text:
# Classification of Weil-Petersson Isometries

## 1. Introduction

The Thurston classification of surface diffeomorphisms has strong analogies with the classification of isometries of complete nonpositively curved manifolds. If one regards mapping classes as isometries with respect to the Teichmüller metric then this point of view is made precise by Bers’ theorem on the existence of Teichmüller geodesics that are equivariant with respect to irreducible, nonperiodic diffeomorphisms \[B\]. However, the Teichmüller metric is known not to have nonpositive curvature \[M1\], so the analogy is not quite germane.

The Weil-Petersson metric does have negative curvature, but it is not complete. Nevertheless, Wolpert showed that any two points can be joined by a Weil-Petersson geodesic \[W4\], and it then follows on general principles that the metric completion of Teichmüller space is a nonpositively curved length space in the sense of Alexandrov (an *NPC* or $`CAT(0)`$ space). It is therefore natural and desirable to recover the classification of mapping classes from the perspective of Weil-Petersson isometries, and that is the first goal of this paper. Note that by a recent result of Masur and Wolf, the mapping class group essentially accounts for all Weil-Petersson isometries \[MW\].

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ denote the mapping class group of a closed, compact, oriented surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ of genus $`g`$ with $`n`$ marked points. Let $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ denote the Teichmüller space of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ with its marked points, and equip $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ with the Weil-Petersson metric. Then $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ acts isometrically and properly discontinuously on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ with quotient $`𝐌_{g,n}`$, the Riemann moduli space of curves. We will denote the metric completion of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ by $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. The extended action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ has quotient $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$, the Deligne-Mumford compactification of $`𝐌_{g,n}`$. The first main result of this paper is the following:

###### Theorem 1.1.

If $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is pseudo-Anosov there is a unique $`\gamma `$-equivariant complete Weil-Petersson geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.

By analogy with hyperbolic geometry, we will refer to this geodesic as the axis of $`\gamma `$, and we will denote it by $`A_\gamma `$. The projection of $`A_\gamma `$ to $`𝐌_{g,n}`$ is then a closed geodesic representative of the class of $`\gamma `$ in the (orbifold) fundamental group of $`𝐌_{g,n}`$.

Let us briefly outline the proof of Theorem 1.1: the first step is a preliminary statement about geodesics in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. More precisely, we prove in Proposition 3.5 that a $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ must actually lie in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, provided $`\gamma `$ is an irreducible mapping class. This result is a combination of two ideas. The first, Theorem 3.6, is that any geodesic from a point in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ to the boundary $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ intersects the boundary only at its endpoint. The second, Theorem 3.7, is that the different strata of the boundary intersect transversely. For example, a geodesic between different components of the top dimensional boundary stratum of $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ must pass through the interior $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ (see also Remark 3.8). The details are given in Section 3.

We then consider a length minimizing sequence of equivariant paths $`u_j:𝐓_{g,n}`$ with uniform modulus of continuity, and let $`v_j`$ denote the quotients maps to $`𝐌_{g,n}`$. After passing to a subsequence, the $`v_j`$ converge to a limiting path $`v_{\mathrm{}}:\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$. This follows from the compactness of $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$. It is an important fact that the space $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is not even *locally* compact near points on the boundary $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, so extracting a convergent subsequence directly in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ (or $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$) is difficult. The second important step in the proof is to show that $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ is the quotient of an equivariant path $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ to $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. This is rather technical, and the proof occupies all of Section 4. The idea is to inductively lift $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ from the lower dimensional strata $`\epsilon `$-close to the path $`u_j`$. The parameter $`\epsilon `$ is chosen sufficiently small with respect to the injectivity radius in a compact piece of the lower dimensional stratum so that continuity of the lift from stratum to stratum is preserved. The argument also shows that the lift is equivariant. The initial sequence can be taken to be piecewise geodesic, and the geodesic convexity of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ is used repeatedly.

Theorem 1.1 leads to the desired classification via the translation length $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$ of a mapping class $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, regarded as an isometry of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ with respect to the Weil-Petersson metric (see (3.7)). We refer to \[BGS\] for a discussion of how this works for general NPC manifolds and to \[Ab\] for the case of the Teichmüller metric. As in those cases, semisimple isometries, i.e. those for which the translation length is attained at some point, play an important role. The four possibilities – semisimple or not, $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}`$ equal to zero or not – fit in conveniently with the Thurston classification of surface diffeomorphisms. According to Thurston, a mapping class is either periodic, reducible, or pseudo-Anosov (see Section 2 below). Those reducible diffeomorphisms that are periodic on the component pieces are called pseudoperiodic. With this terminology, the classification may be summarized as in Table 1 (see Theorem 5.1 for the proof).

The second goal of this paper is to continue the study, initiated in \[DKW\] of harmonic maps to Teichmüller space. The equivariant harmonic map problem to complete nonpositively curved manifolds (and metric spaces) has been analyzed in great detail (cf. \[DO, D1, C, La, JY, KS2\]). Unlike the Dirichlet problem, or the problem of minimizing in a given homotopy class of maps between compact manifolds, some condition is generally required of an isometric action on the target manifold in order to guarantee the existence of energy minimizing equivariant maps. There are somewhat different notions in various papers; in the case of a symmetric space target, for example, the action should be *reductive*.

When it comes to Teichmüller space, the salient competing properties of the Weil-Petersson metric are its negative curvature and its noncompleteness. Taken together, these two facts are a reflection of important subtleties in the structure of the mapping class group. Nevertheless, in light of Theorem 1.1, and more generally, of the action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on the space of measured foliations, the condition that the action contain two independent pseudo-Anosovs (i.e. the image subgroup is sufficiently large, see Definition 2.1) emerges as a natural candidate for the analogue of the reductive hypothesis just mentioned (cf. \[DKW\]).

The argument justifying this point of view depends on an understanding of the asymptotic geometry of Weil-Petersson geodesics. More precisely, one needs to show that the axes for independent pseudo-Anosov’s diverge, in an appropriate sense, with respect to the Weil-Petersson distance (see Theorem 6.2). This involves Thurston’s compactification of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ by projective measured foliations in a crucial way.

To state the second main result, we recall a key notion in the theory of equivariant harmonic maps (cf. \[KS2, §2\]): A finitely generated subgroup of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is called proper if there is a set of generators $`\gamma _1,\mathrm{},\gamma _k`$ of the subgroup such that the sublevel sets of the displacement function

$$\delta (\sigma )=\mathrm{max}\left\{\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\gamma _i\sigma ):i=1,\mathrm{},k\right\}$$

are bounded (see Definition 6.5). We apply the same notion to homomorphisms of groups into $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ according to the image subgroup. In Section 6 we prove

###### Theorem 1.2.

For finitely generated subgroups of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, sufficiently large $``$ proper.

This result is important for the harmonic map problem. In the context of the metric completion, the Sobolev theory of finite energy maps from Riemannian domains to $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ has been developed by Korevaar and Schoen \[KS1\] (see also Jost \[J\]). The important result here is that energy minimizing (harmonic) maps for both the Dirichlet and equivariant problems are Lipschitz continuous. The following is an immediate consequence of Theorem 1.2 and \[KS2, Theorem 2.1.3 and Remark 2.1.5\]:

###### Corollary 1.3.

Let $`M`$ be a finite volume complete Riemannian manifold with universal cover $`\stackrel{~}{M}`$ and $`\rho :\pi _1(M)\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ a homomorphism. Assume that $`\pi _1(M)`$ is finitely generated and that there exists a $`\rho `$-equivariant map $`\stackrel{~}{M}\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ with finite energy (i.e. as a map $`M\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$). Then if $`\rho `$ is sufficiently large there exists a finite energy $`\rho `$-equivariant harmonic map $`u:\stackrel{~}{M}\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$.

The sufficiently large condition is flexible enough to provide a wide range of examples so that harmonic maps may be a useful tool in the study of homomorphisms into mapping class groups. For instance, by \[McP, Theorem 4.6\] any irreducible subgroup of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ that is not sufficiently large is either finite or virtually cyclic. It then follows from Corollary 1.3 that if $`M`$ is a compact Riemannian manifold and $`\rho :\pi _1(M)\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is any homomorphism, there exists a $`\rho ^{}`$-equivariant harmonic map $`\stackrel{~}{M}\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$, where $`\rho ^{}`$ is the restriction of $`\rho `$ to some finite index subgroup of $`\pi _1(M)`$. Possible applications along these lines are proofs of certain rigidity results for homomorphisms of lattices in Lie groups to mapping class groups and existence results for harmonic representatives of the classifying maps associated to symplectic Lefschetz pencils. In order to carry out this program, a regularity result for harmonic maps to $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is required. This issue will be considered in a future paper.

*Acknowledgements.* Theorems 1.1 and 1.2 were first stated by Sumio Yamada in \[Y1, Y2\]. We have been strongly influenced by his point of view, but the proof in \[Y1\] is incomplete, and we have been unable to carry through his approach. The methods used in this paper are therefore different and independent from those of Yamada. We are grateful to Scott Wolpert for many helpful suggestions and for comments on earlier drafts of this paper, and to the referee for a careful reading of the manuscript.***After this paper was submitted for publication, we received the preprint \[W6\] which provides an alternative discussion of these results.

## 2. Mapping Class Groups and Measured Foliations

In this section, we review some basic facts about measured foliations and mapping class groups that will be required throughout the paper. A good reference for much of this material is \[FLP\]. As in the Introduction, $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ denotes a closed, compact, oriented surface of genus $`g`$. We will denote a choice of distinct points $`\{p_1,\mathrm{},p_n\}\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$ by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$. The mapping class group $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ that permute the points $`\{p_1,\mathrm{},p_n\}`$. The equivalence is through isotopies fixing the points. We will usually assume that $`3g3+n0`$.

