Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2605.12572

Chewing gums, snakes and candle cakes

Benedetta Facciotti·Marta Mazzocco·Nikita Nikolaev
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

The aim of these lecture notes, based on lectures given by the second author at the CIME school in Cetraro, is to illustrate a range of ideas surrounding higher Teichmuller spaces of Riemann surfaces with marked boundaries through explicit and computationally tractable examples. After reviewing the classical Teichmuller space of hyperbolic Riemann surfaces with boundary and its combinatorial description in terms of Thurston shear coordinates on a fat-graph, we explain how the bordered cusped Teichmuller space arises as a confluent limit when two boundary components in the Riemann surface collide via the so-called chewing-gum move giving rise to a candle cake. We then revisit these constructions from the Fock-Goncharov perspective, explaining snake calculus for transport matrices in PSL_n(R) and explain how the chewing gum move is the inverse of amalgamation. Rather than focusing on formal proofs, our goal is to illustrate the underlying theorems and constructions in a concrete and intuitive way.

Explore related subjects

math.GTmath-phmath.MP

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Benedetta Facciotti, Marta Mazzocco, Nikita Nikolaev. 2026-05-12. Chewing gums, snakes and candle cakes. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.12572

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Word Length Formulae, Normal Forms, Conjugation and Root-finding Algorithms in Surface Groups

In this paper, we mainly study the following symmetric presentation of the surface group $$π_1(Σ_g)=\left\langle c_1,\dots, c_{2g}\mid c_1\cdots c_{2g}c_1^{-1}\cdots c_{2g}^{-1}\right\rangle.$$ For every nontrivial element $x\in π_1(Σ_g)$ and $k\geq 2$, we obtain a uniform representative of the normal forms $\mathfrak{nf}(x^k)$ of $x^k$ under the length-lexicographical order: $$\mathfrak{nf}(x^k) = \overline{LW^{k-2}R}.$$ Building on this result, we establish a new relation among these normal forms, and then derive the following three formulae related to the word length: $|x^2|>|x|$; $|x^k|=(k-1)(|x^2|-|x|)+|x|$; $\lim_{k\to\infty}\frac{|x^k|}{k}=|x^2|-|x|$. Furthermore, we extend these results to obtain a coarser analogue for every minimal geometric presentation. We then define normal forms of conjugacy classes in $π_1(Σ_g)$ and provide a criterion for determining the conjugacy of group elements. As a consequence, we provide efficient algorithms for solving the root-finding and conjugacy problems. Finally, we present applications to the computation of several growth rates.

math.GT↗
arXiv2026

Barbell twists are natural

For any oriented smooth $4$--manifold $X$ diffeomorphic to $(S^2\times D^2)^{\natural n}$ ($n\geq0$), the author establishes a natural isomorphism of abelian groups: $$\mathrm{Mod}(X,\partial X)\cong \mathrm{Mod}(D^4,\partial D^4)\times\wedge^2H_2(X;\mathbb{Z}),$$ concerning the (smooth) boundary-fixing mapping class group of $X$. For $n=2$, the Budney--Gabai barbell twist $φ\in\mathrm{Mod}(\mathcal{N},\partial\mathcal{N})$ is identified with a generator of the factor subgroup $\wedge^2H_2(\mathcal{N};\mathbb{Z})\cong\mathbb{Z}$. Up to boundary-fixing diffeotopy, the barbell spines of $\mathcal{N}$ are completely classified by the bases of $H_2(\mathcal{N};\mathbb{Z})\cong\mathbb{Z}^2$, forming a homogeneous set modeled on the group $\mathrm{GL}(H_2(\mathcal{N};\mathbb{Z}))\cong\mathrm{GL}(2,\mathbb{Z})$. Any barbell spine of $\mathcal{N}$ gives rise to an implanted barbell twist equal to $φ$ or $φ^{-1}$ in $\mathrm{Mod}(\mathcal{N},\partial \mathcal{N})$, according to the sign of the homological basis orientation.

math.GT↗
arXiv2026

Plane separating continua inscribe rectangles

We prove the following: If $X$ is a plane separating continuum, then every embedding of $X$ into $\mathbb{R}^2$ contains the vertices of a Euclidean rectangle. We arrive to this result by extending a known result by H. Vaughan for Jordan curves to a wider class of topological objects via shape theory and Steenrod homology.

math.GT↗