Limits in \(\mathcal{PMF}\) of Teichmüller geodesics (Q1717239): Difference between revisions

Given a topological surface \(S\) of genus \(g\) with \(n\) punctures, one can consider the space \(\mathcal{PMF}\) of equivalence classes of (projectivised) measured foliations on \(S\), namely foliations \(\mathcal{F}\) together with a measure \(\mu\) invariant under leaf-preserving isotopies (up to rescaling). Both \(\mathcal{PMF}\) and the Teichmüller space \(\mathcal{T}=\mathcal{T}(S)\) admit an injection into \(\mathbb{P}(\mathbb{R}_{+}^{\mathcal{S}})\), the space of projectivised positive linear functionals on the space \(\mathcal{S}\) of simple closed curves in \(S\). The union \(\overline{\mathcal{T}}=\mathcal{T}\cup \mathcal{PMF}\) is homeomorphic to a ball of real dimension \(6g-6+2n\) and it is called Thurston's compactification of Teichmüller space. The action of the mapping class group extends naturally to this compactification and this allowed Thurston to classify its elements by studying the fixed points of the action. One way of studying the boundary \(\partial\overline{\mathcal{T}}=\mathcal{PMF}\) is by considering the limit sets of geodesic rays. These geodesics are constructed as the collection of Teichmüller maps \(f_{t}:X\to X_{t}\) for \(t\in[0,\infty)\) given by expansion (resp., contraction) by \(e^{t}\) along horizontal (resp., vertical) trajectories of some meromorphic quadratic differential \(q\) on \(X\) with at most simple poles at the punctures. Several examples of geodesic rays in which the behaviour of the set of accumulation points varies have been studied by \textit{A. Lenzhen} and \textit{H. Masur} [Geom. Dedicata 144, 191--210 (2010; Zbl 1193.30066)] and \textit{C. Leininger} et al. [J. Reine Angew. Math. 737, 1--32 (2018; Zbl 1392.37032)]. \par In the present paper, the authors consider a class of examples originally constructed by \textit{W. A. Veech} [ J. Anal. Math. 33, 222--272 (1978; Zbl 0455.28006); Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 140, 1--33 (1969; Zbl 0201.05601)] and study their limit sets, the cardinalities of which vary along the elements of the family. More precisely, Veech's original work describes families of minimal but not uniquely ergodic interval exchange transformations \(T_{c}=T_{c}(\alpha)\), for \(-1\le c\le 1\), depending on a real number \(0< \alpha< 1\). The authors realise these interval exchange transformations as the first return map of a flow on a flat surface \((X_{c},\omega_{c})\) consisting of two tori glued along a horizontal slit. For each element of the family, the vertical flow has a 1-parameter family of invariant measured foliations \(\Lambda=\{[\mathcal{F},\mu_{\tau}]\,:\, -1\le \tau\le 1\}\). The main results of the paper show that, for every choice of \(\alpha\), the limit set of the geodesic ray \(g_{t}(X_{0},\omega_{0})\) is a unique point \([\mathcal{F},\mu_{0}]\in\Lambda\) and, for \(c\neq-1,1\), the endpoints \([F,\mu_{-1}]\) and \([F,\mu_{1}]\) do not belong to the limit set of the ray \(g_{t}(X_{c},\omega_{c})\). Moreover, they prove that there exist choices of \(\alpha\) for which the limit set of \(g_{t}(X_{1},\omega_{1})\) contains the interval \(\{[F,\mu_{\tau}]\,:\, 0\le\tau\le 1\}\), and a specific choice for which the limit set is the point \([F,\mu_{1}]\). The arguments in the main proofs involve estimating the hyperbolic lengths of closed curves on the flat surfaces in \(g_{t}(X_{c},\omega_{c})\) and studying their behaviour in the limit.