Almost-isometry between the Teichmüller metric and the arc-length-spectrum metric on moduli space for surfaces with boundary (Q524337)

The author proves that the Teichmüller metric on the moduli space of hyperbolic surfaces with geodesic boundary (defined on a given surface of finite topological type) is almost isometric to the arc-length-spectrum metric. This generalizes a recent theorem of Liu-Su on the moduli space of closed surfaces with or without punctures. The theorem of Liu-Su was based on Farb-Masur's result that the Teichmüller metric on the moduli space is almost isometric to the cone over the complex of curves, endowed with a metric related to the Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates. When the surfaces have nonempty boundary, the arc-length-spectrum metric is a refinement of the length-spectrum metric, studied recently by several authors. The author proves: {\parindent=7mm\begin{itemize}\item[(i)] The Teichmüller metric and the length-spectrum metric are not almost isometric on the moduli space. \item[(ii)] Both the Teichmüller metric and the arc-length-spectrum metric are almost isometric to a cone over the complex of arcs and curves. \end{itemize}} To prove the second statement, the author generalizes a construction of Farb-Masur to the cone over the complex of arcs and curves.