Dehn twists and products of mapping classes of riemann surfaces with one puncture

Abstract

Let S be a Riemann surface that contains one puncture x. Let ℐ be the collection of simple closed geodesics on S, and let ℱ denote the set of mapping classes on S isotopic to the identity on S ∪ {x}. Denote by t _c the positive Dehn twist about a curve c ∈ ℐ. In this paper, the author studies the products of forms (t _b ^−m ∘ t _a ⁿ) ∘ f ^k, where a, b ∈ ℐ and f ∈ ℱ. It is easy to see that if a = b or a, b are boundary components of an x-punctured cylinder on S, then one may find an element f ∈ ℱ such that the sequence (t _b ^−m ∘ t _n ^a) ∘ f ^k contains infinitely many powers of Dehn twists. The author shows that the converse statement remains true, that is, if the sequence (t _b ^−m ∘ t _a ⁿ) ∘ f ^k contains infinitely many powers of Dehn twists, then a, b must be the boundary components of an x-punctured cylinder on S and f is a power of the spin map t _b ⁻¹ ∘ t _a.

Keywords

Riemann surfaces / Simple closed geodesics / Dehn twists / Products / Bers isomorphisms

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