On the norm of the Poincaré series operator for a universal covering group (Q2367482)

In this paper the author considers the Poincaré series operator which maps the space of integrable quadratic differentials on the upper half- plane to the corresponding space for an arbitrary Fuchsian group. These spaces have a natural Banach space structure given by the \(L^ 1\)-norm. The norm of this operator is bounded above by 1 and it is of significance in Teichmüller theory to determine this norm. The author gives here two distinct criteria so that the norm should be 1 precisely if one or others of these conditions are satisfied. These are that (a) that there is a point for which the injectivity radius be greater than any given value, or (b) that there should be a closed geodesic of arbitrarily short length. If neither of these conditions is satisfied for the Fuchsian group \(\Gamma\) then the natural embedding of the Teichmüller space \(T(\{I\})\) into \(T(\Gamma)\) is strictly distance decreasing. \textit{T. Nakanishi} and \textit{H. Yamamoto} [Comment. Math. Helv. 64, No. 2, 288-299 (1989; Zbl 0686.30034)] have shown that the outradius of \(T(\Gamma)\) is 6 if and only if (a) or (b) holds. The proof proceeds by a reduction of the estimation of the norm to a geometric problem concerning `pairs of pants' in the Riemann surface.