arXiv subjects

Ser Peow Tan

Publications and source records attributed to Ser Peow Tan.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Moments of the boundary hitting function for the geodesic flow on a hyperbolic manifold

In this paper we consider finite volume hyperbolic manifolds X with non-empty totally geodesic boundary. We consider the distribution of the times for the geodesic flow to hit the boundary and derive a formula for the moments of the associated random variable in terms of the orthospectrum. We show that the the first two moments correspond to two cases of known identities for the orthospectrum. We further obtain an explicit formula in terms of the trilogarithm functions for the average time for the geodesic flow to hit the boundary in the surface case, using the third moment.

math.GT↗

arXiv2012

McShane's Identity in Rank One Symmetric Spaces

In this paper we study McShane's identity in real and complex hyperbolic spaces and obtain various generalizations of the identity for representations of surface groups into the isometry groups of rank one symmetric spaces. Our methods unify most of the existing methods used in the existing literature for proving this class of identities.

math.GT↗

arXiv2011

On continuous expansions of configurations of points in Euclidean space

For any two configurations of ordered points $p=(p_{1},...,\p_{N})$ and $q=(q_{1},...,q_{N})$ in Euclidean space $E^d$ such that $q$ is an expansion of $p$, there exists a continuous expansion from $p$ to $q$ in dimension 2d; Bezdek and Connelly used this to prove the Kneser-Poulsen conjecture for the planar case. In this paper, we show that this construction is optimal in the sense that for any $d \ge 2$ there exists configurations of $(d+1)^2$ points $p$ and $q$ in $E^d$ such that $q$ is an expansion of $p$ but there is no continuous expansion from $p$ to $q$ in dimension less than 2d. The techniques used in our proof are completely elementary.

math.MG↗

arXiv2011

Delambre-Gauss Formulas for Augmented, Right-Angled Hexagons in Hyperbolic 4-Space

We study the geometry of oriented right-angled hexagons in H^4, the hyperbolic 4-space, via Clifford numbers or quaternions. We show how to augment alternate sides of such a hexagon so that for the non-augmented sides, we can define quaternion half side-lengths whose angular parts are obtained from half the Euler angles associated to a certain orientation-preserving isometry of the Euclidean 3-space. This generalizes the complex half side-lengths of oriented right-angled hexagons in H^3. We also define appropriate complex half side-lengths for the augmented sides of the hexagon. We further explain how to geometrically read off the quaternion half side-lengths for a given oriented,augmented, right-angled hexagon in H^4. Our main result is a set of generalized Delambre-Gauss formulas for oriented, augmented, right-angled hexagons in H^4, involving the quaternion half side-lengths and the complex half side-lengths. We also show in the appendix how the same method gives Delambre-Gauss formulas for oriented right-angled hexagons in H^3, from which the well-known sine and cosine laws can be deduced. These formulas generalize the classical Delambre-Gauss formulas for spherical/hyperbolic triangles.

math.GT↗

arXiv2006

A survey of length series identities for surfaces, % 3-manifolds and representation varieties

We survey some of our recent results on length series identities for hyperbolic (cone) surfaces, possibly with cusps and/or boundary geodesics; classical Schottky groups; representations/characters of the one-holed torus group to $SL(2, \mathbf C)$; and hyperbolic 3 manifolds obtained by hyperbolic Dehn surgery on punctured torus bundles over the circle. These can be regarded as generalizations and variations of McShane's identity for cusped hyperbolic surfaces, which has found some striking applications in the recent work of Mirzakhani. We discuss some of the methods and techniques used to obtain these identities.

math.GT↗

arXiv2006

The complement of the Bowditch space in the SL(2,C) character variety

Let ${\mathcal X}$ be the space of type-preserving $\SL(2,C)$ characters of the punctured torus $T$. The Bowditch space ${\mathcal X}_{BQ}$ is the largest open subset of ${\mathcal X}$ on which the mapping class group acts properly discontinuously, this is characterized by two simple conditions called the $BQ$-conditions. In this note, we show that $[ρ]$ is in the interior of the complement of ${\mathcal X}_{BQ}$ if there exists an essential simple closed curve $X$ on $T$ such that $|{\rm tr} ρ(X)|<0.5$.

math.GT↗

arXiv2005

End Invariants for $\SL(2,C)$ characters of the one-holed torus

We define and study the set ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$ of end invariants of a $\SL(2,C)$ character $ρ$ of the one-holed torus $T$. We show that the set ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$ is the entire projective lamination space $\mathscr{PL}$ of $T$ if and only if (i) $ρ$ corresponds to the dihedral representation, or (ii) $ρ$ is real and corresponds to a SU(2) representation; and that otherwise, ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$ is closed and has empty interior in $\mathscr{PL}$. For real characters $ρ$, we give a complete classification of ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$, and show that ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$ has either 0, 1 or infinitely many elements, and in the last case, ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$ is either a Cantor subset of $\mathscr{PL}$ or is $\mathscr{PL}$ itself. We also give a similar classification for "imaginary" characters where the trace of the commutator is less than 2. Finally, we show that for discrete characters (not corresponding to dihedral or SU(2) representations), ${\mathcal E}(ρ)$ is a Cantor subset of $\mathscr{PL}$ if it contains at least three elements.

