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Scott A. Wolpert

Publications and source records attributed to Scott A. Wolpert.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2020

The Hilbert area of inscribed triangles and quadrilaterals

Hilbert volume is an invariant of real projective geometry. Polygons inscribed in polygons are considered for the real projective plane. The correspondence between Fock-Goncharov and Cartesian coordinates is examined. Degeneration and Hilbert area of inscribed quadrilaterals are analyzed. A microlocal condition is developed for bounded Hilbert area under degeneration. The condition is applied to give a sequence of strictly convex domains with bounded Hilbert area and divergent Goldman parameters.

math.GT↗
arXiv2019

The vanishing rate of Weil-Petersson sectional curvatures

The Weil-Petersson metric for the moduli space of Riemann surfaces has negative sectional curvature. Surfaces represented in the complement of a compact set in the moduli space have short geodesics. At such surfaces the Weil-Petersson metric is approximately a product metric. An almost product metric has sections with almost vanishing curvature. We bound the sectional curvature away from zero in terms of the product of lengths of short geodesics on Riemann surfaces. We give examples and an expectation for the actual vanishing rate.

math.DG↗
arXiv2016

Equiboundedness of the Weil-Petersson metric

Uniform bounds are developed for derivatives of solutions of the $2$-dimensional constant negative curvature equation and the Weil-Petersson metric for the Teichmüller and moduli spaces. The dependence of the bounds on the geometry of the underlying Riemann surface is studied. The comparisons between the $C^0$, $C^{2,α}$ and $L^2$ norms for harmonic Beltrami differentials are analyzed. Uniform bounds are given for the covariant derivatives of the Weil-Petersson curvature tensor in terms of the systoles of the underlying Riemann surfaces and the projections of the differentiation directions onto {\it pinching directions}. The main analysis combines Schauder and potential theory estimates with the analytic implicit function theorem.

math.GT↗
arXiv2015

Schiffer variations and Abelian differentials

Deformations of compact Riemann surfaces are considered using a Čech cohomology sliding overlaps approach. Cocycles are calculated for conformal cutting and regluing deformations at zeros of Abelian differentials. A second order deformation expansion is presented for the Riemann period matrix. A complete deformation expansion is presented for Abelian differentials. Schiffer's kernel function approach for deformations of a Green's function is followed.

math.GT↗
arXiv2013

Products of twists, geodesic-lengths and Thurston shears

Thurston introduced shear deformations (cataclysms) on geodesic laminations - deformations including left and right displacements along geodesics. For hyperbolic surfaces with cusps, we consider shear deformations on disjoint unions of ideal geodesics. The length of a balanced weighted sum of ideal geodesics is defined and the Weil-Petersson (WP) duality of shears and the defined length is established. The Poisson bracket of a pair of balanced weight systems on a set of disjoint ideal geodesics is given in terms of an elementary 2-form. The symplectic geometry of balanced weight systems on ideal geodesics is developed. Equality of the Fock shear coordinate algebra and the WP Poisson algebra is established. The formula for the WP Riemannian pairing of shears is also presented.

math.GT↗
arXiv2012

Infinitesimal deformations of nodal stable curves

An analytic approach and description are presented for the moduli cotangent sheaf for suitable stable curve families including noded fibers. For sections of the square of the relative dualizing sheaf, the residue map at a node gives rise to an exact sequence. The residue kernel defines the vanishing residue subsheaf. For suitable stable curve families, the direct image sheaf on the base is locally free and the sequence of direct images is exact. Recent work of Hubbard-Koch and a formal argument provide that the direct image sheaf is naturally identified with the moduli cotangent sheaf. The result generalizes the role of holomorphic quadratic differentials as cotangents for smooth curve families. Formulas are developed for the pairing of an infinitesimal opening of a node and a section of the direct image sheaf. Applications include an analytic description of the conormal sheaf for the locus of noded stable curves and a formula comparing infinitesimal openings of a node. The moduli action of the automorphism group of a stable curve is described. An example of plumbing an Abelian differential and the corresponding period variation is presented.