Let $`𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ denote the set of isotopy classes of simple closed essential nonperipheral curves on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$. In addition, for each integer $`k1`$, we let $`𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ denote the set of collections $`𝐜_{(k)}=\{c_1,\mathrm{},c_k\}`$ of $`k`$ distinct isotopy classes of simple closed curves in $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ that are each essential and nonperipheral and which have representatives that are mutually disjoint. Given $`c`$ and $`c^{}`$ in $`𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, let $`i(c,c^{})`$ denote the geometric intersection number between them, and for $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ and $`\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}`$, let $`\mathrm{}_c(\sigma )`$ denote the length of a geodesic representative of $`c`$ with respect to the complete hyperbolic metric on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ in the class $`\sigma `$.

Let $``$ denote the space of measured foliations on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ modulo isotopy and Whitehead equivalence. By an abuse of notation, we shall typically denote a measured foliation and its underlying foliation by the same letter, e.g. $`F`$, assuming that the transverse measure on $`F`$ is understood. We do not consider the “zero measure” to be an element of $``$. We can scale the measure on a foliation $`F`$ by a real number $`r>0`$ to obtain a new measured foliation, which we denote by $`rF`$. We say that $`F`$ and $`F^{}`$ are projectively equivalent if $`F^{}=rF`$ for some $`r`$. The projective equivalence class of a measured foliation $`F`$ will be denoted by $`[F]`$, and the set of all projective equivalence classes will be denoted by $`𝒫`$.

For $`F`$ and $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, we have an intersection number $`i(F,c)`$, which by definition is the infimum of the total measures of representatives of $`c`$ that are quasi-transverse to $`F`$. Unbounded sequences $`\sigma _j𝐓_{g,n}`$ have subsequences converging in $`𝒫`$ in the following sense: there are positive numbers $`r_j0`$ and $`F`$ such that for each $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, $`r_j\mathrm{}_c(\sigma _j)i(F,c)`$. Any other sequence $`r_j^{}`$ for which $`r_j^{}\mathrm{}_c(\sigma _j)`$ converges on all $`c`$ (and not identically to zero) gives rise to a measured foliation that is projectively equivalent to $`F`$. We shall refer to this convergence as the Thurston topology and denote it by $`\sigma _j[F]`$. When we want to emphasize convergence in $``$, we write $`r_j\sigma _jF`$.

For any $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ and $`r>0`$, there is an associated $`rc`$ such that $`i(rc,c^{})=ri(c,c^{})`$ for all $`c^{}𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$. An important fact is that the intersection number for curves and between curves and measured foliations extends continuously to a nonnegative function $`i(,)`$ on $`\times `$ such that $`i(rF,r^{}F^{})=rr^{}i(F,F^{})`$. By analogy with curves, a pair $`F,F^{}`$ is called transverse if $`i(F,F^{})0`$. A measured foliation $`F`$ is called minimal if $`i(F,c)>0`$ for every $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$. Let $`_{\mathrm{min}}`$ denote the subset of minimal foliations. Since the condition is independent of the projective factor, we also obtain a subset $`𝒫_{\mathrm{min}}𝒫`$ of projective minimal foliations. For any $`[F]𝒫`$, we let

(2.1) $`Top[F]`$ $`=\{[G]𝒫:i(F,G)=0\}`$
(2.2) $`Gr[F]`$ $`=\{[G]𝒫:i(G,c)=0i(F,c)=0\text{for all}c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})\}`$
Note that these definitions are independent of the choice of representatives of the classes $`[F]`$ and $`[G]`$. The sets $`Gr[F]`$ give a countable partition of $`𝒫𝒫_{\mathrm{min}}`$, while for $`[F]𝒫_{\mathrm{min}}`$, the condition defining $`Top[F]`$ is an equivalence relation. Indeed, the set $`Top[F]`$ consists precisely of the projective equivalence classes of those measured foliations whose underlying foliations are topologically equivalent to that of $`F`$, but whose measures may be different.

Thurston’s classification of surface diffeomorphisms may be described in terms of the natural action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on $``$ and $`𝒫`$: An element $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is called reducible if $`\gamma `$ fixes some collection $`𝐜_{(k)}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$. It is called pseudo-Anosov if there is $`r>1`$ and transverse measured foliations $`F_+`$, $`F_{}`$ on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ such that $`\gamma F_+rF_+`$, and $`\gamma F_{}r^1F_{}`$. $`F_+`$ and $`F_{}`$ are called the stable and unstable foliations of $`\gamma `$, respectively. The classification states that any $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is either periodic (i.e. finite order), infinite order and reducible, or pseudo-Anosov. Moreover, these are mutually exclusive possibilities.

The stable and unstable foliations of a pseudo-Anosov are both minimal and carry a unique transverse measure, up to projective equivalence. We will need the following facts:

(2.3) $`\gamma \text{ pseudo-Anosov and }[F]𝒫_{\mathrm{min}}[\gamma F]Gr[F].`$
(2.4) $`\gamma \text{ pseudo-Anosov and }[F]𝒫_{\mathrm{min}}\{[F_+],[F_{}]\}[\gamma F]Top[F].`$
Finally, a pseudo-Anosov element fixes *precisely* two points in $`𝒫`$; namely the points $`[F_+]`$ and $`[F_{}]`$ represented by the stable and unstable foliations. We say that pseudo-Anosov’s are independent if their fixed point sets in $`𝒫`$ do not coincide.

With this background we are now prepared to make the following important

###### Definition 2.1 (\[McP, p. 142\]).

A subgroup of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is sufficiently large if it contains two independent pseudo-Anosov’s.

## 3. The Weil-Petersson Metric

Let $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ denote the Teichmüller space of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$, and $`𝐌_{g,n}=𝐓_{g,n}/\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ the Riemann moduli space of curves. The important metric on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ for this paper is the Weil-Petersson metric, which we denote by $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}`$. We will also have occasion to use the Teichmüller metric, which we denote by $`\mathrm{d}_\mathrm{T}`$. This is a complete Finsler metric with respect to which $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ also acts by isometries.

Let us briefly recall the definitions: the cotangent space $`T_\sigma ^{}𝐓_{g,n}`$ is identified with the space of meromorphic quadratic differentials on $`(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n},\sigma )`$ that have at most simple poles at the marked points $`\{p_1,\mathrm{},p_n\}`$. Here we abuse notation slightly, and regard the point $`\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}`$ as giving a conformal structure on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ with its marked points. The complete hyperbolic metric on $`(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n},\sigma )`$ can be expressed in local conformal coordinates as $`ds^2=\rho (z)|dz|^2`$. Similarly, a quadratic differential has a local expression $`\mathrm{\Phi }=\phi (z)dz^2`$. Then for $`\mathrm{\Phi }T_\sigma ^{}𝐓_{g,n}`$, the Weil-Petersson cometric is given by

(3.1)
$$\mathrm{\Phi }_{WP}^2=_\mathrm{\Sigma }|\phi (z)|^2\rho (z)^1𝑑x𝑑y.$$

The Teichmüller cometric is given by

(3.2)
$$\mathrm{\Phi }_T=_\mathrm{\Sigma }|\phi (z)|𝑑x𝑑y.$$

For a point $`\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}`$ and a subset $`A𝐓_{g,n}`$, we set

$$\mathrm{dist}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,A)=inf\{\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\sigma ^{}):\sigma ^{}A\}.$$

We record the following important facts:

###### Proposition 3.1 (cf. \[Ah, W1, W3, W4, Chu, R, Tr\]).

1. The Weil-Petersson metric is a noncomplete Kähler metric with negative sectional curvature.
2. Any two points in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ may be joined by a unique Weil-Petersson geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.
3. Any length function $`\mathrm{}_c`$ is strictly convex.
4. There is a strictly convex exhaustion function on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.

Let $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ denote the metric completion of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ with respect to the Weil-Petersson metric. Further notation: let $`𝐓_{g,n}=\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}𝐓_{g,n}`$ and $`𝐌_{g,n}=\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}𝐌_{g,n}`$. The completion has the following local description (cf. \[M2\]): $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ is a disjoint union of smooth connected strata $`D(𝐜_{(k)})`$. These are described by choosing a collection $`𝐜_{(k)}=\{c_1,\mathrm{},c_k\}`$ of disjoint simple closed essential and nonperipheral curves on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ and forming a nodal surface by collapsing each of the $`c_j`$ to points. Associated to a nodal surface is another Teichmüller space which is by definition the set of equivalence classes of conformal structures on the normalized (possibly disconnected) surface, with the preimages of the nodes as additional marked points. It is therefore naturally isomorphic to a product of lower dimensional Teichmüller spaces. The statement is that the stratum $`D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ with its induced metric is isometric to this product of lower dimensional Teichmüller spaces with the product Weil-Petersson metric.

To describe this in more detail we define an incomplete metric space

(3.3)
$$=\{(\theta ,\xi )^2:\xi >0\},ds_{}^2=4d\xi ^2+\xi ^6d\theta ^2.$$

Let $`\overline{}`$ denote the metric completion of $``$, obtained by adding a single point $``$ corresponding to the entire real axis $`\xi =0`$, and denote the distance function on $`\overline{}`$ by $`d_\overline{}`$. The completion is then an NPC space which is, however, not locally compact. We note the following simple:

###### Lemma 3.2.

The geodesic $`w:[0,1]\overline{}`$ from $``$ to any point $`(\theta _1,\xi _1)`$ is given by $`w(x)=(\theta _1,x\xi _1)`$.

