arXiv subjects

Peter Smillie

Publications and source records attributed to Peter Smillie.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Harmonic maps to Hadamard spaces and a universal higher Teichm\"{u}ller space

We give a sufficient criterion, which we call stability, for a coarse Lipschitz map $f$ from a complete manifold $X$ with Ricci curvature bounded below to a proper Hadamard space $Y$ to be within bounded distance of a harmonic map. We prove uniqueness of the harmonic map under additional assumptions on $X$ and $Y$. Using this criterion, we prove a significant generalization of the Schoen-Li-Wang conjecture on quasi-isometric embeddings between rank 1 symmetric spaces. In particular, under a natural generalization of the quasi-isometric condition, we remove the assumption that the target has rank 1. This allows us to define a universal Hitchin component for each $\mathrm{PGL}_d(\mathbb{R})$, generalizing universal Teichm\"uller space, and show that it can be described both as a space of quasi-symmetric positive maps from $\mathbb{RP}^1$ to the flag variety, and as a space of harmonic maps.

math.DG↗

arXiv2025

Local asymptotics for Hitchin's equations and high energy harmonic maps

We find new estimates and a new asymptotic decoupling phenomenon for solutions to Hitchin's self-duality equations at high energy. These generalize previous results for generically regular semisimple Higgs bundles to arbitrary Higgs bundles. We apply our estimates to the Hitchin WKB problem and to high energy harmonic maps to symmetric spaces and buildings.

math.DG↗

arXiv2023

Horospherical dynamics in invariant subvarieties

We consider the horospherical foliation on any invariant subvariety in the moduli space of translation surfaces. This foliation can be described dynamically as the strong unstable foliation for the geodesic flow on the invariant subvariety, and geometrically, it is induced by the canonical splitting of $\mathbb{C}$-valued cohomology into its real and imaginary parts. We define a natural volume form on the leaves of this foliation, and define horospherical measures as those measures whose conditional measures on leaves are given by the volume form. We show that the natural measures on invariant subvarieties, and in particular, the Masur-Veech measures on strata, are horospherical. We show that these measures are the unique horospherical measures giving zero mass to the set of surfaces with no horizontal saddle connections, extending work of Lindenstrauss-Mirzakhani and Hamenstaedt for principal strata. We describe all the leaf closures for the horospherical foliation.

math.DS↗

arXiv2023

Exact enumeration of fullerenes

A fullerene, or buckyball, is a trivalent graph on the sphere with only pentagonal and hexagonal faces. Building on ideas of Thurston, we use modular forms to give an exact formula for the number of oriented fullerenes with a given number of vertices.

math.GT↗

arXiv2022

Unstable minimal surfaces in symmetric spaces of non-compact type

We prove that if $\Sigma$ is a closed surface of genus at least 3 and $G$ is a split real semisimple Lie group of rank at least $3$ acting faithfully by isometries on a symmetric space $N$, then there exists a Hitchin representation $\rho:\pi_1(\Sigma)\to G$ and a $\rho$-equivariant unstable minimal map from the universal cover of $\Sigma$ to $N$. This follows from a new lower bound on the index of high energy minimal maps into an arbitrary symmetric space of non-compact type. Taking $G=\mathrm{PSL}(n,\mathbb{R})$, $n\geq 4$, this disproves the Labourie conjecture.

math.DG↗

arXiv2022

Completeness of convex entire surfaces in Minkowski 3-space

We prove four results towards a description, in terms of the null support function, of the set of isometric embeddings of the hyperbolic plane into Minkowski 3-space. We show that for sufficiently tame null support function, the corresponding entire surface of constant curvature -1 is complete, and for sufficiently sharp null support function, it is incomplete. Our results apply also to entire surfaces whose curvature is merely bounded.

math.DG↗

arXiv2022

Unstable minimal surfaces in $\mathbb{R}^n$ and in products of hyperbolic surfaces

We prove that every unstable equivariant minimal surface in $\mathbb{R}^n$ produces a maximal representation of a surface group into $\prod_{i=1}^n\textrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$ together with an unstable minimal surface in the corresponding product of closed hyperbolic surfaces. To do so, we lift the surface in $\mathbb{R}^n$ to a surface in a product of $\mathbb{R}$-trees, then deform to a surface in a product of closed hyperbolic surfaces. We show that instability in one context implies instability in the other two.

math.DG↗

arXiv2019

Complete CMC hypersurfaces in Minkowski (n+1)-space

We prove that any regular domain in Minkowski space is uniquely foliated by spacelike constant mean curvature (CMC) hypersurfaces. This completes the classification of entire spacelike CMC hypersurfaces in Minkowski space initiated by Choi and Treibergs. As an application, we prove that any entire surface of constant Gaussian curvature in 2+1 dimensions is isometric to a straight convex domain in the hyperbolic plane.

math.DG↗

arXiv2018

Entire surfaces of constant curvature in Minkowski 3-space

This paper concerns the global theory of properly embedded spacelike surfaces in three-dimensional Minkowski space in relation to their Gaussian curvature. We prove that every regular domain which is not a wedge is uniquely foliated by properly embedded convex surfaces of constant Gaussian curvature. This is a consequence of our classification of surfaces with bounded prescribed Gaussian curvature, sometimes called the Minkowski problem, for which partial results were obtained by Li, Guan-Jian-Schoen, and Bonsante-Seppi. Some applications to minimal Lagrangian self-maps of the hyperbolic plane are obtained.

math.DG↗

arXiv2018

On the bordification of outer space

We give a simple construction of an equivariant deformation retract of Outer space which is homeomorphic to the Bestvina-Feighn bordification. This results in a much easier proof that the bordification is (2n-5)-connected at infinity, and hence that $Out(F_n)$ is a virtual duality group.

math.GR↗

arXiv2018

The number of convex tilings of the sphere by triangles, squares, or hexagons

A tiling of the sphere by triangles, squares, or hexagons is convex if every vertex has at most 6, 4, or 3 polygons adjacent to it, respectively. Assigning an appropriate weight to any tiling, our main result is explicit formulas for the weighted number of convex tilings with a given number of tiles. To prove these formulas, we build on work of Thurston, who showed that the convex triangulations correspond to orbits of vectors of positive norm in a Hermitian lattice $Λ\subset \mathbb{C}^{1,9}$. First, we extend this result to convex square- and hexagon-tilings. Then, we explicitly compute the relevant lattice $Λ$. Next, we integrate the Siegel theta function for $Λ$ to produce a modular form whose Fourier coefficients encode the weighted number of tilings. Finally, we determine the formulas using finite-dimensionality of spaces of modular forms.

math.GT↗