On local comparison between various metrics on Teichmüller spaces (Q2429483)

Let \(\Sigma\) be a surface of infinite topological type equipped with a pants decomposition \({\mathcal P}= \{C_i\}^\infty_{i=1}\). Let \(S_0\) be a conformal structure on \(\Sigma\). Then the Riemann surface \((\Sigma, S_0)\) can also be viewed as a hyperbolic surface. Let \({\mathcal S}\) denote the set of homotopy classes of simple closed curves on \(\Sigma\) which are not homotopic to a point or to a puncture of \(S_0\). For a marked hyperbolic structure \(S\) on \(\Sigma\) and a curve \(\alpha\) in \({\mathcal S}\) let \(\ell_S(\alpha)\) denote the length of the geodesic curve homotopic to \(\alpha\) in \({\mathcal S}\). For two marked conformal (hyperbolic) structures \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) on \(\Sigma\) define \(d_{qc}(S_1, S_2)\), \(d_{ls}(S_1, S_2)\) and \(d_{FN}(S_1,S_2)\) by \[ d_{qc}(S_1, S_2)= {1\over 2}\text{log inf\,}K(f), \] where the infimum is taken over the set of quasiconformal dilatations \(K(f)\) of quasiconformal homeomorphisms \(f: (\Sigma,S_1)\to (\Sigma,S_2)\) isotopic to the identity map (we let \(d_{qc}(S_1, S_2)=\infty\) if \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) are not quasiconformally equivalent), \[ d_{ls}(S_1, S_2)= \sup_{\alpha\in{\mathcal S}}\,\Biggl\{{l_{S_1}(\alpha)\over l_{S_2}(\alpha)}, {l_{S_2}(\alpha)\over l_{S_1}(\alpha)}\Biggr\}, \] and \[ d_{FN}(S_1, S_2)= \sup_i\max\Biggl(\Biggl|\log{\ell_{S_1}(C_i)\over \ell_{S_2}(C_i)}\Biggr|, |\ell_{S_i}(C_i) \theta_{S_1}(C_i)- \ell_{S_2}(C_i) \theta_{S_2}(C_i)|\Biggr), \] where \(\ell_S(C_i)\), \(\theta_S(C_i)\) are the Fenchel-Nielsen parameters relative to \({\mathcal P}\) for a marked hyperbolic structure \(S\) on \(\Sigma\). The space \(({\mathcal T}_*(S_0), d_*)\) of all marked conformal (hyperbolic) structures \(S\) on \(\Sigma\) with \(d_*(S_0, S)<\infty\) equipped with the metric \(d_*\) is called the quasiconformal, the length-spectrum or the Fenchel-Nielsen Teichmüller space according to \(*= qc\), \(ls\), \(FN\). By definition \({\mathcal T}_{ls}(S_0)\) and \({\mathcal T}_{FN}(S_0)\) depend on the choice of a pants decomposition \({\mathcal P}\). In general the three Teichmüller spaces are set-theoretically different. By using Wolpert's lemma it is easy to see that \({\mathcal T}_{qc}(S_0)\subset{\mathcal T}_{ls}(S_0)\) and the inclusion map is 1-Lipschitz. However, in a general setting, besides this inclusion there seems to be few known facts about these Teichmüller spaces and relations between them. (Remark: The question asking whether \(({\mathcal T}_{ls}(S_0), d_{ls})\) is contractible in [the first author et al., Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 140, No. 2, 561--574 (2012; Zbl 1252.32021)] was recently settled by \textit{D. Šarić} [``Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates on upper bounded pants decompositions '', Preprint, \url{arXiv:1209.5819}). If some restrictions are imposed on the hyperbolic structure \(S_0\), then there are inclusions between these three Teichmüller spaces and one can obtain local metric comparison results on these inclusions. For example, if \(S_0\) is upper-bounded with respect to \({\mathcal P}\) in the sense that \(\ell_{S_0}(C_i)< M\) for all \(C_i\in{\mathcal P}\) with a constant \(M\) independent of \(i\), then we have a set-theoretically equality \({\mathcal T}_{qc}(S_0)={\mathcal T}_{ls}(S_0)\) and the identity map \({\mathcal T}_{qc}(S_0)\to{\mathcal T}_{ls}(S_0)\) is locally bi-Lipschitz homeomorphism [the first author et al., Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn. Math. 36, No. 2, 621--659 (2011; Zbl 1235.32010)]. The surface \(S_0\) is said to satisfy Shiga's condition with respect to \({\mathcal P}\) if \(S_0\) is upper-bounded and there exists a constant \(\delta> 0\) such that \(\delta\leq\ell_{S_0}(C_i)\) for all \(C_i\in{\mathcal P}\) [\textit{H. Shiga}, Ann. Acad. Sci. Fenn., Math. 28, No. 2, 315--326 (2003; Zbl 1040.30025)]. In this paper the authors show that if \(S_0\) satisfies Shiga's condition, then the three Teichmüller spaces \({\mathcal T}_{qc}\), \({\mathcal T}_{ls}\) and \({\mathcal T}_{FN}\) are set-theoretically identical and the identity map between any of two of the three spaces is locally bi-Lipschitz. This result follows from, together with other results, their Theorem 1.3 which states that if \(S_0\) satisfies Shiga's property, then for any \(S\in{\mathcal T}_{qc}(S_0)\) and any \(D> 0\), there exists a constant \(C> 0\) depending only \(S_0\), \(D\) and \(d_{ls}(S_0,S)\) such that for two points \(S_1\) and \(S_2\) in the ball with center \(S\) and radius \(D\) in \({\mathcal T}_{qc}(S_0)\), the inequality \(d_{FN}(S_1, S_2)< Cd_{ls}(S_1, S_2)\) holds. In order to prove Theorem 1.3 one needs to estimate the Fenchel-Nielsen twist parameters by lengths of simple closed geodesics. For this part the authors give a good application of \textit{S. Wolpert}'s formulae for the first and second derivatives of the geodesic length function along the Fenchel-Nielsen flow [Ann. Math. (2) 117, 207--234 (1983; Zbl 0518.30040)]. The authors also give an example which shows that the local Lipschitzness property in Theorem 1.3 does not hold if the hypothesis of Shiga's condition is removed. This paper also contains some results on the Teichmüller space of a surface of finite topological type. In this case the three Teichmüller spaces set-theoretically coincide. One of the results states that the restriction of the identity map to a relative thick part of the Teichmüller space is globally bi-Lipschitz with respect to any of \(d_{qc}\), \(d_{ls}\) and the arc metric \(\delta_L\), where \(\delta_L\) is defined in a similar way to \(d_{ls}\) by replacing \({\mathcal S}\) with the set of homotopy classes of essential simple arcs connecting in \(\Sigma\) two boundary points of \(\partial\Sigma\) and the homotopy classes of simple closed curves homotopic to boundary components.