The importance of $`\overline{}`$ is that it is a model for the normal space to the boundary strata. More precisely, let $`\sigma D(𝐜_{(k)})`$. Then the curves in $`𝐜_{(k)}`$ divide $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ into a disjoint union of surfaces $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g_1,n_1},\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g_N,n_N}`$, where the boundary components corresponding to the curves are collapsed to additional marked points. Set

(3.4)
$$\widehat{𝐓}=𝐓_{g_1,n_1}\times \mathrm{}\times 𝐓_{g_N,n_N}.$$

Then $`\sigma `$ corresponds to a point in $`\widehat{𝐓}`$, which we will also denote by $`\sigma `$. There is an open neighborhood $`U`$ of $`\sigma `$ in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ that is homeomorphic to an open neighborhood in the product $`\overline{}^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$, where $`\sigma `$ is mapped to the point $`(,\mathrm{},,\sigma )`$. We will call such a $`U`$ a model neighborhood of $`\sigma `$.

Next, we describe the asymptotic behavior of the Weil-Petersson metric near the boundary using a model neighborhood $`U`$. We choose complex coordinates $`\tau _{k+1},\mathrm{},\tau _{3g3+n}`$ for $`\widehat{𝐓}`$ near $`\sigma `$. Let $`(\theta _i,\xi _i)`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$ denote the coordinates for each factor of $`\overline{}`$ in the model neighborhood. With respect to these coordinates, $`UD(𝐜_{(k)})`$ is given by the equations $`\xi _1=\mathrm{}=\xi _k=0`$. As $`\xi =(\xi _1,\mathrm{},\xi _k)0`$, the Weil-Petersson metric has an expansion:

$`ds_{\mathrm{WP}}^2`$ $`={\displaystyle \left(G_{i\overline{j}}+\underset{\mathrm{}}{}O\left(\xi _{\mathrm{}}^4\right)\right)d\tau _id\overline{\tau }_j}`$
$`+{\displaystyle O\left(\xi _j^3\right)\times \left[d\tau _id\xi _j\text{or}d\overline{\tau }_id\xi _j\right]}`$
$`+{\displaystyle O\left(\xi _j^6\right)\times \left[d\tau _id\theta _j\text{or}d\overline{\tau }_id\theta _j\right]}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \left(B_i+\underset{\mathrm{}}{}O\left(\xi _{\mathrm{}}^4\right)\right)\mathrm{\hspace{0.17em}4}d\xi _i^2}`$
(3.5) $`+{\displaystyle \underset{ij}{}}O\left(\xi _i^3\xi _j^3\right)d\xi _id\xi _j`$
$`+{\displaystyle \left(B_i+\underset{\mathrm{}}{}O\left(\xi _{\mathrm{}}^4\right)\right)\xi _i^6d\theta _i^2}`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{ij}{}}O(\xi _i^6\xi _j^6)d\theta _id\theta _j,`$
where $`G_{i\overline{j}}`$ denotes the Weil-Petersson metric on $`\widehat{𝐓}`$, and the coefficients $`B_i0`$ are continuous functions of $`\tau _{k+1},\mathrm{},\tau _{3g3+n}`$ defined in a neighborhood (which we assume is the model neighborhood) of $`\sigma \widehat{𝐓}`$. In particular, the induced metrics on the factors $`\overline{}`$ are asymptotic to metrics that are uniformly quasi-isometric to the model (3.3). This expansion is due to Yamada \[Y1\]. For the sake of completeness, we provide a brief justification in the Appendix below.

###### Remark 3.3.

As noted in \[MW, Remarks in §1.3\], $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is a complete nonpositively curved length space in the sense of Alexandrov, i.e. $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is an NPC (or equivalently, a CAT(0)) space with an isometric action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ extending the action on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ (cf. \[BH, Corollary 3.11\]). Moreover, the strata $`D(𝐜_{(k)})𝐓_{g,n}`$ are totally geodesically embedded.

###### Remark 3.4.

Since $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is a length space, between any two points $`\sigma _0`$, $`\sigma _1`$ we can find a rectifiable path $`u:[0,1]\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ with

$$()\{\begin{array}{cc}u(0)\hfill & =\sigma _0\hfill \\ u(1)\hfill & =\sigma _1\hfill \end{array}$$

whose length $`L(u)`$ coincides with the distance $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _0,\sigma _1)`$. We will often regard $`u`$ as an energy minimizing path (in the sense of \[KS1\]) with respect to the boundary conditions $`()`$. We will denote the energy of such a path by $`E(u)`$.

Before proceeding, let us introduce some convenient notation regarding $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$: For a fixed $`k1`$, let $`\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k`$ denote the union of strata $`D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ for all possible collections $`𝐜_{(k)}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, and let $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k`$ denote its closure in the completion $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. Then we have

(3.6)
$$𝐓_{g,n}=\underset{k=1,\mathrm{},k_{max}}{}\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k,\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k=\mathrm{\Delta }_k\mathrm{\Delta }_{k+1}.$$

Here, $`k_{max}=3g3+n`$ is the maximal number of disjoint simple closed essential and nonperipheral curves on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$. Note that with this notation, $`𝐓_{g,n}=\mathrm{\Delta }_1`$. It will also be useful to set $`\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_0=𝐓_{g,n}`$.

To state the main result of this section, we clarify some terminology that we have already used in the statement of Theorem 1.1: Let $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ and $`u:𝐓_{g,n}`$. We will say that $`u`$ is equivariant with respect to $`\gamma `$ if $`u(x+L)=\gamma u(x)`$ for all $`x`$ and some fixed $`L>0`$. By convention, the length of $`u`$ will then be taken to mean the length of $`u`$ restricted to $`[0,L]`$. Unless otherwise stated, we will parametrize so that $`L=1`$. Also, for $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, we define the Weil-Petersson translation length of $`\gamma `$ by

(3.7)
$$𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )=inf\{\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\gamma \sigma ):\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}\}.$$

The following characterization of Weil-Petersson geodesics in terms of the completion will be used in the next section:

###### Proposition 3.5.

Suppose $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is irreducible. Let $`u:\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ be a rectifiable $`\gamma `$-equivariant path, and suppose that $`L(u)𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$. Then $`u`$ is a Weil-Petersson geodesic and has image in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.

The remainder of this section is devoted to the proof of this result. It will follow from two properties of the geometry of the Weil-Petersson completion, Theorems 3.6 and 3.7, that were first stated by Yamada \[Y1\]. The Harnack type estimate in \[Y1\] does not, however, appear to hold in the generality needed. The proofs given below will proceed along a different line of reasoning. Specifically, we use a rescaling argument. The main result is the statement that geodesics in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ between points in different boundary components must pass through the interior $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. We formulate this in Theorem 3.7 below. First we show that geodesics from points in Teichmüller space to the boundary touch the boundary only at their endpoints.

###### Theorem 3.6.

Let $`u:[0,1]\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ be a geodesic with $`u(0)=\sigma _0𝐓_{g,n}`$ and $`u(1)=\sigma _1𝐓_{g,n}`$. Then $`u((0,1])𝐓_{g,n}`$. Similarly, if $`\sigma _0D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ and $`\sigma _1D(𝐜_{(k)})`$, then $`u((0,1])D(𝐜_{(k)})`$.

###### Proof.

First consider the case where $`\sigma _0𝐓_{g,n}`$ and $`\sigma _1𝐓_{g,n}`$. Let $`\widehat{x}=sup\{x:u(x)𝐓_{g,n}\}`$. We wish to prove that $`\widehat{x}=0`$. Suppose not, and set $`\sigma _{\widehat{x}}=u(\widehat{x})`$. Then there is a collection $`𝐜_{(k)}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ such that $`\sigma _{\widehat{x}}D(𝐜_{(k)})`$. By changing the endpoints we may assume that the image of $`u`$ is contained in a model neighborhood of $`\sigma _{\widehat{x}}`$.

###### Claim 1.

$`u([0,\widehat{x}])D(𝐜_{(k)})`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`c𝐜_{(k)}`$, and suppose that $`\mathrm{}_cu(x)0`$ for some $`0x<\widehat{x}`$. We may find $`\gamma 𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ such that $`i(\gamma ,c)0`$, but $`i(\gamma ,c^{})=0`$ for any $`c^{}𝐜_{(k)}`$, $`c^{}c`$. Let $`\stackrel{~}{u}_j:[x,1]𝐓_{g,n}`$ be a sequence of geodesics converging in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ to $`u|_{[x,1]}`$. By Proposition 3.1 (3), $`f_j=\mathrm{}_\gamma \stackrel{~}{u}_j`$ is a sequence of convex functions on $`[x,1]`$, and since $`u(1)𝐓_{g,n}`$ and $`\mathrm{}_cu(x)0`$, $`f_j(1)`$ and $`f_j(x)`$ are uniformly bounded. Hence, $`f_j(\widehat{x})`$ is also uniformly bounded. But this contradicts the fact that $`\mathrm{}_c\stackrel{~}{u}_j(\widehat{x})0`$ and $`i(\gamma ,c)0`$. ∎

By definition, $`u((\widehat{x},1])𝐓_{g,n}`$. Thus, after reparametrizing, we have the following situation: $`u:[1,1]\overline{}^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$ is energy minimizing with respect to its boundary conditions. Furthermore,

(3.8)
$$u([1,0])\left(\right)^k\times \widehat{𝐓},\text{and}u((0,1])^k\times \widehat{𝐓}.$$

We shall derive a contradiction to the existence of a geodesic satisfying (3.8). The strategy is to use a rescaling argument to compare Weil-Petersson geodesics to geodesics in $`\overline{}^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$ – where we take the product of the model metric on $`\overline{}^k`$ and the Weil-Petersson metric on $`\widehat{𝐓}`$ – and thus derive a contradiction to Lemma 3.2. Without loss of generality, we assume that $`B_i(\sigma _{\widehat{x}})=1`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$, in the asymptotic expression (3.5).

