A different expression of the Weil-Petersson potential on the quasi-Fuchsian deformation space (Q812967)

L.A. Takhtajan and L.-P. Teo defined a Hilbert manifold structure on the universal Teichmüller space \(T(1).\) Denote the component that contains the identity element by \(T_{0}(1).\) It is the largest submanifold of \(T(1),\) where the Weil-Petersson metric can be defined. The Weil-Petersson metric on Moeb\((S^{1})\, \text{Diff}_{+}(S^{1}),\) introduced by Kirillov via the orbit method, has been of interest to both mathematicians and physicists. L. A. Takhtajan and L. P. Teo defined a Weil-Petersson potential on \(T_{0}(1)\) in two different ways and showed that they are equal. The first definition of the Weil-Petersson potential is given by \(S_{1} : T_{0}(1) \rightarrow {\mathbb R},\) \[ S_{1}([\mu]) = \int\int_{D}\left| \frac{(f^{\mu})^{''}}{(f^{\mu})^{'}}\right| ^{2} d^{2} z + \int\int_{D^{*}}\left| \frac{(g_{\mu})^{''}}{(g_{\mu})^{'}}\right| ^{2} d^{2} z - 4\pi \log | g_{\mu})^{'}(\infty)| , \] where \(w_{\mu} = g^{-1}_{\mu} \circ f^{\mu}\) is the conformal welding corresponding to \([\mu] \in T_{0}(1).\) The second definition of the Weil-Petersson potential comes from the study of the Grunsky operator \(K_{1}\) of the univalent function \(f^{\mu}\) associated to a point \([\mu] \in T(1).\) The authors prove that the Grunsky operator associated to \([\mu]\) is Hilbert-Schmidt if and only if \([\mu] \in T_{0}(1).\) The function \(S_{2} : T_{0}(1) \rightarrow {\mathbb R}\) given by \[ S_{2}([\mu]) =\log \det (I - K_{1} K_{1}^{*}) \] is well-defined. The author proved that \(S_{2} = -\frac{1}{12\pi} S_{1}.\) Given \(\Gamma\) a cocompact quasi-Fuchsian group, the quasi-Fuchsian deformation space \(D(\Gamma)\) can be canonically mapped into the universal Teichmüller space. In this paper the author are going to extend the definition of the function \(S_{2}\) to the quasi-Fuchsian deformation space \(D(\Gamma)\) of a cocompact quasi-Fuchsian group \(\Gamma,\) and proves that up to constants, it coincides with the critical Liouville action \(S_{cl}.\) On the deformation space \(D(\Gamma^{'})\) the equation \(S_{cl} = -12\pi S_{2} + 8\pi (2g - 2)\) holds. As a corollary they obtain \(S_{cl}([\mu]) \leq 8\pi (2g - 2),\) where equality appears if and only if \([\mu]\) corresponds to a Fuchsian group.