Spaces of Riemann surfaces (Q2702309)

This is a survey paper written to honor the memory of Lars Ahlfors. The subject matter is the deformation spaces of Riemann surfaces. The author recalls the definitions of the various deformation spaces, using quasiconformal maps and Beltrami differentials. He states and comments some basic results, including the problem of Grötzsch and its solution and Teichmüller's theory of extremal quasiconformal maps. He presents then some aspects of the work of Ahlfors and Bers, namely, their theory of the complex structure of the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. He describes some results on the tangent and cotangent bundles of Teichmüller spaces, and on the metric geometry of these spaces, namely the Kobayashi and the Weil-Petersson metrics. The paper contains some short historical landmarks, and a bibliography with about 300 entries.NEWLINENEWLINEFor the entire collection see [Zbl 0944.00101].