Let $`u^{}`$ denote the projection of $`u`$ onto the first factor $`\overline{}^k`$. We also choose a sequence of rescalings $`\epsilon _j0`$, and set $`u_j(x)=u(\epsilon _jx)`$, $`u_j^{}(x)=u^{}(\epsilon _jx)`$. Note that each $`u_j^{}`$ satisfies:

(3.9)
$$u_j^{}(x)=\left(\right)^k\text{for all}x[1,0].$$

Let $`w_j`$ denote the map $`[1,1]\overline{}^k`$ with boundary conditions

(3.10)
$$w_j(1)=u_j^{}(1)=\left(\right)^k,w_j(1)=u_j^{}(1)^k,$$

which is harmonic with respect to the model metric (see (3.3) and Lemma 3.2). Note that since $`w_j`$ is a nonconstant energy minimizer, $`0E_{\overline{}^k}(w_j)E_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})`$ for all $`j`$. Here, $`E_{\overline{}^k}(u)`$ denotes the energy of a path in $`\overline{}^k`$ with respect to the product of the model metrics $`ds_{}^2`$.

###### Claim 2.

There is a constant $`C`$ independent of $`j`$ such that

$$\underset{x[1,1]}{\mathrm{max}}d_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{}(x),\left(\right)^k)CE_{\overline{}^k}^{1/2}(u_j^{}),$$

and

$$\underset{x[1,1]}{\mathrm{max}}d_{\overline{}^k}(w_j(x),\left(\right)^k)=d_{\overline{}^k}(w_j(1),\left(\right)^k)CE_{\overline{}^k}^{1/2}(u_j^{}).$$

###### Proof.

From the estimate (3.5) the Weil-Petersson metric on $`\overline{}^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$ is quasi-isometric to the product of the model metric on $`\overline{}^k`$ and the Weil-Petersson metric on a lower dimensional Teichmüller space. Let $`=\left(\right)^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$. Then the quasi-isometry implies that there is a constant $`C`$ such that for all $`j`$ and all $`x[1,1]`$,

(3.11)
$$C^1\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u_j(x),)d_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{}(x),\left(\right)^k)C\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u_j(x),).$$

Since $``$ is convex, $`u_j`$ is a geodesic, and $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is NPC, $`x\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u_j(x),)`$ is a convex function. Hence,

(3.12)
$$\underset{x[1,1]}{\mathrm{max}}\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u_j(x),)=\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u_j(1),).$$

Combining (3.11) with (3.12), we haveWe follow the standard practice of using $`C`$ to denote a generic constant whose value may vary from line to line.

$$\underset{x[1,1]}{\mathrm{max}}d_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{}(x),\left(\right)^k)Cd_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{}(1),\left(\right)^k)CL(u_j^{})CE_{\overline{}^k}^{1/2}(u_j^{}),$$

which is the first inequality in the claim. The second inequality in the claim is immediate from the fact that $`w_j`$ is a geodesic and $`E_{\overline{}^k}(w_j)E_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})`$. ∎

###### Claim 3.

There are sequences $`\mu _j`$ and $`\eta _j`$ such that $`\mu _j1`$ and $`\eta _jE_{\overline{}^k}^1(u_j^{})0`$ as $`j\mathrm{}`$, and

$$0E_{\overline{}^k}(w_j)E_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})\mu _jE_{\overline{}^k}(w_j)+\eta _j.$$

###### Proof.

Let $`u_j^{\prime \prime }`$ denote the projection of $`u_j`$ onto the $`\widehat{𝐓}`$ factor of the product $`\overline{}^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$. The Weil-Petersson energy may be bounded

(3.13)
$$E_{}(u_j^{\prime \prime })+\delta _j^1E_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime })E(u_j)E_{}(u_j^{\prime \prime })+\delta _jE_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})+E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime }),$$

where $`E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime })0`$ is a cross term reflecting the error of the Weil-Petersson metric from the product metric, and $`E_{}(u_j^{\prime \prime })`$ denotes the energy of $`u_j^{\prime \prime }`$ with respect to the metric on $`=\left(\right)^k\times \widehat{𝐓}`$ induced from the Weil-Petersson metric by the inclusion in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. Such an estimate follows from (3.5). The constants $`\delta _j1`$ arise because the induced metric on $`\overline{}^k`$ is only quasi-isometric to the product of (3.3). Because the functions $`B_i`$ in (3.5) corresponding to the curves $`c_1,\mathrm{},c_k`$ are continuous, and we have assumed $`B_i(\sigma _{\widehat{x}})=1`$, we conclude that $`\delta _j1`$ as $`j\mathrm{}`$. Consider the map $`\widehat{u}_j`$ with coordinates $`(w_j,u_j^{\prime \prime })`$. This has the same boundary conditions as $`u_j`$. Using (3.13) applied to $`\widehat{u}_j`$, we have

(3.14)
$$E(\widehat{u}_j)E_{}(u_j^{\prime \prime })+\delta _jE_{\overline{}^k}(w_j)+E(w_j,u_j^{\prime \prime }).$$

The left hand side of (3.13) is:

(3.15)
$$E_{}(u_j^{\prime \prime })+\delta _j^1E_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime })E(u_j).$$

On the other hand, since $`u_j`$ is energy minimizing, $`E(u_j)E(\widehat{u}_j)`$. Using this fact and eqs. (3.14) and (3.15), we have:

(3.16)
$$E_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{})\mu _jE_{\overline{}^k}(w_j)+\delta _j\left(E(w_j,u_j^{\prime \prime })+E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime })\right),$$

where $`\mu _j=\delta _j^21`$.

By the estimate (3.5) the cross terms in the expansion of the Weil-Petersson metric near $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ depend on terms involving $`(u_j)_{\xi _i}^3`$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$. Moreover, the uniform Lipschitz bound on $`u`$ implies that $`|(d/dx)(u_j^{})_{\xi _i}|`$ and $`(u_j^{})_{\xi _i}^3|(d/dx)(u_j^{})_{\theta _i}|`$ are bounded. Similarly, the norm of $`(d/dx)u_j^{\prime \prime }`$ with respect to the induced metric is also uniformly bounded. We then have an estimate:

$`E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime })`$ $`C\left(\underset{x[1,1]}{\mathrm{max}}d_{\overline{}^k}(u_j^{}(x),\left(\right)^k)\right)^3,`$
$`E(w_j,u_j^{\prime \prime })`$ $`C\left(\underset{x[1,1]}{\mathrm{max}}d_{\overline{}^k}(w_j(x),\left(\right)^k)\right)^3,`$
for some constant $`C`$ independent of $`j`$. Applying Claim 2 we have:

$$E(u_j^{},u_j^{\prime \prime })+E(w_j,u_j^{\prime \prime })CE_{\overline{}^k}^{3/2}(u_j^{}).$$

Plugging this into (3.16) proves the claim. ∎

We now rescale the metric on $`\overline{}^k`$ by $`E_{\overline{}^k}^{1/2}(u_j^{})`$ to obtain metrics $`d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}`$. We shall denote the energies with respect to these new metrics by $`E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}`$. Note that by definition of this rescaling and Claim 2, we have:

(3.17) $`E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{})`$ $`=1\text{for all }j\text{,}`$
(3.18) $`\underset{j\mathrm{}}{lim}E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(w_j)`$ $`=1.`$
###### Claim 4.

$`\underset{j\mathrm{}}{lim}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(x),w_j(x))=0`$, uniformly for $`x[1,1]`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`\widehat{w}_j(x)`$ be the midpoint along the geodesic from $`u_j^{}(x)`$ to $`w_j(x)`$ in $`\overline{}^k`$ (with the metric $`d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}`$). By \[KS1, proof of Theorem 2.2\] it follows that the map $`x\widehat{w}_j(x)`$ is an admissible competitor to $`w_j`$ with the same boundary conditions. Moreover, we have \[KS1, eq. (2.2iv)\]:

$$2E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(\widehat{w}_j)E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{})+E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(w_j)\frac{1}{2}_1^1\left|\frac{d}{ds}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(s),w_j(s))\right|^2𝑑s.$$

By (3.17) and the fact that $`w_j`$ is a minimizer:

$`2E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(w_j)2E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(\widehat{w}_j)`$ $`1+E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(w_j){\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _1^1}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{d}{ds}}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(s),w_j(s))\right|^2𝑑s`$
$`{\displaystyle \frac{1}{2}}{\displaystyle _1^1}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{d}{ds}}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(s),w_j(s))\right|^2𝑑s`$ $`1E_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(w_j).`$
By (3.18), it follows that

$$\underset{j\mathrm{}}{lim}_1^1\left|\frac{d}{ds}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(s),w_j(s))\right|^2𝑑s=0.$$

By (3.10) we have for any $`x[1,1]`$,

$$d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(x),w_j(x))_1^x\left|\frac{d}{ds}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(s),w_j(s))\right|𝑑s\sqrt{2}\left\{_1^1\left|\frac{d}{ds}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(s),w_j(s))\right|^2𝑑s\right\}^{1/2}.$$

The claim now follows. ∎

We continue with the proof of Theorem 3.6. First, note that since the $`w_j`$ are constant speed geodesics, we may assume that the pull-back distance functions $`w_j^{}d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}`$ converge to a nonzero multiple of the euclidean distance on $`[1,1]`$. In particular, there is a $`c0`$ such that for any $`x[1,1]`$,

$$d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(w_j(x),w_j(1))c|x+1|.$$

By Claim 4 it follows that

$$d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(x),w_j(1))c|x+1|,$$

for all $`x`$. But by (3.9) and (3.10),

$$d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(x),w_j(1))=d_{\overline{}^k}^{(j)}(u_j^{}(x),\left(\right)^k)=0,$$

for all $`x[1,0]`$ and all $`j`$. This contradiction rules out the existence of a geodesic satisfying (3.8), and therefore completes the proof of the Theorem for the first case. Since $`D(𝐜_{(k)})\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is totally geodesic, the proof for the case where $`\sigma _0D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ and $`\sigma _1D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ is identical. ∎

Next we show that the different strata of the boundary intersect transversely:

###### Theorem 3.7.

Let $`u:[0,1]\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ be a geodesic. Suppose $`u`$ is contained in some $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k`$, but is not completely contained in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{k+1}`$. Then $`u`$ is contained in the closure of a single connected component of $`\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k`$.

