Quadratic differential

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In mathematics, a quadratic differential on a Riemann surface is a section of the symmetric square of the holomorphic cotangent bundle. If the section is holomorphic, then the quadratic differential is said to be holomorphic. The vector space of holomorphic quadratic differentials on a Riemann surface has a natural interpretation as the cotangent space to the Riemann moduli space or Teichmüller space.

Mathematics Field of study concerning quantity, patterns and change

Mathematics includes the study of such topics as quantity, structure, space, and change.

Riemann surface one-dimensional complex manifold

In mathematics, particularly in complex analysis, a Riemann surface is a one-dimensional complex manifold. These surfaces were first studied by and are named after Bernhard Riemann. Riemann surfaces can be thought of as deformed versions of the complex plane: locally near every point they look like patches of the complex plane, but the global topology can be quite different. For example, they can look like a sphere or a torus or several sheets glued together.

In mathematics, especially differential geometry, the cotangent bundle of a smooth manifold is the vector bundle of all the cotangent spaces at every point in the manifold. It may be described also as the dual bundle to the tangent bundle.

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Local form

Each quadratic differential on a domain in the complex plane may be written as where is the complex variable and is a complex valued function on . Such a `local' quadratic differential is holomorphic if and only if is holomorphic. Given a chart for a general Riemann surface and a quadratic differential on , the pull-back defines a quadratic differential on a domain in the complex plane.

Complex plane Geometric representation of the complex numbers

In mathematics, the complex plane or z-plane is a geometric representation of the complex numbers established by the real axis and the perpendicular imaginary axis. It can be thought of as a modified Cartesian plane, with the real part of a complex number represented by a displacement along the x-axis, and the imaginary part by a displacement along the y-axis.

Holomorphic function Complex functions differentiable everywhere on their domains

In mathematics, a holomorphic function is a complex-valued function of one or more complex variables that is, at every point of its domain, complex differentiable in a neighbourhood of the point. The existence of a complex derivative in a neighbourhood is a very strong condition, for it implies that any holomorphic function is actually infinitely differentiable and equal, locally, to its own Taylor series (analytic). Holomorphic functions are the central objects of study in complex analysis.

Relation to abelian differentials

If is an abelian differential on a Riemann surface, then is a quadratic differential.

Singular Euclidean structure

A holomorphic quadratic differential determines a Riemannian metric on the complement of its zeroes. If is defined on a domain in the complex plane and , then the associated Riemannian metric is where . Since is holomorphic, the curvature of this metric is zero. Thus, a holomorphic quadratic differential defines a flat metric on the complement of the set of such that .

Curvature physical quantity

In mathematics, curvature is any of a number of loosely related concepts in different areas of geometry. Intuitively, curvature is the amount by which a geometric object such as a surface deviates from being a flat plane, or a curve from being straight as in the case of a line, but this is defined in different ways depending on the context. There is a key distinction between extrinsic curvature, which is defined for objects embedded in another space – in a way that relates to the radius of curvature of circles that touch the object – and intrinsic curvature, which is defined in terms of the lengths of curves within a Riemannian manifold.

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