The asymptotic behavior of the Takhtajan-Zograf metric (Q2517964)

For \(g\geq 0\) and \(n>0,\) let \(T_{g,n}\) denote the Teichmüller space of Riemann surfaces of type \((g,n).\) Namely, each point of \(T_{g,n}\) is a Riemann surface \(S\) of type \((g,n),\) i.e. \(S=\overline{S}-\{ p_1,\cdots,p_n\},\) where \(S\) is a compact Riemann surface of genus \(g,\) and the punctures \(p_1,\cdots,p_n\) of \(S\) are \(n\) distinct points of \(\overline{S}\). Considering \(2g-2+n>0,\) \(S\) admits a complete hyperbolic metric of constant curvature \(-1.\) By the uniformization Theorem, \(S\) can be represented as a quotient \(\mathbb{H}/\Gamma\) of the upper-half plane \(\mathbb{H}=\{ z\in \mathbb{C}: \text{Im}z>0\}\) by the natural action of the Fuchsian group \(\Gamma\subset \text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{R})\) of first kind. \(\Gamma\) is generated by \(2g\) hyperbolic transformations \(A_1,B_1,\cdots,A_{g},B_{g},\) and \(n\) parabolic transformations \(P_1,\cdots,P_n\) satisfying the relation \[ \prod_{i=1}^{g}[A_i,B_i]\prod_{j=1}^{n}P_j=I, \] where \([A_i,B_i]=A_iB_iA_i^{-1}B_i^{-1},\) and \(I\) is the \(2\times 2\) identity matrix. Let \(z_1,\cdots,z_n\in \widehat{\mathbb{R}}=\mathbb{R}\cup\{\infty\}\) be respectively the fixed points of the parabolic transformations \(P_1,\cdots,P_n,\) called the cusps. These cusps \(z_1,\cdots,z_n\) correspond respectively to the punctures \(p_1,\cdots,p_n\) of \(S\) under the projection \(\mathbb{H}\to \mathbb{H}/\Gamma\cong S.\) Each \(P_i\) \((i=1,\cdots,n)\) generates an infinite cyclic subgroup of \(\Gamma,\) and one can choose \(\sigma_i\in \text{PSL}_2(\mathbb{R})\) so that \(\sigma_i(\infty)=z_i\) and \(\sigma_i^{-1}P_i\sigma_i\) is the translation \(z\to z+1\) on \(\mathbb{H}.\) For \(i=1,\cdots,n,\) and \(s\in \mathbb{C},\) to each cusp \(z_i,\) one can associate the Eisenstein series defined by \[ E_i(z,s)=\sum_{\gamma\in <P_i>\backslash \Gamma}\text{Im}(\sigma_i^{-1}\gamma z)^s,\;\;\; z\in \mathbb{H}. \] For \(\text{Re}z>1,\) the Eisenstein series \(E_i(\cdot,s)\) is convergent on compact subsets of \(\mathbb{H},\) and also invariant under the action of \(\Gamma,\) and hence it descends to a function on \(S,\) denoted by the same symbol. Moreover, \[ \triangle_{\mathrm{hyp}}E_j=s(s-1)E_j,\;\;\; \text{on } S, \] where \(\triangle_{\mathrm{hyp}}\) is the hyperbolic Laplacian on \(S\). It is well-known that the Teichüller space \(T_{g,n}\) is naturally a complex manifold of dimension \(3g-3+n.\) Let \(Q(S)\) denote the space of holomorphic quadratic differentials \(\phi=\phi(z)dz^2\) on \(S\) with \(\| \phi\|_1=\int_S|\phi|<\infty.\) Let \(B(S)\) be the space of measurable Beltrami differentials \(\mu=\mu(z)\frac{d\overline{z}}{dz}\) on \(S\) with \(\| \mu\|_{\infty}=\mathrm{ess.sup}_{z\in S}|\mu(z)|<\infty.\) Let \(HB(S)\) be the subspace of \(B(S)\) consisting of elements of the form \(\frac{\overline{\phi}}{\rho}\) for some \(\phi\in Q(S),\) where \(\rho=\rho(z)dzd\overline{z}\) denotes the hyperbolic area element of \(S.