Thurston spine in a Teichmüller curve

Yue Gao, Zhongzi Wang

Published: 2025/9/29

Abstract

To study the Thurston spine $\mathcal{P}_g \subseteq \mathcal{T}_g$, we construct a Teichm\"uller curve $V \subseteq \mathcal{T}_g$. Then we characterize $V \cap \mathcal{P}_g$. More specifically, we show it is a trivalent tree and is an equivariant deformation retract of $V$. Moreover, by our construction, a lot of essential loops in the Thurston spine, both reducible and pseudo-Anosov, are obtained.