SQUARE-INTEGRABILITY OF THE MIRZAKHANI FUNCTION AND STATISTICS OF SIMPLE CLOSED GEODESICS ON HYPERBOLIC SURFACES

Given integers $g,n\geqslant 0$ satisfying $2-2g-n<0$ , let ${\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ be the moduli space of connected, oriented, complete, finite area hyperbolic surfaces of genus $g$ with $n$ cusps. We study the global behavior of the Mirzakhani function $B:{\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}\rightarrow \mathbf{R}_{{\geqslant}0}$ which assigns to $X\in {\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ the Thurston measure of the set of measured geodesic laminations on $X$ of hyperbolic length ${\leqslant}1$ . We improve bounds of Mirzakhani describing the behavior of this function near the cusp of ${\mathcal{M}}_{g,n}$ and deduce that $B$ is square-integrable with respect to the Weil–Petersson volume form. We relate this knowledge of $B$ to statistics of counting problems for simple closed hyperbolic geodesics.

Endperiodic automorphisms of surfaces and foliations

We extend the unpublished work of Handel and Miller on the classification, up to isotopy, of endperiodic automorphisms of surfaces. We give the Handel–Miller construction of the geodesic laminations, give an axiomatic theory for pseudo-geodesic laminations, show that the geodesic laminations satisfy the axioms, and prove that pseudo-geodesic laminations satisfying our axioms are ambiently isotopic to the geodesic laminations. The axiomatic approach allows us to show that the given endperiodic automorphism is isotopic to a smooth endperiodic automorphism preserving smooth laminations ambiently isotopic to the original ones. Using the axioms, we also prove the ‘transfer theorem’ for foliations of 3-manifolds, namely that, if two depth-one foliations ${\mathcal{F}}$ and ${\mathcal{F}}^{\prime }$ are transverse to a common one-dimensional foliation ${\mathcal{L}}$ whose monodromy on the non-compact leaves of ${\mathcal{F}}$ exhibits the nice dynamics of Handel–Miller theory, then ${\mathcal{L}}$ also induces monodromy on the non-compact leaves of ${\mathcal{F}}^{\prime }$ exhibiting the same nice dynamics. Our theory also applies to surfaces with infinitely many ends.

Thurston's Proof

This chapter describes Thurston's original path of discovery to the Nielsen–Thurston classification theorem. It first provides an example that illustrates much of the general theory, focusing on Thurston's iteration of homeomorphisms on simple closed curves as well as the linear algebra of train tracks. It then explains how the general theory works and presents Thurston's original proof of the Nielsen–Thurston classification. In particular, it considers the Teichmüller space and the measured foliation space. The chapter also discusses measured foliations on a pair of pants, global coordinates for measured foliation space, the Brouwer fixed point theorem, the Thurston compactification for the torus, and Markov partitions. Finally, it evaluates other approaches to proving the Nielsen–Thurston classification, including the use of geodesic laminations.

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.