###### Remark 3.8.

To clarify the statement of this result, let us give an example. Consider disjoint nonisotopic simple closed essential curves $`\{c_1,c_2\}`$ on a closed compact surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_g`$. Let $`\sigma _1`$ denote a point in the boundary component $`D(c_1)`$ of $`\overline{𝐓}_g`$ corresponding to pinching $`c_1`$. Similarly, let $`\sigma _2`$ denote a point in the boundary component $`D(c_2)`$ of $`\overline{𝐓}_g`$ corresponding to pinching $`c_2`$. Since $`c_1`$ and $`c_2`$ are disjoint, the intersection of the closures $`\overline{D}(c_1)\overline{D}(c_2)`$ is nonempty, and in fact contains $`D(c_1,c_2)`$. In particular, there is a path in $`\overline{𝐓}_g`$ from $`\sigma _1`$ to $`\sigma _2`$, lying completely in the boundary, which corresponds to first pinching $`c_2`$, and then “opening up” $`c_1`$. Theorem 3.7 states that this path has a “corner” at its intersection with $`D(c_1,c_2)`$, and is therefore not length minimizing. In fact, the geodesic from $`\sigma _1`$ to $`\sigma _2`$ intersects the boundary of $`\overline{𝐓}_g`$ only in its endpoints.

###### Proof of Theorem 3.7.

The proof of this result may be modelled on that of Theorem 3.6 above. We outline the approach here. Assume, with the intent of arriving at a contradiction, that $`u:[0,1]\mathrm{\Delta }_k`$ is a geodesic with $`u(0)D(𝐜_{(k)})`$, $`u(1)D(𝐜_{(k^{})}^{})`$, $`𝐜_{(k^{})}^{}𝒞_k^{}(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, with $`u(1)\overline{D}(𝐜_{(k)})`$, and $`k^{}k`$. By changing endpoints, we may assume $`u`$ is contained in $`\overline{D}(𝐜_{(k)})\overline{D}(𝐜_{(k^{})}^{})`$. It then follows from Theorem 3.6 that there is some $`\widehat{x}(0,1)`$ such that

$$u([0,\widehat{x}))D(𝐜_{(k)}),u((\widehat{x},1])D(𝐜_{(k^{})}^{}),u(\widehat{x})D(𝐜_{(\mathrm{})})\overline{D}(𝐜_{(k)})\overline{D}(𝐜_{(k^{})}^{}).$$

After renumbering, and by the assumption that $`u(1)\overline{D}(𝐜_{(k)})`$, we may write

$`𝐜_{(k)}`$ $`=\{c_1,\mathrm{},c_{k_1},c_{k_1+1},\mathrm{},c_k\}`$
$`𝐜_{(k^{})}^{}`$ $`=\{c_1,\mathrm{},c_{k_1},c_{k_1+1}^{},\mathrm{},c_k^{}^{}\},`$
for some $`0k_1<k`$, and $`c_ic_j^{}`$ for any $`i,jk_1+1`$. Then by the exact same argument as was used in Claim 1 above, it follows that

$$𝐜_{(\mathrm{})}=\{c_1,\mathrm{},c_{k_1},c_{k_1+1},\mathrm{},c_k,c_{k_1+1}^{},\mathrm{},c_k^{}^{}\}.$$

Thus, after reparametrization and forgetting about the first $`k_1`$ factors, we have produced a geodesic

$$u:[1,1]\overline{}^{kk_1}\times \overline{}^{k^{}k_1}\times \widehat{𝐓}$$

satisfying:

$`u([1,0))`$ $`\left(\right)^{kk_1}\times ^{k^{}k_1}\times \widehat{𝐓}`$
(3.19) $`u((0,1])`$ $`^{kk_1}\times \left(\right)^{k^{}k_1}\times \widehat{𝐓}`$
$`u(0)`$ $`\left(\right)^{kk_1}\times \left(\right)^{k^{}k_1}\times \widehat{𝐓}`$
Using a rescaling argument as in the proof of Theorem 3.6, we compare this geodesic to one in the model metric:

$`w:[1,1]`$ $`\overline{}^{kk_1}\times \overline{}^{k^{}k_1}`$
$`w(1)\left(\right)^{kk_1}\times ^{k^{}k_1}`$ $`,w(1)^{kk_1}\times ()^{k^{}k_1}.`$
Any such geodesic with length bounded away from zero will keep $`w(0)`$ bounded away from $`\left(\right)^{kk_1}\times \left(\right)^{k^{}k_1}`$. As in the proof of Theorem 3.6, this leads to a contradiction to (3.19). ∎

We are now prepared to complete the

###### Proof of Proposition 3.5.

Since $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is a length space, $`u`$ is a geodesic. If $`u`$ has a point in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, then by Proposition 3.1 (2), $`u`$ is entirely contained in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. Suppose $`u`$ is entirely contained in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. Then there is some $`k1`$ such that $`u`$ is contained in $`\mathrm{\Delta }_k`$ but not $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{k+1}`$. Therefore, $`u(x)D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ for some $`x`$ and some $`𝐜_{(k)}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$. By equivariance, it follows that $`u(x+1)=\gamma u(x)\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k`$ as well. By Theorem 3.7, we must have that $`\gamma u(x)D(𝐜_{(k)})`$. But then $`\gamma `$ fixes $`𝐜_{(k)}`$, contradicting the assumption of irreducibility. ∎

## 4. Proof of Theorem 1.1

Since $`\gamma `$ is pseudo-Anosov it follows that $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )>0`$. For if not we could find a sequence $`\sigma _i𝐓_{g,n}`$ such that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,\gamma \sigma _i)0`$. By compactness we may assume that the corresponding sequence $`[\sigma _i]𝐌_{g,n}`$ converges to $`[\sigma ]`$ in $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$. If $`[\sigma ]𝐌_{g,n}`$, then by proper discontinuity of the action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, $`\gamma `$ is periodic, which is a contradiction. If $`[\sigma ]𝐌_{g,n}`$, then for $`i`$ large, $`\gamma `$ fixes the collection of short geodesics on $`\sigma _i`$. This implies that $`\gamma `$ is reducible, which is again a contradiction.

Note that it suffices to prove the result for some power $`\gamma ^k`$ of the pseudo-Anosov: If $`A_{\gamma ^k}`$ is the unique $`\gamma ^k`$-equivariant geodesic, then since $`\gamma A_{\gamma ^k}`$ is also a geodesic left invariant by $`\gamma ^k`$, we must have $`\gamma A_{\gamma ^k}=A_{\gamma ^k}`$, so that this is also a $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic. With this understood, we may assume without loss of generality that $`\gamma `$ is in some finite index subgroup $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$. We will choose $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ to consist of pure elements (cf. \[Iv, p. 3 and Corollary 1.8\]): these are mapping classes that are either pseudo-Anosov or reducible. Furthermore, the reducible pure mapping classes have representatives that fix a collection of simple closed curves pointwise, leave invariant the components of the complement, and on each component they are isotopic to either the identity or a pseudo-Anosov. This turns out to be a very useful construction, mainly for the following reason:

###### Lemma 4.1.

Let $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ be a finite index subgroup of pure mapping classes. Let $`𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$, $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$, and $`[D(𝐜_{(k)})]^{}`$ denote the quotients of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$, and $`D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$. Then $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$ is compact, $`p^{}:𝐓_{g,n}𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$ is a covering space, and for each stratum $`p^{}:D(𝐜_{(k)})𝐓_{g,n}`$, the map $`D(𝐜_{(k)})[D(𝐜_{(k)})]^{}`$ is also a covering.

###### Proof.

Compactness of $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$ follows from the fact that $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$ is compact and $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ has finite index. Moreover, $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ acts properly discontinuously on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ does. The isotropy subgroups in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ are trivial since this $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ contains no periodic elements. Hence, $`𝐓_{g,n}𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$ is a covering space. The argument for the strata of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ is similar. ∎

Choose a length minimizing sequence $`u_j:𝐓_{g,n}`$ of smooth $`\gamma `$-equivariant paths with uniform modulus of continuity. By convexity we have that $`L(u_j)𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$. Let $`v_j=p^{}u_j`$ denote the quotient map $`[0,1]𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$. By Ascoli’s theorem and the compactness of $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$, we may assume that after passing to a subsequence the $`v_j`$ converge uniformly to a Lipschitz map $`v_{\mathrm{}}:[0,1]\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$. We again point out that there is no à priori reason for the existence of a convergent subsequence in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. For the sake of clarity, we will start by considering the case where $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ does not lie entirely in the boundary. Hence, there is a point $`x_0`$ such that $`v_{\mathrm{}}(x_0)𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$. Without loss of generality, we reparametrize so that $`x_0=0`$.

We now modify the sequence by replacing each $`u_j`$ on $`[0,1]`$ by the *geodesic* from $`u_j(0)`$ to $`u_j(1)=\gamma u_j(0)`$. We then extend this modified sequence equivariantly to $``$. We shall continue to denote it by $`u_j`$ and its projection to $`𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$ by $`v_j`$. Note that since the replacement decreases length, $`u_j`$ is still a length minimizing sequence and still has a uniform modulus of continuity. We may assume, after again passing to a subsequence, that $`v_j`$ converges uniformly to a Lipschitz map, again denoted by $`v_{\mathrm{}}:[0,1]\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$ with $`v_{\mathrm{}}(0)=[\sigma _0]^{}𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$. By lower semicontinuity of lengths (cf. \[BH, Proposition 1.20\]), $`L(v_{\mathrm{}})𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$.

