Teichmüller theory and the universal period mapping via quantum calculus and the \(H^{1/2}\) space on the circle (Q1804700)

Quasisymmetric homeomorphisms of the circle, that arise in the Teichmüller theory of Riemann surfaces (as boundary values of quasiconformal diffeomorphisms of the disk), have fractal graphs in general, and are consequently not so amenable to usual analytical or calculus procedures. In this paper we make use of the remarkable fact this group \(QS(S^ 1)\) acts by substitution as bounded symplectic operators on the (Sobolev) Hilbert space \(\{H^{1/2}\}\) \((S^ 1)\) -- comprising functions on \(S^ 1\) possessing a square-integrable half- order derivative. Interpreting \(\{H^{1/2}\}\) \((S^ 1)\) as the square-integrable first cohomology of the disk with the complex structure provided by the Hodge star, (we obtain a universal form of the classical period mapping). This universal period mapping \(\Pi\) embeds the entire universal Teichmüller space into the universal Siegel space (of period matrices), thus extending the infinite-dimensional period mapping of the previous paper (Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 26, No. 2, 280-287 (1992; Zbl 0749.32013), by the first author). Using A. Connes' suggestion of a quantum differential \(d^ Q_ Jf=[J,f]\) -- commutator of the multiplication operator with the complex structure operator -- we obtain in lieu of the problematical classical calculus a quantum calculus for quasisymmetric homeomorphisms. The period mapping \(\Pi\) and the quantum calculus are related in several ways. In universal Teichmüller space there resides the separable complex submanifold \(T(H_ \infty)\) -- the Teichmüller space of the universal hyperbolic lamination. Genus-independent constructions like the universal period mapping proceed naturally to live on this completed version of the classical Teichmüller spaces. The lattice and Kähler metric aspect of the classical period mappings appear by focusing attention on this space. In fact, we show that \(T(H_ \infty)\) carries a natural convergent Weil- Petersson pairing.