Asymptotic flatness of the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmüller space (Q1775136)

The author shows that there is no negative upper bound for the sectional curvature of Teich\-müller spaces of Riemann surfaces with the Weil-Petersson metric. He investigates the asymptotic behavior of the sectional curvatures of the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmüller spaces. His method is to investigate harmonic maps from a nearly noded surface to nearby hyperbolic structures. Let \(\Sigma\) be a smooth closed Riemann surface of genus \(g,\) with \(n\) punctures and \(3g - 3 + n > 1.\) Let \(M_{-1}\) denote the space of metrics of constant curvature \(-1\) on \(\Sigma.\) The group \(\text{Diff}_{0},\) of diffeomorphisms homotopic to the identity acts by pull back on \(M_{-1},\) and can define the Teichmüller space \(T_{g,n} = M_{-1} /\text{Diff}_{0}.\) The Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmüller spaces has many curious properties; for example, it is incomplete. {Main Theorem.} If the complex dimension of the Teichmüller space \(T\) is greater than 1, then there is no negative upper bound for the sectional curvature of the Weil-Petersson metric. {Theorem B.} If the complex dimension of the Teichmüller space \(T\) is greater than 1, and \(l\) is the length of the shortest geodesic along a path to a boundary point in the Teichmüller space, then there exists a sequence of tangent planes with Weil-Petersson sectional curvature of order \(O(l).\)