Well-rounded equivariant deformation retracts of Teichmüller spaces (Q482043)

Summary: In this paper, we construct \textit{spines}, i.e., \(\mathrm {Mod}_g\)-equivariant deformation retracts, of the Teichmüller space \(\mathcal T_g\) of compact Riemann surfaces of genus \(g\). Specifically, we define a \(\mathrm {Mod}_g\)-stable subspace \(S\) of positive codimension and construct an intrinsic \(\mathrm {Mod}_g\)-equivariant deformation retraction from \(\mathcal T_g\) to \(S\). As an essential part of the proof, we construct a canonical \(\mathrm {Mod}_g\)-deformation retraction of the Teichmüller space \(\mathcal T_g\) to its thick part \(\mathcal T_g(\epsilon)\) when \(\epsilon\) is sufficiently small. These equivariant deformation retracts of \(\mathcal T_g\) give cocompact models of the universal space \(\underline{E}\mathrm {Mod}_g\) for proper actions of the mapping class group \(\mathrm {Mod}_g\). These deformation retractions of \(\mathcal T_g\) are motivated by the well-rounded deformation retraction of the space of lattices in \(\mathbb R^n\). We also include a summary of results and difficulties of an unpublished paper of Thurston on a potential spine of the Teichmüller space.