Contraction properties of the Poincaré series operator (Q5961597)

McMullen used the Poincaré series operator to prove contraction properties of Thurston's ``skinning map'' -- an iteration on the Teichmüller space of a Riemann surface [\textit{C. McMullen}, Invent. Math. 97, No. 1, 95-127 (1989; Zbl 0672.30017)]. In this paper, the authors give new proofs of McMullen's estimates on the norm of the Poincaré series operator. Their methods avoid combinatorial arguments in favor of more complex analytic and geometric tactics. They yield estimates for the case of covering surfaces with finitely generated fundamental groups that are completely explicit in terms of the injectivity radii of the Riemann surfaces involved.