The intrinsic asymmetry and inhomogeneity of Teichmüller space (Q605913)

Let \(S\) be a compact oriented surface of finite analytic type (that is, a surfaces obtained from a compact surface by deleting a finite set of points). The authors show that the isometry group of a complete, finite-covolume mapping class group invariant Finsler metric, that satisfies some further conditions on the Teichmüller space of \(S\), is the extended mapping class group of \(S\), with the exception of some surfaces of low genus and small number of punctures. The exceptions are the usual ones, that is, those that appear in the statement of Royden's theorem on the isometries of the Teichmüller metric. The authors' aim is to obtain a theorem that applies to metrics that are more general than the Teichmüller metric. The proof uses the work of \textit{S. Deng} and \textit{Z. Hou} [Pac. J. Math. 207, No. 1, 149--155 (2002; Zbl 1055.53055)]. In this work, there are differentiability assumptions on the Finsler structure, and this structure is required to have a well-defined exponential map. Thus, as such, the result in the paper under review result does not apply to general Finsler metrics such as Thurston's asymmetric metric on Teichmüller space. A rigidity result of this kind for the isometry group of Thurston's asymmetric metric has been recently obtained by C. Walsh in his paper \textit{The horoboundary and isometry group of Thurston's Lipschitz metric}.