Uniform hyperbolicity for curve graphs of non-orientable surfaces (Q517785)

The curve graph of a compact surface \(\Sigma\) is the graph with homotopy classes of essential, non-peripheral, simple closed curves as vertices and edges between homotopy classes with disjoint realization. The arc graph and arc and curve graph are similarly defined. \textit{H. A. Masur} and \textit{Y. N. Minsky} [Invent. Math. 138, No. 1, 103--149 (1999; Zbl 0941.32012)] proved that curve graphs are \(\delta\)-hyperbolic and spurred significant subsequent work in the geometry of complexes associated to surfaces. \textit{S. Hensel, P. Przytycki} and \textit{R. C. H. Webb} [J. Eur. Math. Soc. (JEMS) 17, No. 4, 755--762 (2015; Zbl 1369.57018)] gave one of several independent proofs that the hyperbolicity constants of curve graphs of orientable surfaces do not depend on the genus; specifically they proved that curve graphs are 17-hyperbolic. This paper notes that the unicorn path construction of Hensel, Przytycki, and Webb [loc. cit.] applies almost immediately to the non-orientable case as well, and in the interests of brevity omits most of the details. The main technical contribution is the proof that the natural retraction from the arc-and-curve complex to the curve complex is 2-Lipschitz (Lemma 3) for non-orientable surfaces.