math.GT↗
arXiv2012

Families of Riemann surfaces and Weil-Petersson geometry

A 2008 general overview on Weil-Petersson geometry is offered. A preliminary plan for the subsequent CBMS lectures at Central Connecticut State University is included. Mirzakhani's solution of Witten-Kontsevich is not included - this work essentially requires its own lectures. Lectures on Mirzakhani's Witten-Kontsevich were given at the 2011 Park City Mathematics Institute. Research on WP geometry coming after 2008 includes the Brock-Masur-Minsky second paper, Asymptotics of WP geodesics II: bounded geometry and unbounded entropy; the Burns-Masur-Wilkinson, The WP geodesic flow is ergodic; and the Wolpert, Geodesic-Length Functions and the WP curvature tensor.

math.DG↗
arXiv2011

On families of holomorphic differentials on degenerating annuli

We consider the local analytic behavior for a family of holomorphic differentials on a family of degenerating annuli. Three results and discussion are presented. The first is the normal families Lemma 1. The second is an isomorphism of sheaves, formula (3), giving a direct description of families of regular $k$-differentials (sections of powers of the relative dualizing sheaf) in terms of $k$-canonical forms on the total space of the family. The third is a general holomorphic extension property, Lemma 3, for families given on smooth Riemann surfaces/curves to extend to the limiting nodal Riemann surfaces/curves. Divisors of families of holomorphic differentials are also discussed.

math.GT↗
arXiv2011

Geodesic-length functions and the Weil-Petersson curvature tensor

An expansion is developed for the Weil-Petersson Riemann curvature tensor in the thin region of the Teichmüller and moduli spaces. The tensor is evaluated on the gradients of geodesic-lengths for disjoint geodesics. A precise lower bound for sectional curvature in terms of the surface systole is presented. The curvature tensor expansion is applied to establish continuity properties at the frontier strata of the augmented Teichmüller space. The curvature tensor has the asymptotic product structure already observed for the metric and covariant derivative. The product structure is combined with the earlier negative sectional curvature results to establish a classification of asymptotic flats. Furthermore, tangent subspaces of more than half the dimension of Teichmüller space contain sections with a definite amount of negative curvature. Proofs combine estimates for uniformization group exponential-distance sums and potential theory bounds.

math.DG↗
arXiv2011

Lectures and notes: Mirzakhani's volume recursion and approach for the Witten-Kontsevich theorem on moduli tautological intersection numbers

The materials accompany a lecture short course presented at the 2011 Park City Mathematics Institute, Graduate Summer School on Moduli Spaces of Riemann Surfaces. The lectures were part of/coordinated with an overall program, including lectures by Ursula Hamenstadt on Teichmueller Theory, Andy Putman on Mapping Class and Torelli Groups, and Carel Faber on Tautological algebras of Moduli Spaces.

math.DG↗
arXiv2009

Topological dynamics of the Weil-Petersson geodesic flow

We prove topological transitivity for the Weil Petersson geodesic flow for two-dimensional moduli spaces of hyperbolic structures. Our proof follows a new approach that exploits the density of singular unit tangent vectors, the geometry of cusps and convexity properties of negative curvature. We also show that the Weil Petersson geodesic flow has: horseshoes, invariant sets with positive topological entropy, and that there are infinitely many hyperbolic closed geodesics, whose number grows exponentially in length. Furthermore, we note that the volume entropy is infinite.

