GL₂R-invariant measures in marked strata: generic marked points, Earle-Kra for strata and illumination

From MaRDI portal
Publication:2177706



Abstract: We classify GL(2,R) invariant point markings over components of strata of Abelian differentials. Such point markings exist only when the component is hyperelliptic and arise from marking Weierstrass points or two points exchanged by the hyperelliptic involution. We show that these point markings can be used to determine the holomorphic sections of the universal curve restricted to orbifold covers of subvarieties of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces that contain a Teichmuller disk. The finite blocking problem is also solved for translation surfaces with dense GL(2,R) orbit.


A \textit{translation surface} \((X, \omega)\) is a pair where \(X\) is a Riemann surface and \(\omega\) a holomorphic differential. By integrating \(\omega\), one obtains an atlas of charts to \(\mathbb C\), away from the zeros of \(\omega\), whose transition maps are of the form \(z \mapsto z + c\). Equivalently, if we have such an atlas, pulling back \((dz)\) to the surface gives a Riemann surface structure together with a holomorphic differential. \(\mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)\) acts on the space of translation surfaces by \(\mathbb R\)-linear post-composition with these charts. The paper under review studies the \(\mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)\) action on spaces of \textit{pointed surfaces}. A collection of marked points regular points \(P\) (not zeros or poles) is called \textit{generic} if the complex dimension of the orbit closure \(\overline{ \mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)(X, \omega, P) }\) is as large as possible, i.e., \(|P|\) plus the complex dimension of \(\overline{\mathrm{GL}(2, \mathbb R)(X, \omega) }\). The main result of the paper characterizes \textit{non-generic} collection of points, showing that if \(P\) is a nongeneric collection of points then \((X, \omega)\) belongs to a hyperelliptic component of a stratum and \(P\) contains either a Weierstrass point or two points exchanged by the hyperelliptic involution. There are a collection of striking applications to understanding holomorphic sections of the universal curve, and further, to finite blocking problems for billiards. A particularly elegant application shows that a generic translation surface contains a pair of finitely blocked points if and only if it belongs to a hyperelliptic component, in which case the pair consists of a point and its image under the hyperelliptic involution.



Cites work









This page was built for publication: \(\mathrm{GL}_2\mathbb{R}\)-invariant measures in marked strata: generic marked points, Earle-Kra for strata and illumination

Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q2177706)