On the existence of certain quadratic differentials on four times punctured spheres and once punctured tori (Q1807694)

For a free family of homotopy classes \(\{\gamma_j\}_{j=1}^p\) on a Riemann surface \(R\) the author considers the following problem. Find conditions on nonnegative numbers \(l_j\), \(j=1,\dots,p\), such that there exists a regular quadratic differential \(\varphi(z)dz^2\) on \(R\) whose structure domains are all ring domains having the following properties. (a) Each closed trajectory of \(\varphi(z)dz^2\) is in one of the classes \(\{\gamma_j\}\). (b) For each \(j=1,\dots,k\), \(\varphi(z) dz^2\) has closed trajectories in \(\{\gamma_j\}\). (c) For \(j=1, \dots,p\), the \(\varphi\)-length of closed trajectories of \(\varphi(z) dz^2\) in \(\{\gamma_j\}\) is equal to \(l_j\). The author treats the cases where \(R\) is a sphere with four punctures and a torus with one puncture using the deformation space of a Riemann surface with nodes. A considerable role is played by explicit calculations.