math.GT↗

arXiv2005

The SL(2,C) character variety of the one-holed torus

In this note we announce several results concerning the SL(2,C) character variety ${\mathcal X}$ of the one-holed torus. We give a description of the largest open subset ${\mathcal X}_{BQ}$ of ${\mathcal X}$ on which the mapping class group $Γ$ acts properly discontinuously, in terms of two very simple conditions, and show that a series identity generalizing McShane's identity for the punctured torus holds for all characters in this subset. We also give variations of the McShane-Bowditch identities to characters fixed by an Anosov element of $Γ$ with applications to closed hyperbolic three manifolds. Finally we give a definition of end invariants for SL(2,C) characters and give a partial classification of the set of end invariants of a character in ${\mathcal X}$.

math.GT↗

arXiv2005

A simple proof of the Markoff conjecture for prime powers

We give a simple and independent proof of the result of Jack Button and Paul Schmutz that the Markoff conjecture on the uniqueness of the Markoff triples (a,b,c), where a, b, and c are in increasing order, holds whenever $c$ is a prime power.

math.NT↗

arXiv2005

Generalized Markoff Maps and McShane's Identity

We study general representations of the free group on two generators into $SL(2,C)$, and the connection with generalized Markoff maps, following Bowditch. We show that Bowditch's Q-conditions for generalized Markoff maps are sufficient for the generalized McShane identity to hold for the corresponding representations and that the subset of representations satisfying these conditions is the largest open subset in the relative character variety on which the mapping class group acts properly discontinuously. Moreover we generalize Bowditch's results on variations of McShane's identity for complete, finite volume hyperbolic 3-manifolds which fiber over the circle, with the fiber a punctured-torus, to identities for incomplete hyperbolic structures on such manifolds, hence obtaining identities for closed hyperbolic 3-manifolds which are obtained by doing hyperbolic Dehn surgery on such manifolds.

math.GT↗

arXiv2005

Necessary and sufficient conditions for McShane's identity and variations

Greg McShane introduced a remarkable identity for lengths of simple closed geodesics on the once punctured torus with a complete, finite volume hyperbolic structure. Bowditch later generalized this and gave sufficient conditions for the identity to hold for general type-preserving representations of a free group on two generators Γto SL(2,C). In this note we extend Bowditch's result by giving necessary and sufficient conditions for the identity to hold, and also for the generalized McShane identity to hold for arbitrary (not necessarily type preserving) representations. We also give a version of Bowditch's variation of McShane's identity to once-punctured torus bundles, to the case where the monodromy is generated by a reducible element, and provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the variation to hold.

math.GT↗

arXiv2004

McShane's identity for classical Schottky Groups

Greg McShane introduced a remarkable identity for the lengths of simple closed geodesics on cusped hyperbolic surfaces. This was subsequently generalized by the authors to hyperbolic cone-surfaces, possibly with cusps and/or geodesic boundary. In this paper, we generalize the identity further to the case of classical Schottky groups. As a consequence, we obtain some surprising new identities in the case of fuchsian Schottky groups. For classical Schottky groups of rank 2, we also give generalizations of the Weierstrass identities, first given by McShane.

math.GT↗

arXiv2004

Generalizations of McShane's identity to hyperbolic cone-surfaces

We generalize McShane's identity for the length series of simple closed geodesics on a cusped hyperbolic surface to hyperbolic cone-surfaces (with all cone angles $\le π$), possibly with cusps and/or geodesic boundary. In particular, by applying the generalized identity to the orbifolds obtained from taking the quotient of the one-holed torus by its elliptic involution, and the closed genus two surface by its hyper-elliptic involution, we obtain generalizations of the Weierstrass identities for the one-holed torus, and identities for the genus two surface, also obtained by McShane using different methods. We also give an interpretation of the identity in terms of complex lengths, gaps, and the direct visual measure of the boundary.

math.GT↗

arXiv2003

Circle packings on surfaces with projective structures and uniformization

Let Σ_g be a closed orientable surface of genus g \geq 2 and τa graph on Σ_g with one vertex which lifts to a triangulation of the universal cover. We have shown that the cross ratio parameter space \mathcal{C}_τassociated with τ, which can be identified with the set of all pairs of a projective structure and a circle packing on it with nerve isotopic to τ, is homeomorphic to \mathbb{R}^{6g-6}, and moreover that the forgetting map of \mathcal{C}_τto the space of projective structures is injective. In this paper, we show that the composition of the forgetting map with the uniformization from \mathcal{C}_τto the Teichmüller space \mathcal{T}_g is proper.

math.GT↗

arXiv2001

Circle packings on surfaces with projective structures

The Andreev-Thurston theorem states that for any triangulation of a closed orientable surface Σ_g of genus g which is covered by a simple graph in the universal cover, there exists a unique metric of curvature 1, 0 or -1 on the surface depending on whether g=0, 1 or \ge 2 such that the surface with this metric admits a circle packing with combinatorics given by the triangulation. Furthermore, the circle packing is essentially rigid, that is, unique up to conformal automorphisms of the surface isotopic to the identity. In this paper, we consider projective structures on the surface Σ_g where circle packings are also defined. We show that the space of projective structures on a surface of genus g \ge 2 which admits a circle packing by one circle is homeomorphic to R^{6g-6} and furthermore that the circle packing is rigid on such surfaces.

math.GT↗