Skinning maps are finite-to-one (Q893852)

Skinning maps were introduced by W. Thurston in the proof of the geometrization theorem for Haken 3-manifolds. At a key step in the proof one has a compact 3-manifold \(M\) with non-empty boundary whose interior admits a hyperbolic structure. The interplay between deformations of the hyperbolic structure and the topology of \(M\) and \(\partial M\) determines a holomorphic map of Teichmüller space, the skinning map \(\sigma_{M} : T(\partial_{0} M) \rightarrow T(\overline{\partial_{0} M})\) where \(\partial_{0} M\) is the union of the non-torus boundary components and \(\overline{\partial_{0} M}\) denotes the boundary with the opposite orientation. In the present paper, the main theorem is the one given by the title: Theorem A. Skinning maps are finite-to-one.