No label defined (Q4797608)

A natural graph of pants decompositions of surfaces, introduced by A.~Hatcher and W.~Thurston, provides an organizing combinatorial structure for the Weil-Petersson metric. The coarse structure of this graph provides a new tool in the geometric study of Teichmüller space \(\text{Teich}(S)\) of a compact surface \(S\) of negative Euler characteristic. In this paper, these two objects are introduced to be compared. In the interest of conveying the main ideas, the author gives an informal expository discussion of the following two theorems: The Weil-Petersson metric on \(\text{Teich}\) is quasi-isometric to the pants graph \({\mathbf P}(S)\). \newline The Weil-Petersson metric on \(\text{Teich}(S)\) is Gromov-hyperbolic iff \(S\) is a four or five-holed sphere or a one or two-holed torus. \newline The role of relative hyperbolicity in the proof of the last theorem, and how naturally arising quasi-flats in \({\mathbf P}(S)\) give an obstruction to hyperbolicity in the higher genus cases are discussed. The paper is concluded with a list of questions about the Weil-Petersson metric. For the entire collection see [Zbl 1003.00016].