By Proposition 3.5, it then suffices to show that $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ is the projection of a $`\gamma `$-equivariant path $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}:\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. To do this, set $`S=v_{\mathrm{}}^1(𝐌_{g,n}^{})`$. Since by Lemma 4.1, $`𝐓_{g,n}𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$ is a covering map, if $`S`$ is empty the desired lift can be found. So the closed set $`S(0,1)`$ is the only possible obstruction to lifting, and we therefore assume it is nonempty. A posteriori, of course, the conclusion of Proposition 3.5 implies that this possibility does not, in fact, occur.

For simplicity, we will first also assume that the image of $`S`$ is contained in the top dimensional stratum of $`𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$, i.e. $`v_{\mathrm{}}[0,1]𝐌_{g,n}^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1]^{}`$, where $`[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1]^{}`$ denotes the quotient of $`\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1𝐓_{g,n}`$ by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$.

Associated to the compact set $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1]^{}`$ we may choose $`\kappa >0`$ such that

1. The injectivity radius in $`[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1]^{}`$ on each component of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$ is $`>>\kappa `$;
2. Let $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}`$ denote the preimage of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$ in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. For any two nonisotopic simple closed curves $`c,c^{}𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, the distance in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ between $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}D(c)`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}D(c^{})`$ is $`>>\kappa `$.

Both statements follow from the compactness of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$.

Recall that $`[D(c)]^{}`$ denotes the quotient of $`D(c)𝐓_{g,n}`$ by $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$. In particular, $`[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1]^{}`$ is the union of connected components $`[D(c)]^{}`$ over isotopy classes of curves $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$. Given $`\delta >0`$, we define a neighborhood $`U_{c,\delta }`$ of $`[D(c)]^{}`$ by the following condition: $`[\sigma ]^{}U_{c,\delta }`$ if $`\mathrm{}_c(\sigma )<\delta `$ for some representative $`\sigma `$ of $`[\sigma ]^{}`$. Also, let $`U_\delta =\{U_{c,\delta }:c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})\}`$. We will also need the following:

###### Lemma 4.2.

Given any $`\epsilon >0`$ there is a $`\delta >0`$ such that if $`[\sigma ]^{}U_{c,\delta }`$, then $`[\sigma ]^{}`$ is within $`\epsilon `$ of $`[D(c)]^{}`$. Moreover, there is a constant $`\epsilon _1>0`$, depending only on the choice of $`\kappa `$, with the following significance: if $`\epsilon `$ is sufficiently small compared to $`\kappa `$, if $`[\sigma ]^{}U_{c,\delta }`$ is within $`\epsilon _1`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)[D(c)]^{}`$, and if $`\sigma _1,\sigma _2`$ are any two lifts of $`[\sigma ]^{}`$ to $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$, then either $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _1,\sigma _2)\kappa `$, or $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _1,\sigma _2)2\epsilon `$.

###### Proof.

The first statement follows from continuity of the length function with respect to the Weil-Petersson metric. Since $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ acts continuously and consists of pure mapping classes, we may choose $`\epsilon _1`$ sufficiently small so that if $`\sigma `$ is within $`\epsilon _1`$ of $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}D(c)`$, and $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$ satisfies $`\gamma B_\kappa (\sigma )B_\kappa (\sigma )\mathrm{}`$, then $`\gamma `$ acts trivially on $`D(c)`$.

With this choice of $`\epsilon _1`$, let $`[\sigma ]^{}`$ satisfy the conditions of the lemma. Then by the first statement there is some $`[\widehat{\sigma }]^{}[D(c)]^{}`$ such that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}([\sigma ]^{},[\widehat{\sigma }]^{})\epsilon `$. Given any lift $`\sigma _1`$ of $`[\sigma ]^{}`$, then since $`\epsilon <<\kappa `$, ($``$) guarantees that $`[\widehat{\sigma }]^{}`$ has a *unique* lift $`\widehat{\sigma }`$ in a $`\kappa `$-neighborhood of $`\sigma _1`$; moreover, $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _1,\widehat{\sigma })\epsilon `$. As discussed above, if $`\sigma _2`$ is another lift of $`[\sigma ]^{}`$ in this neighborhood, i.e. $`\sigma _2=\gamma \sigma _1`$ for some $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$, then $`\gamma `$ acts trivially on $`D(c)`$. In particular, $`\gamma \widehat{\sigma }=\widehat{\sigma }`$. Hence, $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _2,\widehat{\sigma })\epsilon `$ as well. The result follows. ∎

###### Claim 1.

Let $`𝒪=[0,1]S`$. Then $`𝒪`$ is a finite union of relatively open intervals $`I_\beta `$.

###### Proof.

If this were not the case, there would be a connected component $`I_\beta =(x_\beta ,y_\beta )`$ of $`𝒪`$ with $`v_{\mathrm{}}(I_\beta )`$ arbitrarily short. This follows from the uniform modulus of continuity. We may assume that the length of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(I_\beta )`$ is so small that $`v_{\mathrm{}}(I_\beta )`$ is contained in a neighborhood of radius $`\kappa /2`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)[D(c)]^{}`$ for some $`c`$. For $`j`$ large, it follows that $`v_j(I_\beta )`$ is contained in a $`\kappa `$-neighborhood of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)[D(c)]^{}`$. By ($``$) it follows that there exist simple closed curves $`c_j`$, related to $`c`$ by elements of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$, such that $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(x_\beta )`$ and $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(y_\beta )`$ both tend to zero as $`j\mathrm{}`$. Since $`u_j`$ is a geodesic on $`I_\beta `$, it follows by Proposition 3.1 (3) that $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(z)0`$ for any $`zI_\beta `$. But then $`v_{\mathrm{}}(I_\beta )𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$, which is a contradiction. ∎

###### Claim 2.

For $`\delta >0`$ sufficiently small and every $`\beta `$, where $`I_\beta =(x_\beta ,y_\beta )`$, there are curves $`c_{x_\beta }`$ and $`c_{y_\beta }`$ and points $`x_\beta w_\beta <z_\beta y_\beta `$ such that:

1. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([x_\beta ,w_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{c_{x_\beta },\delta }`$
2. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([z_\beta ,y_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{c_{y_\beta },\delta }`$
3. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([w_\beta ,z_\beta ]\right)𝐌_{g,n}^{}U_\delta `$

If $`I_\beta `$ is of the form $`[0,y_\beta )`$ (resp. $`(x_\beta ,1]`$), then we have
4. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([z_\beta ,y_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{c_{y_\beta },\delta }`$ (resp. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([x_\beta ,w_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{c_{x_\beta },\delta }`$)
5. $`v_{\mathrm{}}([0,z_\beta ])𝐌_{g,n}^{}U_\delta `$ (resp. $`v_{\mathrm{}}([w_\beta ,1])𝐌_{g,n}^{}U_\delta `$

###### Proof.

Since $`v_{\mathrm{}}(I_\beta )𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$, we may find a $`\delta `$ satisfying (3) by compactness. By choosing $`\delta `$ even smaller, and using the uniform modulus of continuity of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$, we may assume that $`v_{\mathrm{}}(x_\beta ,w_\beta )`$ and $`v_{\mathrm{}}(z_\beta ,y_\beta )`$ have very small length compared to $`\kappa `$ and that $`v_{\mathrm{}}(w_\beta )`$ and $`v_{\mathrm{}}(z_\beta )`$ are on the boundary of the ball $`U_{c_{x_\beta },\delta }`$. Thus, by the same argument as in the proof of Claim 1, there exist $`c_j`$, related to some $`c_{x_\beta }`$ by elements of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$, such that $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(x_\beta )0`$, and $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(w_\beta )\delta `$ as $`j\mathrm{}`$. By convexity, it follows that for any point $`z(x_\beta ,w_\beta )`$, $`\underset{j\mathrm{}}{lim\; sup}\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(z)\delta `$. It follows that $`v_{\mathrm{}}(z)\overline{U}_{c_{x_\beta },\delta }`$. The other parts follow similarly. ∎

###### Claim 3.

For $`\epsilon _2>0`$ sufficiently small and $`j`$ sufficiently large there is a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on each $`I_\beta `$ such that $`sup_{xI_\beta }\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }(x),u_j(x))2\epsilon _2`$. Moreover, if $`\delta >0`$ and $`x_\beta ,y_\beta `$ are the endpoints of $`I_\beta `$, we can arrange that $`u_j(x_\beta )`$ and $`u_j(y_\beta )`$ are in $`U_\delta `$.

###### Proof.

Fix $`\epsilon _2`$ small relative to $`\kappa `$ and $`\epsilon _1`$. Choose $`\delta `$ small relative to $`\epsilon _2`$ so that the conclusion of Lemma 4.2 (with $`\epsilon _2`$ as $`\epsilon `$) holds. We may choose $`\delta `$ possibly smaller so that the conclusion of Claim 2 holds. On the complement of $`U_\delta `$ there is a uniform lower bound on the injectivity radius of $`𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$. Choose $`\epsilon \epsilon _2`$ small compared to this. For $`j`$ sufficiently large $`v_j`$ is within $`\epsilon `$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ uniformly on $`[0,1]`$. Thus, for such a $`j`$, $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ lifts on $`I_\beta `$ to a path $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }`$ that is within $`\epsilon `$ of $`u_j`$ at some point, and hence every point in $`(w_\beta ,z_\beta )`$. Now by Lemma 4.2, any two lifts of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`(x_\beta ,w_\beta )`$ are either uniformly within $`2\epsilon _2`$ of each other, or they are separated by a distance at least $`\kappa `$. Since we assume $`\epsilon \epsilon _2<<\kappa `$, we see that the distance between the lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }`$ and $`u_j`$ on $`(x_\beta ,w_\beta )`$ is at most $`2\epsilon _2`$. The same reasoning applies to $`(z_\beta ,y_\beta )`$. Finally, since by Claim 1 there are only finitely many intervals $`I_\beta `$, we may choose $`j`$ uniformly. In particular, we can guarantee the second statement. ∎

Recall that $`𝒪`$ is the finite union of intervals $`I_\beta `$. For any $`\epsilon _2>0`$ sufficiently small we have defined a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},𝒪}:𝒪𝐓_{g,n}`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ such that $`sup_{xI_\beta }\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }(x),u_j(x))2\epsilon _2`$, where $`j`$ is chosen large according to $`\epsilon _2`$. We first point out that:

###### Claim 4.

$`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},𝒪}(1)=\gamma \stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},𝒪}(0)`$.

