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 :(
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.