arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Kasra Rafi.
We provide the first non-trivial examples of quasi-isometric embeddings between curve complexes. These are induced either by puncturing a closed surface or via orbifold coverings. As a corollary, we give new quasi-isometric embeddings between mapping class groups.
For two measured laminations $ν^+$ and $ν^-$ that fill up a hyperbolizable surface $S$ and for $t \in (-\infty, \infty)$, let $L_t$ be the unique hyperbolic surface that minimizes the length function $e^t l(ν^+) + e^{-t} l(ν^-)$ on Teichmuller space. We characterize the curves that are short in $L_t$ and estimate their lengths. We find that the short curves coincide with the curves that are short in the surface $G_t$ on the Teichmuller geodesic whose horizontal and vertical foliations are respectively, $e^t ν^+$ and $e^{-t} ν^-$. By deriving additional information about the twists of $ν^+$ and $ν^-$ around the short curves, we estimate the Teichmuller distance between $L_t$ and $G_t$. We deduce that this distance can be arbitrarily large, but that if $S$ is a once-punctured torus or four-times-punctured sphere, the distance is bounded independently of $t$.
We study the Lipschitz metric on Teichmuller space (defined by Thurston) and compare it with the Teichmuller metric. We show that in the thin part of Teichmuller space the Lipschitz metric is approximated up to bounded additive distortion by the sup metric on a product of lower-dimensional spaces (similar to the Teichmuller metric as shown by Minsky), and in the thick part, the two metrics are comparable within additive error. However, these metrics are not comparable in general; we construct a sequence of pairs of points in Teichmuller space whose distances approach zero in the Lipschitz metric while they approach infinity in the Teichmuller metric.
We study how the length and the twisting parameter of a curve change along a Teichmuller geodesic. We then use our results to provide a formula for the Teichmuller distance between two hyperbolic metrics on a surface, in terms of the combinatorial complexity of curves of bounded lengths in these two metrics.
We provide a combinatorial condition characterizing curves that are short along a Teichmueller geodesic. This condition is closely related to the condition provided by Minsky for curves in a hyperbolic 3-manifold to be short. We show that short curves in a hyperbolic manifold homeomorphic to S x R are also short in the corresponding Teichmueller geodesic, and we provide examples demonstrating that the converse is not true.