math.DS↗
arXiv2009

A cofinite universal space for proper actions for mapping class groups

We prove that the mapping class group $Γ_{g,n}$ for surfaces of negative Euler characteristic has a cofinite universal space $\E$ for proper actions (the resulting quotient is a finite $CW$-complex). The approach is to construct a truncated Teichmueller space $\T_{g,n}(ε)$ by introducing a lower bound for the length of shortest closed geodesics and showing that $\T_{g,n}(ε)$ is a $Γ_{g,n}$ equivariant deformation retract of the Teichmueller space $\T_{g, n}$. The existence of such a cofinite universal space is important in the study of the cohomology of the group $\gag$. As an application, we note that there are only finitely many conjugacy classes of finite subgroups of $Γ_{g,n}$. Another application is that the rational Novikov conjecture in K-theory holds for $Γ_{g,n}$.

math.GT↗
arXiv2008

Understanding Weil-Petersson curvature

A brief history of the investigation of the Weil-Petersson curvature and a summary of Teichmüller theory are provided. A report is presented on the program to describe an intrinsic geometry with the Weil-Petersson metric and geodesic-length functions. Formulas for the metric, covariant derivative and formulas for the curvature tensor are presented. A discussion of methods is included. Recent and new applications are sketched, including results from the work of Liu-Sun-Yau, an examination of the Yamada model metric and a description of Jacobi fields along geodesics to the boundary.

math.DG↗
arXiv2008

Grafting hyperbolic metrics and Eisenstein series

The family hyperbolic metric for the plumbing variety $\{zw=t\}$ and the non holomorphic Eisenstein series $E(ζ;2)$ are combined to provide an explicit expansion for the hyperbolic metrics for degenerating families of Riemann surfaces. Applications include an asymptotic expansion for the Weil-Petersson metric and a local form of symplectic reduction.

math.CV↗
arXiv2008

Behavior of geodesic-length functions on Teichmueller space

Let $\mathcal T$ be the Teichmüller space of marked genus $g$, $n$ punctured Riemann surfaces with its bordification $\Tbar$ the {\em augmented Teichmüller space} of marked Riemann surfaces with nodes, \cite{Abdegn, Bersdeg}. Provided with the WP metric $\Tbar$ is a complete CAT(0) metric space, \cite{DW2, Wlcomp, Yam2}. An invariant of a marked hyperbolic structure is the length $\ell_α$ of the geodesic $α$ in a free homotopy class. A basic feature of Teichmüller theory is the interplay of two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry, Weil-Petersson (WP) geometry and the behavior of geodesic-length functions. Our goal is to develop the understanding of the intrinsic local WP geometry through a study of the gradient and Hessian of geodesic-length functions. Considerations include expansions for the WP pairing of gradients, expansions for the Hessian and covariant derivative, comparability models for the WP metric, as well as the behavior of WP geodesics including a description of the Alexandrov tangent cone at the augmentation. Approximations and applications for geodesics close to the augmentation are developed. An application for fixed points of group actions is described. Bounding configurations and functions on the hyperbolic plane is basic to our approach. Considerations include analyzing the orbit of a discrete group of isometries and bounding sums of the inverse square exponential-distance.

math.DG↗
arXiv2007

The Weil-Petersson metric geometry

A summary introduction of the Weil-Petersson metric space geometry is presented. Teichmueller space and its augmentation are described in terms of Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates. Formulas for the gradients and Hessians of geodesic-length functions are presented. Applications are considered. A description of the Weil-Petersson metric in Fenchel-Nielsen coordinates is presented. The Alexandrov tangent cone at points of the augmentation is described. A comparison dictionary is presented between the geometry of the space of flat tori and Teichmueller space with the Weil-Petersson metric.

math.DG↗
arXiv2007

Extension of the Weil-Petersson connection

Convexity properties of Weil-Petersson geodesics on the Teichmüller space of punctured Riemann surfaces are investigated. A normal form is presented for the Weil-Petersson Levi-Civita connection for pinched hyperbolic metrics. The normal form is used to establish approximation of geodesics in boundary spaces. Considerations are combined to establish convexity along Weil-Petersson geodesics of the functions the distance between horocycles for a hyperbolic metric.

math.DG↗