Euler characteristics of Teichmüller curves in genus two (Q2464839)

The author obtains a formula for the Euler characteristics of all Teichmüller curves in the muduli space \(\mathcal{M}_2\) of genus two Riemann surfaces that are generated by holomorphic one-forms with a single double zero. Such Teichmüller curves are naturally embedded in Hilbert modular surfaces, and the formula given shows the Euler characteristic of all Teichmüller curve as a constant times the Euler characteristic of the Hilbert curve on which it lies. The result was conjectured by Zagier after numerical evidence. The author obtains several related results, in particular generalizing formulas that were obtained by Eskin, Masur and Schmoll. He also relates his results to some formulas obtained by McMullen, and by Lelièvre-Royer. The techniques used come from algebraic geometry and are based on a calculatation of the fundamental classes of the Teichmüller curves in certain compactifications of the Hilbert modular surfaces obtained by expressing these fundamental classes as zero loci of certain meromorphic sections of line bundles over Hilbert modular surfaces. There is a well-known correspondence between closed billard paths on rational-angled Euclidean polygons and closed geodesics on some singular flat surface defined by an Abelian differential on a Riemann surface. The author applies his results to calculate the Siegel-Veech constants for the number of closed billiard paths in certain \(L\)-shaped polygons. Siegel-Veech constants are the coefficients that appear in the formula for the (quadratic) asymptotics of the counting function. The author also calculates the Lyapunov exponents of the Konstevich-Zorich cocycle for any ergodic \(\mathrm{SL}(2,\mathbb{R})\)-invariant measure on the moduli space \(\mathcal{M}_2\), giving a proof of an unpublished result by Kontsevich. The paper contains very interesting material and is carefully written. The work is based on the author's Ph.D. thesis written under McMullen.