A counterexample to the reciprocal of Forni criterion about positivity of Lyapunov exponents of the Kontsevich-Zorich cocycle (Q530618)

Arithmetic surfaces are an example of translation surfaces. The moduli space \(\Omega \mathcal{M}_g\) of translation surfaces of genus \(g\) is a complex affine orbifold, endowed with a real flat bundle space of dimension \(2g\), the Hodge bundle. The monodromy of this fiber is the Kontsevich-Zorich cocycle. \textit{G. Forni} obtained in [J. Mod. Dyn. 5, No. 2, 355--395 (2011; Zbl 1238.30031)] a geometric criterion for the non-uniform hyperbolicity of the Kontsevich-Zorich cocycle, with respect to an \(\mathrm{SL}(2, \mathbb{R})\)-invariant probability ergodic measure. The paper under review is devoted to prove that the converse of the Forni criterion is not true. In order to get that, the authors exhibit two square-tiled surfaces, one with eight squares in \(\Omega \mathcal{M}_3 (2,2)\) and the other with nine squares in \(\Omega \mathcal{M}_4 (3,3)\). They do not satisfy the Forni criterion, but however the exponents are positive. Hence the Forni conditions are not necessary.