A cyclic extension of the earthquake flow. I (Q1945746)

Let \(\mathcal T\) be the Teichmüller space of a closed, oriented surface of genus at least \(2.\) In this interesting paper under review, the authors introduce the \textit{landslide flow,} a circle action \[ L: \mathcal T\times\mathcal T\times S^1\rightarrow\mathcal T\times\mathcal T \] \[ (h,h^*,e^{i\theta})\mapsto L_{e^{i\theta},h^*}(h) \] on \(\mathcal T\times\mathcal T\) that shares several main properties of the earthquake flows. Moreover, when the parameter \(h^*\in\mathcal T\) approaches a measured lamination \(\lambda\) in the Thurston boundary of \(\mathcal T,\) the landslide flow converges to the earthquake flow along \(\lambda.\) The landslide flow has the following properties: (1) \(L\) is a flow on \(\mathcal T\times\mathcal T,\) i.e., for \((h,h^*)\in\mathcal T\times\mathcal T\) and \(\theta, \theta'\in\mathbb R,\) \[ L_{e^{i\theta'}}(L_{e^{i\theta}}(h,h^*))=L_{e^{i(\theta'+\theta)}}(h,h^*). \] (2) An extension of Thurston's Earthquake Theorem: For \(h,h'\in \mathcal T\) and \(e^{i\theta}\in S^1\setminus\{0\},\) there is a unique \(h^*\in\mathcal T\) such that \(L_{e^{i\theta}}(h,h^*)=h'\). (3) Existence of the \textit{complex landslide}: For \(h, h^*\in\mathcal T,\) the map \(L_{\bullet}(h,h^*):S^1\rightarrow\mathcal T\) extends to a holomorphic map from the closed unit disk \(\overline\Delta\) to \(\mathcal T\). This is an analog of the complex earthquakes. (4) For \(r\in(0,1),\) the complex landslide \(L_r\) induces the\textit{smooth grafting}, a homeomorphism \[ SG_r:\mathcal T\times\mathcal T\rightarrow \mathcal P, \] where \(\mathcal P\) is the space of complex projective structures on the surface. (5) \(L\) extends to a circle action on the universal Teichmüller space.