Trace field degrees of abelian differentials (Q6124596)

The stretch factor of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class of a surface is a bi-Perron algebraic integer; in a seminal paper [Bull. Am. Math. Soc., New Ser. 19, No. 2, 417--431 (1988; Zbl 0674.57008)], \textit{W. P. Thurston} provided an upper bound on the algebraic degree of a pseudo-Anosov stretch factor, by the dimension of the Teichmüller space in general, and by \(2g\) in the special case of orientable invariant foliations, claiming also without proof that the bound is sharp. In the present paper, the authors justify Thurston's remark for pseudo-Anosov mapping classes with orientable invariant foliation, by proving that every even integer \(2 \le 2d \le 2g\) is realized as the degree of a stretch factor (of a product of two affine multicurves on a surface), in every connected component of every stratum of Abelian differentials on Riemann surfaces of genus \(g\).