An application of eigenvalue estimate to algebraic curves defined by congruence subgroups (Q1920883)

Let \(X\) be an algebraic curve defined by a congruence subgroup. Let \(\Sigma\) be any algebraic curve and let \(A_c(\Sigma) =\inf_F\sup_g \text{Area}(g(F(\Sigma)))\), where \(F\) is any nontrivial branched conformal map of \(\Sigma\) into a unit sphere \(S^n\) and \(g\) is any element in the conformal group of \(S^n\). The author proves that for any conformal metric defined on \(X\), the first eigenvalue \(\lambda_1\) of the Laplacian is dominated by \[ \lambda_1\leq {2dA_c(\Sigma)\over \text{Area}(X)}, \] where \(d\) is the minimal degree of a holomorphic map onto \(\Sigma\). If the metric is the Poincaré metric, \(\text{Area}(X)=4\pi(g-1)\), and by Selberg's theorem, he gets the following. Theorem. Let \(X\) be any curve defined by the congruence subgroup. Then for any holomorphic map from \(X\) to an algebraic curve \(\Sigma\) with degree \(d\), we have the following inequality \[ dA_c(\Sigma)\geq {3\pi\over 8} \left(g-1+{n\over 2}\right) \] where \(g\) is the genus of \(X\) and \(n\) is the number of ends of \(X\). Based on this eigenvalue estimate, the author derives some special property of theta function for a real torus defined by a lattice with \(g>2\) which contains a minimal surface \(\Sigma\).