arXiv research

The study investigates how branch points affect the shape and mechanics of hyperbolic surfaces.

Paper finds new realizable data for maps with three branch points.

Attempts to build a discrete theory for rational maps on the sphere via circle packing have foundered on discretization effects in locating branch points. The authors remove this impediment by introducing generalized branch points. A generalized branch point need no longer be attached to an individual circle, but with …

We prove that if S is a closed compact surface of negative Euler characteristic, and if R is a quasi-Fuchsian representation in PSL(2,C), then the deformation space M(k,R) of branched projective structures on S with total branching order k and holonomy R is connected, as soon as k>0. Equivalently, two branched projecti…

We desingularize a branch point $p$ of a minimal disk $F_0(\mathbb{D})$ in $\mathbb{R}^4$ through immersions $F_t$'s which have only transverse double points and are branched covers of the plane tangent to $F_0(\mathbb{D})$ at $p$. If $F_0$ is a topological embedding and thus defines a knot in a sphere/cylinder around …

Uniformly branching trees are equivalent to certain metric spaces.

The paper explores rational functions with 3 branching points on the Riemann sphere.

Study on moduli spaces of branched projective structures on surfaces.

We deform a minimal disk in $\mathbb{R}^4$ with a branch point into symplectic minimally immersed disks with only transverse double points.

New results on hypersurfaces show no branch points, improving smoothness.

A branched covering surface-knot is a surface-knot in the form of a branched covering over an oriented surface-knot $F$, where we include the case when the covering has no branch points. A branched covering surface-knot is presented by a graph called a chart on a surface diagram of $F$. We can simplify a branched cover…

We consider two applications of the strata of differentials of the second kind (all residues equal to zero) with fixed multiplicities of zeros and poles: Positivity: In genus $g=0$ we show any associated divisorial projection to $\overline{\mathcal{M}}_{0,n}$ is $F$-nef and hence conjectured to be nef. We compute the c…

Analyzes branch points of area-minimizing currents with non-2 planar frequency.

A branched affine structure on a compact topological surface with marked points is a complex affine structure outside the marked points. We give a proof of an unpublished foundational theorem of Veech, stating that any branched affine surface can be decomposed into affine triangles and some annulus-shaped cylinders. Th…

We study a class of continuous deformations of branched complex projective structures on closed surfaces of genus $g\geq 2$, which preserve the holonomy representation of the structure and the order of the branch points. In the case of non-elementary holonomy we show that when the underlying complex structure is infini…

We consider 3-dimensional pseudo-manifolds M with a given set of marked point V such that M-V is the interior of a compact 3-manifold with boundary. An ideal triangulation T of (M, V ) has V as its set of vertices. A branching (T, b) enhances T to a Delta-complex. Branched triangulations of (M, V ) are considered up to…

We show that, if the local dimension of the branch set of a discrete and open mapping $f\colon M\to N$ between $n$-manifolds is less than $(n-2)$ at a point $y$ of the image of the branch set $fB_f$, then the local monodromy of $f$ at $y$ is perfect. In particular, for generalized branched covers between $n$-manifolds …

The study examines the regularity of branched immersions using special coordinate systems.

Branch points of a real 2-surface S in a 4-manifold M generalize the branch points of complex curves in complex surfaces: for example, they can occur as singularities of minimal surfaces. We investigate such a branch point p when S is topologically embedded in M. It defines a link L(p), the components of which are clos…

Let X=G/K be a symmetric space of noncompact type and let L be the Laplacian associated with a G-invariant metric on X. We show that the resolvent kernel of L admits a holomorphic extension to a Riemann surface depending on the rank of the symmetric space. This Riemann surface is a branched cover of the complex plane w…

Suppose that f and g are Markov surjections, each defined on a wedge of circles, each fixing the branch point and having the branch point as the only critical value. We show that if the points in the inverse limit spaces associated with f and g corresponding to the branch point are distinguished then these inverse limi…

We define a laminar branched surface to be a branched surface satisfying the following conditions: (1) Its horizontal boundary is incompressible; (2) there is no monogon; (3) there is no Reeb component; (4) there is no sink disk (after eliminating trivial bubbles in the branched surface). The first three conditions are…

Racks do not give us invariants of surface-knots in general. For example, if a surface-knot diagram has branch points (and a rack which we use satisfies some mild condition), then it admits no rack colorings. In this paper, we investigate rack colorings for surface-knot diagrams without branch points and prove that rac…

We continue our computation, using a combinatorial method based on Gronthendieck's dessins d'enfant, of the number of (weak) equivalence classes of surface branched covers matching certain specific branch data. In this note we concentrate on data with the surface of genus g as source surface, the sphere as target surfa…

For a given branched covering between closed connected surfaces, there are several easy relations one can establish between the Euler characteristics of the surfaces, their orientability, the total degree, and the local degrees at the branching points, including the classical Riemann-Hurwitz formula. These necessary re…

Closed geodesic nets on surfaces have limited branch points

The paper studies harmonic maps between surfaces homotopic to a covering map, proving uniqueness and injectivity of Hopf differential.

