Remark on the size of a Riemann surface (Q1085307): Difference between revisions

Let S be a Riemann surface, possibly with signature, which carries a Poincaré metric. The size of S is the infimum of the lengths of the closed geodesics on S which cannot be deformed into an ideal boundary component or ramification point in S-\(\{\) ramification points\(\}\). The existence of closed Riemann surfaces of arbitrarily large size was proved by Huber, using number theory, and by Buser, using combinatorics. Using an algebraic result by Greenberg it is shown that every hyperbolic Riemann surface of finite topological type has finite sheeted (possibly ramified) covering surfaces of arbitrarily large size.