Harmonic maps and the geometry of Teichmuller space

dc.contributor.advisorWolf, Michaelen_US
dc.creatorHuang, Zhengen_US
dc.date.accessioned2009-06-04T08:16:29Zen_US
dc.date.available2009-06-04T08:16:29Zen_US
dc.date.issued2004en_US
dc.description.abstractIn this thesis work, we investigate the asymptotic behavior of the sectional curvatures of the Weil-Petersson metric on Teichmuller space. It is known that the sectional curvatures are negative. Our method is to investigate harmonic maps from a nearly noded surface to nearby hyperbolic structures, hence to study the Hopf differentials associated to harmonic maps and the analytic formulas resulting from the harmonicity of the maps. Besides providing a quantitative result, our estimates imply that even though the sectional curvatures are negative, they are not staying away from zero. In other words, we show that when the complex dimension of Teichmuller space T is greater than one, then there is no negative upper bound for the sectional curvature of the Weil-Petersson metric. During the proof, we also give the explicit description of a family of tangent planes which are asymptotically flat.en_US
dc.format.extent47 p.en_US
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen_US
dc.identifier.callnoTHESIS MATH. 2004 HUANGen_US
dc.identifier.citationHuang, Zheng. "Harmonic maps and the geometry of Teichmuller space." (2004) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18643">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/18643</a>.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/18643en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.en_US
dc.subjectMathematicsen_US
dc.titleHarmonic maps and the geometry of Teichmuller spaceen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.type.materialTexten_US
thesis.degree.departmentMathematicsen_US
thesis.degree.disciplineNatural Sciencesen_US
thesis.degree.grantorRice Universityen_US
thesis.degree.levelDoctoralen_US
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophyen_US
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