We exhibit the traceless $SU(2)$ character variety of a 6-punctured 2-sphere as a 2-fold branched cover of ${\mathbb{C}}P^3$, branched over the singular Kummer surface, with the branch locus in $R(S^2,6)$ corresponding to the binary dihedral representations. This follows from an analysis of the map induced on $SU(2)$ c…

We compute the number of (weak) equivalence classes of branched covers from a surface of genus g to the sphere, with 3 branching points, degree 2k, and local degrees over the branching points of the form (2,...,2), (2h+1,1,2,...,2), (d_1,...,d_m), for several values of g and h. We obtain explicit formulae of arithmetic…

Classifies branched Willmore spheres using conformal Gauss maps.

Novel defects in hyperbolic sheets explain complex wrinkling patterns in nature.

Study geodesics in sub-Riemannian manifolds, resolving open questions.

In this paper we study the homeomorphisms of the disk that are liftable with respect to a simple branched covering. Since any such homeomorphism maps the branch set of the covering onto itself and liftability is invariant up to isotopy fixing the branch set, we are dealing in fact with liftable braids. We prove that th…

In this paper we study global properties of the Wigner caustic of parameterized closed planar curves. We find new results on its geometry and singular points. In particular, we consider the Wigner caustic of rosettes, i.e. regular closed parameterized curves with non-vanishing curvature. We present a decomposition of a…

We prove that the critical points of various energies such as the area, the Willmore energy, the frame energy for tori...etc among possibly branched immersions constrained to evolve within a smooth sub-manifold of the Teichmüller space satisfy the corresponding constrained Euler Lagrange equation. We deduce that critic…

Minimal surfaces in a Riemannian manifold $M^n$ are surfaces which are stationary for area: the first variation of area vanishes. In this paper we focus on surfaces of the topological type of the real projective plane $\R P^2$. We show that a minimal surface $f:\R P^2\to M^3$ which has the smallest area, among those ma…

For the existence of a branched covering Sigma~ --> Sigma between closed surfaces there are easy necessary conditions in terms of chi(Sigma~), chi(Sigma), orientability, the total degree, and the local degrees at the branching points. A classical problem dating back to Hurwitz asks whether these conditions are also suf…

Machine learning finds Z/2 eigenfunctions on a sphere.

Given two closed orientable surfaces, the Hurwitz existence problem asks whether there exists a branched cover between them having prescribed global degree and local degrees over the branching points. The Riemann-Hurwitz formula gives a necessary condition, which was shown to be also sufficient when the base surface ha…

New exponential decay estimate for Hermitian Yang-Mills metrics near branch points.

Stability of branched immersions with energy constraints.

For every two-dimensional torus $T^2$ and every $k\in \mathbb{N}$, $k\ge 3$, we construct a conformal Willmore immersion $f:T^2\to \mathbb{R}^4$ with exactly one point of density $k$ and Willmore energy $4πk$. Moreover, we show that the energy value $8π$ cannot be attained by such an immersion. Additionally, we charact…

Prove realizability of genus-0 branch data for tetrahedral coverings of the sphere.

In this paper we classify branched Willmore spheres with at most three branch points (including multiplicity), showing that they may be obtained from complete minimal surfaces in $\R ^ 3$ with ends of multiplicity at most three. This extends the classification result of Bryant. We then show that this may be applied to …

Every open Riemann surface can be triangulated with equilateral triangles.

We propose here a geometric and topological setting for the study of branching effects arising in various fields of research, e.g. in statistical mechanics and turbulence theory. We describe various aspects that appear key points to us, and finish with a limit of such a construction which stand in the dynamics on proba…

In the 1980's, Almgren developed a theory of multi-valued Dirichlet energy minimizing functions on $n$ dimensional domains and used it, in an essential way, to bound the Hausdorff dimension of the singular sets of area minimizing rectifiable currents of dimension $n$ and codimension $\geq 2$. Recent work of the second …

Minimal surfaces and curves can have singularities removed by isotopy.