###### Proof.

The two points are both lifts of $`[\sigma _0]^{}𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$, which lies in the complement of $`U_\delta `$. By the equivariance of $`u_j`$ and the construction in Claim 3, they are also within $`2\epsilon `$ of each other. Since $`\epsilon `$ has been chosen much smaller than the injectivity radius of $`𝐌_{g,n}^{}`$ on the complement of $`U_\delta `$, the points must agree. ∎

By the uniform modulus of continuity, $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},𝒪}`$ extends to a map $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\overline{𝒪}}:\overline{𝒪}\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ which is still a lift of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$.

###### Claim 5.

$`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\overline{𝒪}}`$ is continuous.

###### Proof.

Consider intervals $`I_\beta =(x_\beta ,y_\beta )`$ (or $`[0,y_\beta )`$) and $`I_\beta ^{}=(x_\beta ^{},y_\beta ^{})`$ (or $`(x_\beta ^{},1]`$) with $`y_\beta =x_\beta ^{}`$. Then $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\overline{𝒪}}(y_\beta )`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\overline{𝒪}}(x_\beta ^{})`$ are two lifts of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(y_\beta )`$. Moreover, since both points are within $`2\epsilon _2`$ of $`u_j(y_\beta )`$, it follows that they are within $`4\epsilon _2`$ of each other. On the other hand, they are lifts of points in $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$, and since $`\epsilon _2`$ is small compared to $`\kappa `$, they must coincide by ($``$). ∎

Now for each interval $`J=(a,b)[0,1]\overline{𝒪}`$, we have $`v_{\mathrm{}}(J)[D(c)]^{}`$ for some $`c`$. Since $`D(c)[D(c)]^{}`$ is a covering, there is a unique lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},J}`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`J`$ such that $`lim_{xa}\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},J}(x)=\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\overline{𝒪}}(a)`$.

###### Claim 6.

$`sup_{xJ}\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},J}(x),u_j(x))2\epsilon _2`$.

###### Proof.

By ($``$), the fact that $`v_j`$ is uniformly within $`\epsilon <<\kappa `$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$, and the second statement in Claim 3, it follows that there is some representative $`c_j`$ of $`c`$ such that $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(a)`$ and $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}u_j(b)`$ are both less than $`\delta `$. By convexity, this holds on the entire interval $`J`$. Hence, $`u_j`$ is within $`\epsilon _2`$ of $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}D(c_j)`$. As in the proof of Lemma 4.2, a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},J}`$ is either uniformly within $`\epsilon _2`$ of $`u_j`$ or uniformly a distance at least $`\kappa `$ away. Since the latter case does not hold at the initial point $`a`$, the result follows. ∎

Given Claim 6, it follows exactly as in Claim 5 that $`lim_{xb}\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},I}(x)=\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\overline{𝒪}}(b)`$. Continuing this construction for each connected component $`J`$ of $`[0,1]\overline{𝒪}`$, we finally end up with a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`[0,1]`$. By Claim 4, we can extend $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ to a continuous equivariant path $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}:\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. By Claim 1 it follows that $`L(\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}})=L(v_{\mathrm{}})𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$. By Proposition 3.5, $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ is a $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, and this completes the existence part of the proof of Theorem 1.1 in the case where $`v_{\mathrm{}}([0,1])𝐌_{g,n}^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_1]^{}`$.

The general case will follow from an inductive argument. First, note that the case where $`v_{\mathrm{}}([0,1])[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{s+1}]^{}`$, $`s1`$, follows exactly as above. We also point out that in the argument given above we may assume without loss of generality that $`v_{\mathrm{}}(0)`$ lies in $`[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{}`$. This is because the argument may be easily adapted to a minimizing sequence of once-broken geodesics rather than geodesics. Suppose now that

$$v_{\mathrm{}}([0,1])[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{s+1}]^{}\mathrm{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k]^{},$$

where $`0sk`$. We induct on $`ks`$. More precisely, we prove the following statement:

($``$Given a path $`v_{\mathrm{}}=limv_j`$ with $`v_j=p^{}u_j:[0,1]\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}^{}`$, where $`u_j:[0,1]\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ are geodesics with uniform modulus of continuity such that

$$v_{\mathrm{}}([0,1])[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{s+1}]^{}\mathrm{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k]^{},v_{\mathrm{}}(0)[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{},$$

then for $`\epsilon >0`$ sufficiently small there is a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ such that

$$\underset{x[0,1]}{\mathrm{max}}\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u_j(x),\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}(x))<\epsilon .$$

Furthermore, if the sequence satisfies $`u_j(1)=\gamma u_j(0)`$ for some $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, then the $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ can be chosen so that $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}(1)=\gamma \stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}(0)`$.

The statement ($``$) has already be proven in the case $`ks=1`$. Inductively assume the statement to be true for all integers $`<ks`$, and let $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ be as in ($``$). Let $`S=v_{\mathrm{}}^1[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k]^{}`$. If $`S=\mathrm{}`$ the statement holds by the inductive hypothesis. Thus we may assume that $`S`$ is a nonempty closed subset of $`(0,1)`$. Next, associated to the compact set $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k]^{}`$ we can choose $`\kappa >0`$ such that:

1. The injectivity radius in $`[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k]^{}`$ on each component of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$ is $`>>\kappa `$;
2. Let $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}`$ denote the preimage of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$ in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. For any two nonisotopic $`𝐜_{(k)},𝐜_{(k)}^{}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$, the distance in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ between $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}D(𝐜_{(k)})`$ and $`\stackrel{~}{v_{\mathrm{}}(S)}D(𝐜_{(k)}^{})`$ is $`>>\kappa `$.

As before, both statements can be satisfied by the compactness of $`v_{\mathrm{}}(S)`$.

Given a collection $`𝐜_{(k)}=\{c_1,\mathrm{},c_k\}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ we define a neighborhood $`U_{𝐜_{(k)},\delta }[\mathrm{\Delta }_s]^{}`$ of $`[D(𝐜_{(k)})]^{}`$ by the following condition: $`[\sigma ]^{}U_{𝐜_{(k)},\delta }`$ if $`\mathrm{}_{c_i}(\sigma )<\delta `$, $`i=1,\mathrm{},k`$, for some representative $`\sigma `$ of $`[\sigma ]^{}`$. Also, let $`U_\delta =\{U_{𝐜_{(k)},\delta }:𝐜_{(k)}𝒞_k(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})\}`$. Then a version of Lemma 4.2 holds in this situation as well, *mutatis mutandi*. Also, if we set $`𝒪=[0,1]S`$, then $`𝒪`$ is a finite union of intervals as in Claim 1. The proof of Claim 2 also goes through with no change. For convenience, we state the appropriate version:

###### Claim 2 ($`k`$).

For $`\delta >0`$ sufficiently small and every $`\beta `$, where $`I_\beta =(x_\beta ,y_\beta )`$, there are curves $`𝐜_{(k)}^{}{}_{x_\beta }{}^{}`$ and $`𝐜_{(k)}^{}{}_{y_\beta }{}^{}`$ and points $`x_\beta w_\beta <z_\beta y_\beta `$ such that:

1. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([x_\beta ,w_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{𝐜_{(k)}^{}{}_{x_\beta }{}^{},\delta }`$
2. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([z_\beta ,y_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{𝐜_{(k)}^{}{}_{y_\beta }{}^{},\delta }`$
3. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([w_\beta ,z_\beta ]\right)[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{s+1}]^{}\mathrm{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{k1}]^{}U_\delta `$

If $`I_\beta `$ is of the form $`[0,y_\beta )`$ (resp. $`(x_\beta ,1]`$), then we have
4. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([z_\beta ,y_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{𝐜_{(k)}^{}{}_{y_\beta }{}^{},\delta }`$ (resp. $`v_{\mathrm{}}\left([x_\beta ,w_\beta ]\right)\overline{U}_{𝐜_{(k)}^{}{}_{x_\beta }{}^{},\delta }`$)
5. $`v_{\mathrm{}}([0,z_\beta ])𝐌_{g,n}^{}U_\delta `$ (resp. $`v_{\mathrm{}}([w_\beta ,1])[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_s]^{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{s+1}]^{}\mathrm{}[\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_{k1}]^{}U_\delta `$

###### Claim 3 ($`k`$).

For $`\epsilon _2>0`$ sufficiently small and $`j`$ sufficiently large there is a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on each $`I_\beta `$ such that $`sup_{xI_\beta }\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }(x),u_j(x))2\epsilon _2`$. Moreover, if $`\delta >0`$ and $`x_\beta ,y_\beta `$ are the endpoints of $`I_\beta `$, we can arrange that $`u_j(x_\beta )`$ and $`u_j(y_\beta )`$ are in $`U_\delta `$.

