\(\mathrm{GL}_2\mathbb{R}\)-invariant measures in marked strata: generic marked points, Earle-Kra for strata and illumination (Q2177706)

A \textit{translation surface} \((X, \omega)\) is a pair where \(X\) is a Riemann surface and \(\omega\) a holomorphic differential. By integrating \(\omega\), one obtains an atlas of charts to \(\mathbb C\), away from the zeros of \(\omega\), whose transition maps are of the form \(z \mapsto z + c\). Equivalently, if we have such an atlas, pulling back \((dz)\) to the surface gives a Riemann surface structure together with a holomorphic differential. \(\mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)\) acts on the space of translation surfaces by \(\mathbb R\)-linear post-composition with these charts. The paper under review studies the \(\mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)\) action on spaces of \textit{pointed surfaces}. A collection of marked points regular points \(P\) (not zeros or poles) is called \textit{generic} if the complex dimension of the orbit closure \(\overline{ \mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)(X, \omega, P) }\) is as large as possible, i.e., \(|P|\) plus the complex dimension of \(\overline{\mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)(X, \omega) }\). The main result of the paper characterizes \textit{non-generic} collection of points, showing that if \(P\) is a nongeneric collection of points then \((X, \omega)\) belongs to a hyperelliptic component of a stratum and \(P\) contains either a Weierstrass point or two points exchanged by the hyperelliptic involution. There are a collection of striking applications to understanding holomorphic sections of the universal curve, and further, to finite blocking problems for billiards. A particularly elegant application shows that a generic translation surface contains a pair of finitely blocked points if and only if it belongs to a hyperelliptic component, in which case the pair consists of a point and its image under the hyperelliptic involution.