thurston's as…
In this paper, we give a framework for the study of the extremal length geometry of Teichmüller space after S. Kerckhoff, F. Gardiner and H. Masur. There is a natural compactification using extremal length geometry introduced by Gardiner and Masur. The compactification is realized in a certain projective space. We develop the extremal length geometry in the cone which is defined as the inverse image of the compactification via the quotient mapping. The compactification is identified with a subset of the cone by taking an appropriate lift. The cone contains canonically the space of measured fol…
We give an example of a horocycle in the Teichmüller space of the five-times-punctured sphere that does not converge in the Gardiner--Masur compactification, or equivalently in the horofunction compactification of the Teichmüller metric. As an intermediate step, we exhibit a simple closed curve whose extremal length is periodic but not constant along the horocycle. The example lifts to any Teichmüller space of complex dimension greater than one via covering constructions.
In this paper, we shall show that the metric boundary of the Teichmueller space with respect to the Teichmueller distance contains non-Busemann points when the complex dimension of the Teichmueller space is at least two.
We consider some metrics and weak metrics defined on the Teichmueller space of a surface of finite type with nonempty boundary, that are defined using the hyperbolic length spectrum of simple closed curves and of properly embedded arcs, and we compare these metrics and weak metrics with the Teichmüller metric. The comparison is on subsets of Teichmüller space which we call "$ε_0$-relative $ε$-thick parts", and whose definition depends on the choice of some positive constants $ε_0$ and $ε$. Meanwhile, we give a formula for the Teichmüller metric of a surface with boundary in terms of extremal l…
Let $S$ be a Riemann surface of type $(p,n)$ with $3p-3+n>0$. Let $ω$ be a pseudo-Anosov map of $S$ that is obtained from Dehn twists along two families $\{A,B\}$ of simple closed geodesics that fill $S$. Then $ω$ can be realized as an extremal Teichmüller mapping on a surface of type $(p,n)$ which is also denoted by $S$. Let $ϕ$ be the corresponding holomorphic quadratic differential on $S$. In this paper, we compare the locations of some distinguished points on $S$ in the $ϕ$-flat metric to their locations with respect to the complete hyperbolic metric. More precisely, we show that all possi…
In this paper, we show that the extremal length functions on Teichmüller space are log-plurisubharmonic. As a corollary, we obtain an alternative proof of L.Liu and W.Su's results on the plurisubharmonicity of extremal length functions. We also obtain alternative proofs of S.Krushkal's results that a function defined by the Teichmüller distance from a reference point is plurisubharmonic, and the Teichmüller space is hyperconvex. To show the log-plurisubharmonicity, we give an explicit formula of the Levi form of the extremal length functions in generic case.
We develop a natural and geometric way to realize the hyperbolic plane as the moduli space of marked genus 1 Riemann surfaces. To do so, a metric is defined on the Teichmüller space of the torus, inspired by Thurston's Lipschitz metric for the case of hyperbolic surfaces. Based on extremal Lipschitz maps, the Teichmüller space of the torus with this new metric is shown to be isometric to the hyperbolic plane under the usual identification. This also gives a new way to recover the complex-analytic Teichmüller metric via metric geometry on the underlying surfaces. Along the way, we prove a few r…
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 determine the asymptotic behaviour of extremal length along arbitrary Teichmüller rays. This allows us to calculate the endpoint in the Gardiner-Masur boundary of any Teichmüller ray. We give a proof that this compactification is the same as the horofunction compactification. An important subset of the latter is the set of Busemann points. We show that the Busemann points are exactly the limits of the Teichmüller rays, and we give a necessary and sufficient condition for a sequence of Busemann points to converge to a Busemann point. Finally, we determine the detour metric on the boundary.
The moduli space of lattices of $\mathbb{C}$ is a Riemann surface of finite hyperbolic area with the square lattice as an origin. We select a lattice from the induced uniform distribution and calculate the statistics of the Teichmüller distance to the origin. This in turn identifies distribution of the distance in Teichmüller space to the central "square" punctured torus in the moduli space of punctured tori. There are singularities in this p.d.f. arising from the topology of the moduli space. We also consider the statistics of the distance in Teichmüller space to the rectangular punctured tor…
This paper develops a theory of Lipschitz comparisons of hyperbolic surfaces analogous to the theory of quasi-conformal comparisons. Extremal Lipschitz maps (minimal stretch maps) and geodesics for the `Lipschitz metric' are constructed. The extremal Lipschitz constant equals the maximum ratio of lengths of measured laminations, which is attained with probability one on a simple closed curve. Cataclysms are introduced, generalizing earthquakes by permitting more violent shearing in both directions along a fault. Cataclysms provide useful coordinates for Teichmuller space that are convenient fo…
Certain classes of 3-manifolds, following Thurston, give rise to a 'skinning map', a self-map of the Teichmüller space of the boundary. This paper examines the skinning map of a 3-manifold M, a genus-2 handlebody with two rank-1 cusps. We exploit an orientation-reversing isometry of M to conclude that the skinning map associated to M sends a specified path to itself, and use estimates on extremal length functions to show non-monotonicity and the existence of a critical point. A family of finite covers of M produces examples of non-immersion skinning maps on the Teichmüller spaces of surfaces i…
We show that grafting any fixed hyperbolic surface defines a homeomorphism from the space of measured laminations to Teichmuller space, complementing a result of Scannell-Wolf on grafting by a fixed lamination. This result is used to study the relationship between the complex-analytic and geometric coordinate systems for the space of complex projective ($\CP^1$) structures on a surface. We also study the rays in Teichmuller space associated to the grafting coordinates, obtaining estimates for extremal and hyperbolic length functions and their derivatives along these grafting rays.
We study extreme values of group-indexed stable random fields for discrete groups $G$ acting geometrically on spaces $X$ in the following cases: 1) $G$ acts freely, properly discontinuously by isometries on a CAT(-1) space $X$, 2) $G$ is a lattice in a higher rank Lie group, acting on a symmetric space $X$, 3) $G$ is the mapping class group of a surface acting on its Teichmuller space. The connection between extreme values and the geometric action is mediated by the action of the group $G$ on its limit set equipped with the Patterson-Sullivan measure. Based on motivation from extreme value the…
This is a prejudiced survey on the Ahlfors (extremal) function and the weaker {\it circle maps} (Garabedian-Schiffer's translation of "Kreisabbildung"), i.e. those (branched) maps effecting the conformal representation upon the disc of a {\it compact bordered Riemann surface}. The theory in question has some well-known intersection with real algebraic geometry, especially Klein's ortho-symmetric curves via the paradigm of {\it total reality}. This leads to a gallery of pictures quite pleasant to visit of which we have attempted to trace the simplest representatives. This drifted us toward some…
