Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2605.26777

The combinatorial structure of the unit tangent spheres and cotangent spheres of Teichm{ü}ller space with Thurston's Finsler metric

Ken'Ichi Ohshika·Athanase Papadopoulos
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

We prove several new results on the combinatorial structures of the unit spheres of the norms induced by Thurston's metric on the tangent and cotangent spaces of the Teichm{ü}ller space of a closed surface of negative Euler characteristic. These results include a formula for the dimension of every face of a unit sphere in the tangent space in terms of an invariant of the chain-recurrent lamination representing the face. We then prove that the combinatorial structure of such a unit sphere is independent of the underlying point in Teichm{ü}ller space. Provided the genus of the surface is $\ge$ 2, we show that there is a natural isomorphism between the extended mapping class group of the surface and the group of combinatorial automorphisms of such a unit sphere. In the case of genus 2, we obtain a natural epimorphism between the two groups whose kernel is the class of the hyperelliptic involution. Regarding the unit spheres of Thurston's metric in the cotangent spaces, we obtain a formula describing the codimensions of faces of such a sphere in terms of corresponding projective measured laminations. We then give a necessary and sufficient condition for a face to be exposed, and of a face to correspond to a projectively weighted multi-curve. Some of the results obtained answer open questions.

Explore related subjects

math.GT

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Ken'Ichi Ohshika, Athanase Papadopoulos. 2026-05-26. The combinatorial structure of the unit tangent spheres and cotangent spheres of Teichm{ü}ller space with Thurston's Finsler metric. https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.26777

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

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↗
arXiv2026

Every Link Has Infinitely Many Explicit Generalised T-Link Presentations

Generalised $T$-links provide a simple description of all links in $S^3$ as closures of products of standard twisting blocks, parametrised by finite sequences of integers. We prove that every link admits infinitely many pairwise distinct generalised $T$-link presentations. Starting from any such presentation, we give explicit parameter transformations that preserve the represented link and generate families of pairwise distinct presentations depending on arbitrarily many independent integer parameters.

math.GT↗