On the critical exponent of infinitely generated Veech groups (Q2402833)

The critical exponent \(\delta(\Gamma)\) of a Fuchsian group \(\Gamma\) is the infimum over all \(a\in \mathbb{R}\) so that the Poincaré series \(\sum_{\gamma \in \Gamma} \exp [ -a\rho (i, \gamma(i) )]\) converges, where \(\rho\) is the hyperbolic metric on the upper half-plane. Equivalently [\textit{C. J. Bishop} and \textit{P. W. Jones}, Acta Math. 179, No. 1, 1--39 (1997; Zbl 0921.30032)], the critical exponent is also the Hausdorff dimension of the conical limit set of \(\Gamma\). In the paper under review, the author focusses on translation surfaces and their Veech groups. The main result states that there exist infinitely many translation surfaces whose Veech groups have critical exponent in the interval \((1/2,1)\). For elementary groups \(\delta(\Gamma) \leq 1/2\), and for lattices \(\delta(\Gamma) = 1\), and so these cases do not occur in the main theorem. The author analyzes the construction in [\textit{P. Hubert} and \textit{T. A. Schmidt}, Duke Math. J. 123, No. 1, 49--69 (2004; Zbl 1056.30044)], see also [\textit{C. T. McMullen}, Acta Math. 191, No. 2, 191--223 (2003; Zbl 1131.37052)], to estimate the critical exponent. A key component of the proof is to use a result from [\textit{T. Roblin} and \textit{S. Tapie}, in: Géométrie ergodique. Genève: L'Enseignement Mathématique. 61--92 (2013; Zbl 1312.53060)] to connect the critical exponent of a particular affine covering of a primitve L-shaped Veech surface with the Cheeger constant of a certain Schreier graph. The paper is well written and has a nice introduction to all the relevant concepts used and related literature.