Hausdorff dimension and the Weil-Petersson extension to quasifuchsian space (Q969679)

A Teichmüller space is the space of hyperbolic metrics on a surface modulo isometries isotopic to the identity. The Weil-Petersson Kähler metric on a Teichmüller space is defined via an inner product on the cotangent space of the Teichmüller space. Its real part is a Riemannian metric. Due to Thurston, Wolpert and Bonahon's work, the WP Riemannian metric is identified as the second variation of length functions. To be precise, let \(S\) be a closed hyperbolic surface. The Teichmüller space \(F(S)\) is the space of equivalence classes \([(f_X,X)]\) where \(X\) is a hyperbolic surface homeomorphic to \(S\), and \(f_X:S\to X\) is the marking. Let \(l_X\) be the length function on \(X\) which measures the hyperbolic length of closed geodesics. The function \(l_X\) is continuously extended to \(\mathcal{C}(X)\), the space of geodesic currents which are measures on the set of geodesics. The marking \(f_X\) induces a homeomorphism \(f_X:\mathcal{C}(S)\to \mathcal{C}(X)\). Let \(\mu_X\in \mathcal{C}(X)\) be the unit length Liouville measure. There is a well-defined map \(\widehat{L}_X: F(S)\to \mathbb{R}\) defined by \([(f_Y,Y)]\mapsto l^{}_Y\circ f^{}_Y\circ f_X^{-1}(\mu_X)\). The normalized WP Riemannian metric \(g\) is obtained by multiplying a constant to the WP Riemannian metric. As two-tensors on the tangent space of the Teichmüller space, Thurston, Wolpert, and Bonahon established that \(g_X=\widehat{L}_X''(X)\). \textit{M. J. Bridgeman} and \textit{E. C. Taylor} [Math. Ann. 341, No. 4, 927--943 (2008; Zbl 1176.30095)] generalized the result of Thurston, Wolpert, and Bonahon to quasi-Fuchsian spaces. Let \(S\) be a hyperbolic surface corresponding to a Fuchsian group \(\Gamma_0\). The quasi-Fuchsian space \(QF(S)\) is the space of equivalence classes \([(f_X,X)]\) of quasi-conformal deformations of \(\Gamma_0\), where \(X\) is a quasi-Fuchsian manifold and \(f_X\) is the marking. The Teichmüller space \(F(S)\) is a subset of \(QF(S)\). The space of geodesic currents \(\mathcal{C}(X)\) and the length function \(l_X\) are generalized to quasi-Fuchsian manifolds \(X\). And \(f_X\) induces a homeomorphism between the spaces of geodesic currents. Let \(\mu_X\) be the unit length Paterson-Sullivan geodesic current (the higher dimensional counter part of the Liouville measure). There is a function \(L_X: QF(S)\to \mathbb{R}\) well-defined by \([(f^{}_Y,Y)]\mapsto l^{}_Y\circ f^{}_Y\circ f_X^{-1}(\mu_X)\). When restricted to \(F(S)\), \(L_X\) is equal to \(\widehat{L}_X\). Let \(h:QF(S)\to \mathbb{R}\) be the function sending a quasi-Fuchsian manifold to the Hausdorff dimension of its limit set. Now \(G:=(hL_X)''\) defines a pseudometric on \(QF(S)\). When restricted to \(F(S)\), this pseudometric \(G\) is equal to \(\widehat{L}_X''=g\), the normalized WP Riemannian metric. Since \(h'=0\) on \(F(S)\), the Hessian \(h''\) defines a pseudometric \(H\) on \(F(S)\). The semi-definiteness of \((hL_X)''\) implies that \(H\) is bounded below by \(g\). This result motivated \textit{C. T. McMullen} [Invent. Math. 173, No. 2, 365--425 (2008; Zbl 1156.30035)] to prove eventually that \(H=g\). The paper under review gives a new proof of McMullen's result by establishing the following theorem: A nonzero tangent vector \(v\) to \(QF(S)\) at a point \(X\in QF(S)\) has zero length under the pseudometric \(G\) if and only if \(X\in F(S)\) and \(v=J\cdot w\), where \(J\) is the natural complex structure on \(QF(S)\) and \(w\) is a tangent vector to \(F(S)\) at \(X\). To prove this result, the author (1) shows that \(\|v\|_G=\sqrt{h(X)}\cdot \|v\|_W\) for any tangent vector \(v\) to \(QF(S)\) at a point \(X\), where \(W\) is obtained by pulling back the pressure metric of thermodynamics, (2) characterizes the tangent vector \(v\) such that \(\|v\|_W=0.\)