Stable norm (old&new)

Greg Mc Shane
Institut Fourier
USTC, Hefei

Sanya 2026

  • slides : google greg mcshane github
  • click on sanya
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Markoff numbers are integers that appear a Markoff triple

which are solutions of a Diophantine equation
the so-called Markoff cubic

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Odd index Fibonacci numbers are Markoff numbers

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Odd index Pell numbers are Markoff numbers

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Frobenius uniqueness conjecture

The largest integer in a triple determines the two other numbers.

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Partial results

m = Markoff number

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Martin Aigner

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Aigner's monotonicity conjectures

  • Markoff’s theorem and 100 years of the uniqueness conjecture. A mathematical journey from irrational numbers to perfect matchings. 2013.
  • M. Rabideau, R. Schiffler,
    Continued fractions and orderings on the Markoff numbers,
    Advances in Mathematics Vol 370, 2020. published
  • C Lagisquet and E. Pelantová and S. Tavenas and L. Vuillon, On the Markoff numbers: fixed numerator, denominator, and sum conjectures. published
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There is a natural map (we'll see why shortly)

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Aigner's conjectures proof

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Labeling Markoff numbers

A tale of three trees

  • Markoff number =
  • Farey "tree" of coprime integers
  • Markoff tree of solutions to the cubic
  • Bass-Serre of a free product

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coprime integers

  • closed geodesic
  • arc on a punctured torus (disjoint from the geodesic)
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source

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source

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natural map ?

Markoff numbers

  • quadratic in , two roots
  • Vieta formula
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Automorphisms

  • Vieta flips
  • (cyclic) permutations of
  • action of
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Natural = -equivariant map

  • actions = projective on left and by autos on right
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Tree structure

comes from Bass-Serre tree of

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Uniqueness conjecture

  • The largest integer in a triple determines the two other numbers.
  • The multiplicity of any number in the complementary regions to the tree is at most 6
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Modern theory: H. Cohn

Approach to Markoff’s Minimal Forms Through Modular Functions (1955)

  • modular torus = quotient of upper half plane by commutator subgroup of , acting by Mobius transformations
  • relates Markoff numbers to lengths of simple closed geodesics
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  • modular torus = quotient of upper half plane by commutator subgroup of
  • obtained from a pair of ideal triangles by identification
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Character variety

modular torus =

  • fundamental group of the torus.
  • any hyperbolic torus = ,
  • discrete faithful representation
  • lifts to
  • generators of
  • Definition character map
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Theorem: Fricke, Cohn (and others)

The semi-algebraic set:

can be identified with the Teichmueller space of the punctured torus.

  • permutations
  • the Vieta flips

used to construct Markoff's binary tree are induced by automorphisms of the fundamental group of the torus.

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Counting problem

Theorem

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Counting closed simple geodesics

  • character map
  • is generator iff essential simple closed curve representing its conjugacy/free homotopy class
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Simple representatives

  • blue curve is simple representative of its homotopy class
  • not every homotopy class contains a simple curve
  • every (non trivial) homology class has a representative that is a (multiple) of a simple curve
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Norms and minimizers

Let be an essential closed curve its length.

  • convexity/triangle inequality
  • any pair of curves in linearly independent homology classes intersect
  • a curve with self intersections is never a minimizer
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  • Cluster algebra folks call this a smoothing
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Corollary: Let T be a punctured torus with a hyperbolic structure.

  • Then, the shortest multicurve representing a non-trivial homology class is a simple closed geodesic if is a primitive homology class, and a multiply covered geodesic otherwise.
  • In addition, the shortest multicurve representing is unique.
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Unit ball

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Unit ball and counting

  • the area of the unit ball depends on the hyperbolic structure
  • with Rivin we studied it, but now it's called the Mirzakhani function :(
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Why log ?

  • important monotone increasing on
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Aigner's conjectures

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Reformulate Aigner's conjectures

Markoff number
monotone increasing on

  • Let be real non negative numbers and then

  • If in addition then

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Aigner's conjectures proof

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source

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On the ordering of the Markoff numbers
Kyungyong Lee, Li Li, Michelle Rabideau, Ralf Schiffler

The proof uses a connection to cluster algebras. It was observed
in [P, BBH] that the Markoff numbers can be obtained from the cluster variables in the cluster
algebra of the once-punctured torus by specializing the initial cluster variables to 1. Moreover, the clusters in the cluster algebra then specialize to the Markoff triples. On the other hand, the cluster variables can be computed by a combinatorial formula given as a summation over the perfect matchings of a so-called snake graph.

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Robert Hines

  • the product is over all simple closed geodesics
  • is the length of the geodesic,
  • are the lengths (traces) of any triple of simple geodesics intersecting at a single point.
  • The exponent is a positive integer "height"

#

## infinity of Markoff triples: $z=1$

$\begin{pmatrix} 3 & -1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}$

is an automorph of

$$x^2 + y^2 - 3x y.$$

So $( v_n,v_{n+1},1)$ is a Markoff triple where

$\begin{pmatrix} x \\ y \end{pmatrix}= \begin{pmatrix}v_{n+1} \\ v_n \end{pmatrix} = \begin{pmatrix} 3 & -1 \\ 1 & 0 \end{pmatrix}^n \begin{pmatrix}1 \\ 1 \end{pmatrix}$

* snake graph and its perfect matchings

* "lengths" that verify a Ptolemy inequality

#

## Group actions

<!-1- _transition: glow -1->

$\mathbb{Q}\cup \infty \subset$ circle/projective line

* $(a,c)\text{ primitive } \mapsto a/c \in \mathbb{Q}\cup \infty$

* $\begin{pmatrix} a & d \\ c & d \end{pmatrix} \mapsto$ arc joining $(a/c, b/d)$

* $(a/b, c/d)$ are Farey neighbors iff $|ad - bc | = 1$

* obvious transitive $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ action on Farey neighbors

#

![width:600px](./pozzi.jpg.png)

[source](https://www.mathi.uni-heidelberg.de/~pozzetti/trees/4.pdf)

* involution $(x^-,y,z) \mapsto (x^+, y,z) = (3yz - x^-, z,y)$

![w:500px](./Markoff_tree_full.svg)

* elliptic involution swaps triangles fixes midpoint of diagonal

#### Exo

- Nielsen move $\rightarrow$ Vieta flip

- $tr\,ab + tr\,ab^{-1} = (tr\,a) (tr\,b)$

#

### Simple representatives in homology

$\phi : \mathbb{Z}*\mathbb{Z} \rightarrow \mathbb{Z}^2 \simeq

H^1(T,\mathbb{Z})$.

abelianizing homomorphism.

- $\phi$ takes generators of $\mathbb{Z}*\mathbb{Z}$ to generators of $\mathbb{Z}^2$.

- $(p,q) \in \mathbb{Z}^2$ generator $\Leftrightarrow p,q$ coprime.

#

![w:800](./minimizer.png)