Exponential volumes of moduli spaces of hyperbolic surfaces

Abstract

A decorated surface S is an oriented topological surface with marked points on the boundary considered modulo the isotopy. We consider the moduli space of hyperbolic structures on S with geodesic boundary, such that the hyperbolic structure near each marked point is a cusp, equipped with a horocycle. This space carries a volume form. Let us fix the set K of distances between the horocycles at the adjacent cusps, and the set L of lengths of boundary circles without cusps. We get a subspace M(S; K,L) with the induced volume form Vol(K,L). However, if the cusps are present, the volume of the space M(S; K,L) is infinite. We introduce the exponential volume form exp(-W)Vol(K,L), where W is a positive function on the moduli space, given by the sum over cusps of the hyperbolic areas enclosed between the cusp and the horocycle at the cusp. We prove that the exponential volume, defined as the integral of the exponential volume form over the moduli space M(S; K,L), is always finite. We suggest that the moduli spaces M(S; K,L) with the exponential volume forms are the true analogs of the classical moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces, with the Weil-Petersson volume forms. In particular, they should be relevant to the open string theory. We support this by proving an unfolding formula for the integrals of measurable functions multiplied by the exponential volume form. It expresses them as finite sums of similar integrals over moduli spaces for simpler surfaces. They generalise Mirzakhani's recursions for the volumes of moduli spaces of hyperbolic surfaces. We show that exponential volumes for elementary decorated surfaces give rise to a commutative algebra E, which we call the positive Hecke-Whittaker algebra for PGL(2,R). Exponential volumes for all decorated surfaces and unfolding formulas extend the algebra E to all decorated surfaces.