Real-normalized differentials with a single order 2 pole (Q829950)

A meromorphic differential on a Riemann surface is said to be real-normalized if all its periods are real. By itself, this concept is almost equivalent to the concept of a harmonic function on a punctured Riemann surface. Real-normalized differentials on Riemann surfaces of given genus with prescribed orders of their poles form real orbifolds whose topology is closely related to that of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces with marked points. The main goal of this paper is to develop tools to study this topology. The authors propose a combinatorial model for the real-normalized differentials with a single order \(2\) pole and use it to analyze the corresponding absolute period foliation. More precisely, they propose a combinatorial model for the moduli space of compact Riemann surface \(S\) with one marked point \(p\in S\) and a chosen \(1\)-jet \(z\) of a local coordinate at \(p\) via identification of this space with the moduli space of real-normalized differentials having a single pole of order \(2\). The authors study the stratification and the foliation of the space of real-normalized differentials with a single order 2 pole using their combinatorial presentation by means of so-called cut diagrams. The paper is organized as follows. Section 1, is an introduction to the subject. In Section 2, the authors recall main known results concerning the absolute period foliation of spaces of holomorphic differentials. These results are to be compared with the results obtained by the authors and can be used to analyze the similarity and the difference in the properties of REL foliations in holomorphic and real-normalized cases. In Section 3, they introduce a combinatorial model for the principal stratum in the space of real-normalized differentials with a single order \(2\) pole based on the behavior of separatrices of a line field associated with the differential. The principal stratum consists of differentials having simple zeroes and such that none of the zeroes belongs to a separatrix entering another zero. In Section 4, the authors investigate density and connectedness properties of the constant period loci in the principal stratum of the space of real-normalized differentials with a single order \(2\) pole. Section 5 is devoted to a combinatorial description of the stratification of the space of real-normalized differentials with a single order \(2\) pole on elliptic curves.