Algebraic intersection for translation surfaces in the stratum H(2)

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Abstract: We study the quantity mboxKVol defined as the supremum, over all pairs of closed curves, of their algebraic intersection, divided by the product of their lengths, times the area of the surface. The surfaces we consider live in the stratum mathcalH(2) of translation surfaces of genus 2, with one conical point. We provide an explicit sequence L(n,n) of surfaces such that mboxKVol(L(n,n))longrightarrow2 when n goes to infinity, 2 being the conjectured infimum for mboxKVol over mathcalH(2).


Let \((X,g)\) be a closed, orientable, Riemannian surface with area \(\text{Vol}(X,g)\). Then the algebraic intersection of closed curves in \(X\) endows the first homology \(H_1(X,\mathbb{R})\) with an antisymmetric, non degenerate, bilinear form, denoted \(\text{Int}(\cdot,\cdot)\). For a curve \(\alpha\), let furthermore \(l_g(\alpha)\) be its length. This article studies the interesting quantity \[ \text{KVol}(X,g) = \text{Vol}(X,g) \cdot \sup \left\{ \frac{\text{Int}(\alpha,\beta)}{ l_g(\alpha) \cdot l_g(\beta)} : \alpha,\beta \text{ piecewise smooth closed curves } \right\}. \] The factor \(\text{Vol}(X,g)\) assures that \(\text{KVol}\) is invariant under scaling. This invariant was used in [the third author and \textit{B. Muetzel}, Manuscr. Math. 143, No. 1--2, 19--49 (2014; Zbl 1296.53071)] to compare the stable norm and the \(L^2\)-norm of elements in \(H_1(X,\mathbb{R})\). Let \(\text{sys}(X,g)\) and \(\text{sys}_h(X,g)\) be the length of a systole and a homological systole of \((X,g)\), respectively. Let furthermore \(\operatorname{diam}(X,g)\) be its diameter. In [loc. cit.] it was further shown that \[ \max\left\{ 1, \frac{ \text{Vol}(X,g)}{2\text{sys}_h(X,g) \cdot \operatorname{diam}(X,g)} \right\} \leq \text{KVol}(X,g) \leq \frac{9 \text{Vol}(X,g)}{\text{sys}_h(X,g)^2} \leq \frac{9 \text{Vol}(X,g)}{\text{sys}(X,g)^2}. \quad \quad (1) \] To make \(\text{KVol}\) go to infinity, it is sufficient to pinch a non-separating closed curve \(\alpha\) to make its length go to zero, so the interesting surfaces are those for which \(\text{KVol}\) is small. In genus one the value one is already obtained in the flat torus \((T,g_E) = (\mathbb{R}^2 / \mathbb{Z}^2,g_E)\), where \(g_E\) denotes the Euclidean metric. In all other genera, however, the value of the infimum \[ \text{KVol}(m) = \inf \{ \text{KVol}(X,g), (X,g) \text{ closed, orientable, Riemannian surface of genus } m \} \] is unknown. The corresponding infimum for \( \displaystyle \frac{\text{Vol}(X,g)}{\text{sys}(X,g)^2}\) is called the systolic area in genus \(m\). It follows from the upper bound in (1) and the known upper bounds for the systolic area, that \[ 1 \leq \text{KVol}(m) \leq c \cdot \frac{ m}{\log(m)^2}. \] It follows from [\textit{M. G. Katz} and \textit{S. Sabourau}, Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 134, No. 4, 1189--1195 (2006; Zbl 1090.53045)], that \(\text{KVol}(2) \leq \frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}\). In this article the authors explore this invariant in the important case of translation surfaces of genus \(m=2\). They study the quantity \(\text{KVol}\) on the stratum \(\mathscr{H}(2)\) of translation surfaces of genus two with a single conical point. There they provide an explicit sequence \(L(n,n)\) of surfaces such that \(\text{KVol}(L(n, n))\) tends to two when \(n\) goes to infinity and conjecture that the infimum in \(\mathscr{H}(2)\) is equal to two. Interestingly, as shown in the companion article [the authors, ``Algebraic intersection for translation surfaces in a family of Teichmüller disks, Preprint, \url{arXiv:2007.10847}] in this stratum the surface \(M\) that realizes the infimum of the systolic area has \(\text{KVol}(M) = 3\), so the two infima are not realized by the same surface.











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