Small eigenvalues of the Laplacian for algebraic measures in moduli space, and mixing properties of the Teichm\"uller flow

TL;DR

This paper investigates the spectral properties of the Laplacian associated with algebraic measures in moduli space, establishing a spectral gap that impacts the decay of correlations for the Teichmüller flow.

Contribution

It proves that the essential spectrum of the Laplacian for algebraic invariant measures is contained in [1/4, ∞), showing all such measures have a spectral gap.

Findings

Essential spectrum is contained in [1/4, ∞)

Finitely many eigenvalues exist below 1/4 for algebraic measures

All algebraic invariant measures exhibit a spectral gap

Abstract

We consider the $SL(2,R)$ action on moduli spaces of quadratic differentials. If $\mu$ is an $SL(2,R)$-invariant probability measure, crucial information about the associated representation on $L^2(\mu)$ (and in particular, fine asymptotics for decay of correlations of the diagonal action, the Teichm\"uller flow) is encoded in the part of the spectrum of the corresponding foliated hyperbolic Laplacian that lies in $(0,1/4)$ (which controls the contribution of the complementary series). Here we prove that the essential spectrum of an invariant algebraic measure is contained in $[1/4,\infty)$, i.e., for every $\delta>0$, there are only finitely many eigenvalues (counted with multiplicity) in $(0,1/4-\delta)$. In particular, all algebraic invariant measures have a spectral gap.