\) It is well-known that the tangent space \(T_{S}T_{g,n}\cong HB(S)\) and the cotangent space \(T^{*}_{S}T_{g,n}\cong Q(S)\). The Weil-Petersson metric \(g^{WP}\) on \(T_{g,n}\) is defined by \[ g^{WP}(\mu,\nu)=\int_S\mu\overline{\nu}\rho, \] where \(\mu,\nu\in HB(S)\). \textit{L. A. Takhtajan} and \textit{P. G. Zograf} [J. Geom. Phys. 5, 551--570 (1988; Zbl 0739.30032); Comm. Math. Phys. 137, 399--426 (1991; Zbl 0725.58043)] introduced the following Kähler metric on \(T_{g,n},\) which is known as the Takhtajan-Zograf metric \[ g^{TZ}(\mu,\nu)=\sum_{i=1}^ng^{(i)}(\mu,\nu), \] where \[ g^{(i)}(\mu,\nu)=\int_SE_i(\cdot,2)\mu\overline{\nu}\rho, \] \(i=1,\cdots,n,\) and \(\mu,\nu\in HB(S)\). In [Commun. Math. Phys. 137, No. 2, 399--426 (1991; Zbl 0725.58043)], \textit{L. A. Takhtajan} and \textit{P. G. Zograf} proved that \(g^{TZ}\) is invariant under the natural action of the Teichmüller modular group \(Mod_{g,n},\) and it satisfies the following remarkable identity on \(T_{g,n}:\) \[ c_1(\lambda_k,\rho_{Q,k})=\frac{6k^2-6k+1}{12}\frac{1}{\pi^2}\omega_{WP}-\frac{1}{9}\omega_{TZ}, \] where \(\lambda_k=\det(\mathrm{ind}\;\overline{\partial}_k)= \wedge^{\max}\ker\overline{\partial}_k\otimes(\wedge^{\max}\mathrm{coker}\overline{\partial}_k)^{-1}\) is the determinant line bundle on \(T_{g,n},\) \(\rho_{Q,k}\) is the Quillen metric on \(\lambda_k,\) and \(\omega_{WP}\) and \(\omega_{TZ}\) are respectively the Kähler forms, Weil-Petersson form and the Tahktajan-Zograf form on \(T_{g,n}.\) In [Commun. Math. Phys. 205, 405--420 (1999; Zbl 0939.32012)], \textit{K. Obitsu} proved that the Takhtajan-Zograf metric is incomplete. In the present article, Obitsu, To, and Weng give the asymptotic behavior of the Takhtajan-Zograf metric near the boundary of \(T_{g,n},\) which can be described heuristically as follow: Near the boundary of \(T_{g,n},\) the tangent space at any point in \(T_{g,n}\) can be roughly considered as the direc sum of the pinching directions and the non-pinching directions (that are ``parallel'' to the boundary). Roughly speaking, they prove that Takhtajan-Zograf metric is smaller than the Weil-Petersson metric by an additional factor \(1/|\mathrm{log}|t||\) along each pinching tangential direction, that is, it is essentially of the order of growth \(1/|t|^2(\mathrm{log}|t|)^4\) along the pinching direction corresponding to a pinching coordinate \(t.\) Moreover, the authors showed that the Takhtajan-Zograf metric extends continuously along the non-pinching tangential directions to the ``nodally-depleted Takhtajan-Zograf metrics'' on the boundary Teichmüller spaces, which, unlike the case of the Weil-Petersson metric, are only positive semi-definite on the boundary Teichmüller spaces. The authors' result also leads to an alternative proof of the result of Obitsu on the non-completeness of the Takhtajan-Zograf metric.