Branched projective structures with Fuchsian holonomy

DOI10.2140/GT.2014.18.379MaRDI QIDQ2636586zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Gabriel Calsamiglia, Bertrand Deroin, Stefano Francaviglia

Publication date 30 January 2014

Published in Geometry \& Topology (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1203.6038

Fuchsian holonomy moduli spaces projective structures

Families, moduli of curves (analytic) (14H15) Fuchsian groups and automorphic functions (aspects of compact Riemann surfaces and uniformization) (30F35)

Abstract: We prove that if S is a closed compact surface of negative Euler characteristic, and if R is a quasi-Fuchsian representation in PSL(2,C), then the deformation space M(k,R) of branched projective structures on S with total branching order k and holonomy R is connected, as soon as k>0. Equivalently, two branched projective structures with the same quasi-Fuchsian holonomy and the same number of branch points are related by a movement of branch points. In particular grafting annuli are obtained by moving branch points. In the appendix we give an explicit atlas for the space M(k,R). It is shown to be a smooth complex manifold modeled on Hurwitz spaces.

Review text

``A \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\)-structure on a surface is a geometric structure modeled on the Riemann sphere and its group of holomorphic automorphisms, identified with \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\). A chart of a \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\)-structure can be developed (i.e., continued with the use of charts) to a map defined on the universal cover of the surface, which is equivariant with respect to a certain representation of the fundamental group of the surface in \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\), called the \textit{holonomy}. This developing map is well-defined up to composition by inner automorphisms of \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\). Such a \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\)-structure will be referred to as projective structure. Projective structures were introduced by studying second order ODEs with applications to the uniformization theorem, which states that the universal cover of every Riemann surface is biholomorphic to either \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\), \(\mathbb{C}\) or \(\mathbb{H}^2\), corresponding to whether the Euler characteristic is positive, zero or negative. The composition of the said biholomorphism with the natural inclusion in \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\) defines a developing map of a projective structure on the topological surface whose holonomy representation is the identification of the fundamental group with a subgroup of automorphisms of the uniformized covering map, which lies in \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) in either case. In particular, hyperbolic structures on closed surfaces are examples of \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\)-structures: the developing map takes its values in the upper-half plane model of \(\mathbb H^2\) -- viewed as a subset of \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\) and the holonomy in a discrete co-compact subgroup of \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})< \mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\). In general the holonomy of a \(\mathbb{C}\mathbb{P}^1\)-structure on a closed surface \(S\) is said to be \textit{Fuchsian} if it is faithful and its image is conjugated to a discrete co-compact subgroup of \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})\). For such a representation we can always consider the corresponding hyperbolic structure on \(S\), which is called the \textit{uniformizing} structure. A representation is called \textit{quasi-Fuchsian} if it is topologically conjugated to a Fuchsian representation when acting on the Riemann sphere. In this paper, the authors are ``interested in branched projective structures on closed orientable surfaces. These are given by atlases where local charts are finite branched coverings and transition maps lie in \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\). Such structures arise naturally in many contexts. For instance in the theories of conical \(\mathbb{H}^2\)-structures, of branched coverings, of locally flat projective connections or of transversally projective holomorphic foliations [\(\ldots\)]. As in the unbranched case, a chart can be continued to define a developing map on the universal cover of the surface, which is equivariant with respect to a holonomy representation of the fundamental group of the surface in \(\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\). In the spirit of Goldman's Theorem we give an explicit construction of any branched projective structure with Fuchsian holonomy by elementary surgeries that preserve the holonomy. One of them can be varied continuously and allows us to define a complex manifold structure on the set \(\mathcal{M}_{k,\rho}\) of branched projective structures with fixed holonomy \(\rho:\pi_1(S)\rightarrow\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) and total branching order \(k\) on a marked surface \(S\) of genus \(g\). W show that, unlike in the unbranched case, for quasi-Fuchsian \(\rho\) and \(k > 0\) , this space is connected. The main result of the paper is as follows: Theorem 1.1. Let S be a compact oriented closed surface. Every branched projective structure with Fuchsian holonomy on S having at least one branch point is obtained from a uniformizing structure by bubblings and moving branch points. In particular if \(\rho:\pi_1(S)\rightarrow\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{C})\) is a Fuchsian representation and \(k > 0\) is an even integer then the space \(\mathcal{M}_{k,\rho}\) is connected.

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