###### Proof.

Again choose $`\epsilon _2`$ and $`\delta `$ as in Claim 3. Then choose $`\epsilon \epsilon _2`$ less than the injectivity radius of the strata $`\dot{\mathrm{\Delta }}_k^{}U_\delta `$, $`sk^{}<k`$. By the inductive hypothesis, if $`j`$ is sufficiently large there is a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }`$ of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`I_\beta `$ that is within $`\epsilon `$ of $`u_j`$ at every point in $`(w_\beta ,z_\beta )`$. Now by the analogue of Lemma 4.2, any two lifts of $`v_{\mathrm{}}`$ on $`(x_\beta ,w_\beta )`$ or $`(z_\beta ,y_\beta )`$ are either uniformly within $`2\epsilon _2`$ of each other, or they are separated by a distance at least $`\kappa `$. Since we assume $`\epsilon \epsilon _2<<\kappa `$, we see that the distance between the lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},\beta }`$ and $`u_j`$ on $`(x_\beta ,w_\beta )`$ is at most $`2\epsilon _2`$. As before, since there are only finitely many intervals $`I_\beta `$, we may choose $`j`$ uniformly, and the second statement follows. ∎

In this way we have constructed a lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},𝒪}:𝒪\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. Note that because of the choice of $`\epsilon `$ in Claim 3 $`(k)`$, the exact same statement Claim 4 applies to $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{},𝒪}`$ as well. Now the remaining parts of the argument, namely, Claims 5 and 6, follow exactly as before to give the desired lift $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$. This proves ($``$) for $`ks`$, which by induction then holds in general. By Proposition 3.5, $`\stackrel{~}{v}_{\mathrm{}}`$ is a $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, and this completes the existence part of the proof of Theorem 1.1. Uniqueness follows from the geodesic convexity and negative curvature of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.

## 5. Classification of Weil-Petersson Isometries

The existence of equivariant geodesics for pseudo-Anosov mapping classes allows for the precise classification of Weil-Petersson isometries in terms of translation length (3.7) that we have given in Table 1. First, let us clarify the terminology used there: $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is pseudoperiodic if it is either periodic, or it is reducible and periodic on the reduced components; it is strictly pseudoperiodic if it is pseudoperiodic but not periodic. Furthermore, we say that $`\gamma `$ is semisimple if there is $`\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}`$ such that $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )=\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\gamma \sigma )`$.

###### Theorem 5.1.

An infinite order mapping class is semisimple if and only if it is irreducible. More precisely, any $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ belongs to exactly one of the four classes characterized in Table 1.

A slightly different picture emerges if one considers the action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on the completion $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. There, every $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is semisimple, although the action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ is, of course, no longer properly discontinuous (indeed, according to \[KL\] it cannot be). It is worth mentioning that while we have defined pseudo-Anosov’s in the usual way in terms of measured foliations, the only property that we use in the proofs of Theorems 1.1 and 5.1 is that these mapping classes have infinite order and are irreducible. In particular, the description given in Table 1 is independent of Thurston’s classification provided we replace the entry “pseudo-Anosov” by “infinite irreducible.”

To begin the proof, note that the following is a consequence of the proper discontinuity of the action of the mapping class group that we have already implicitly used in the proof of Lemma 4.2:

###### Lemma 5.2.

Let $`\sigma \overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. Then there is a neighborhood $`U`$ of $`\sigma `$ such that if $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is such that $`\gamma UU\mathrm{}`$, then $`\gamma `$ is pseudoperiodic.

###### Lemma 5.3.

Let $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$. Then $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )=0`$ if and only if $`\gamma `$ is pseudoperiodic.

###### Proof.

Clearly, we need only show that $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )=0`$ implies pseudoperiodic, the other direction following from the fact that a pseudoperiodic element has a fixed point in $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$. Let $`\sigma _j𝐓_{g,n}`$ be a sequence such that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _j,\gamma \sigma _j)0`$. We may assume that $`[\sigma _j]`$ converges to some $`[\sigma ]\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$. Hence, we can find $`h_j\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ such that $`h_j\sigma _j`$ converges to some lift $`\sigma \overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ of $`[\sigma ]`$. Let $`U`$ be a neighborhood of $`\sigma `$ as in Lemma 5.2. For $`j`$ large, $`h_j\sigma _j`$ and $`h_j\gamma \sigma _j`$ are in $`U`$. Then by the conclusion of the lemma, $`h_j\gamma h_j^1`$ is pseudoperiodic; hence, so is $`\gamma `$. ∎

###### Lemma 5.4.

If there is a complete, nonconstant Weil-Petersson geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ that is equivariant with respect to a mapping class $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, then $`\gamma `$ is pseudo-Anosov.

###### Proof.

By geodesic convexity and negative curvature, $`\gamma `$ cannot be periodic. We claim that $`\gamma `$ cannot be reducible either. To prove the claim, let $`c𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$. By Wolpert’s result Proposition 3.1 (3), if $`u:𝐓_{g,n}`$ is a Weil-Petersson geodesic, then $`f(x)=\mathrm{}_c(u(x))`$ is a strictly convex function. On the other hand, if $`\gamma (c)=c`$ up to isotopy, and if $`u`$ is equivariant with respect to $`\gamma `$, then $`f(x)`$ would also be periodic, which is absurd. ∎

###### Proof of Theorem 5.1.

The first row of Table 1 follows from Lemma 5.3 and the fact that $`\gamma `$ has a fixed point in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ if and only if $`\gamma `$ is periodic. If $`\gamma `$ is pseudo-Anosov, then as a consequence of Theorem 1.1, $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$ is attained along an equivariant geodesic, so pseudo-Anosov’s are semisimple. Conversely, suppose the infimum is attained at $`\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}`$, but $`\gamma \sigma \sigma `$. Then we argue as in Bers \[B\] (see also, \[BGS, p. 81\]): by Proposition 3.1 (2) there is a Weil-Petersson geodesic $`u`$ from $`\sigma `$ and $`\gamma \sigma `$. Similarly, there is a geodesic $`\beta `$ from $`\sigma `$ to $`\gamma ^2\sigma `$. We claim that $`\beta =u\gamma u`$. For if not, and if $`\sigma ^{}`$ denotes the point on $`u`$ half the distance from $`\sigma `$ to $`\gamma \sigma `$, then the distance from $`\sigma ^{}`$ to $`\gamma \sigma ^{}`$ would be strictly less than $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\gamma \sigma )=𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$, which is a contradiction. In this way, we see that $`u`$ may be extended to a complete $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic. Lemma 5.4 then implies that $`\gamma `$ is pseudo-Anosov. A process of elimination fills in the remaining item of the table. ∎

## 6. Proof of Theorem 1.2

We begin this section by studying the asymptotic behavior of Weil-Petersson geodesics. The guiding idea is that the ideal boundary of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ with respect to the Weil-Petersson metric should not be too different from the Thurston boundary of projective measured foliations. While we shall not attempt a full description here, the result we obtain in this direction nevertheless indicates a significant link between the Weil-Petersson geometry of the action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ on the one hand, and the purely topological action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ on $`𝒫`$ on the other.

###### Definition 6.1.

Let $`\alpha ,\alpha ^{}:𝐓_{g,n}`$ be paths parametrized by arc length. We say that $`\alpha `$ and $`\alpha ^{}`$ diverge if the function $`(t,s)\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\alpha (t),\alpha ^{}(s))`$ is proper.

Our goal is to prove the following

###### Theorem 6.2.

Let $`A_\gamma `$ and $`A_\gamma ^{}`$ be the axes for independent pseudo-Anosov mapping classes $`\gamma `$ and $`\gamma ^{}`$. Then $`A_\gamma `$ and $`A_\gamma ^{}`$ diverge.

As a first step, we have

###### Lemma 6.3.

Let $`A_\gamma `$ be the axis of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class $`\gamma `$, and let $`\{F_+,F_{}\}`$ denote the stable and unstable foliations of $`\gamma `$. If $`A_\gamma (t_j)[F]`$ in the Thurston topology for some sequence $`t_j\mathrm{}`$, then $`[F]\{[F_+],[F_{}]\}`$.

###### Proof.

By definition, there is a fixed length $`L=𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$ such that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(A_\gamma (t_j),\gamma A_\gamma (t_j))=L`$ for all $`j`$. By equivariance and the parametrization by arc length, $`\gamma A_\gamma (t_j)=A_\gamma (t_j+L)`$. Since the projection of $`A_\gamma `$ to $`𝐌_{g,n}`$ is a closed curve, it lives in a fixed compact subset. Hence, along the path $`A_\gamma (t)`$ the Weil-Petersson and Teichmüller metrics are uniformly quasi-isometric. Thus, for some constant $`K`$, $`\mathrm{d}_\mathrm{T}(A_\gamma (t_j),\gamma A_\gamma (t_j))K`$ for all $`j`$. For any simple closed curve $`c`$ on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$, it follows from \[W2, Lemma 3.1\] that

(6.1)
$$e^{2K}\mathrm{}_c(A_\gamma (t_j))\mathrm{}_c(\gamma A_\gamma (t_j))e^{2K}\mathrm{}_c(A_\gamma (t_j))$$

for all $`j`$. The result now follows easily: recall from Section 2 the notion of a minimal foliation and the associated definitions (2.1) and (2.2). If $`[F]_{\mathrm{min}}`$, then it is easily deduced from (6.1) that $`i(F,c)=0i(\gamma F,c)=0`$. Hence, $`[\gamma F]Gr[F]`$, contradicting (2.3). On the other hand, if $`[F]_{\mathrm{min}}`$, then choose a sequence $`c_j𝒞(\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n})`$ such that $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}(A_\gamma (t_j))`$ is uniformly bounded for all $`j`$. We may assume there are numbers $`r_j1`$ and $`G`$ so that $`r_jc_jG`$ in the Thurston topology. It then follows as in \[DKW, Lemma 2.1\] that $`i(F,G)=0`$. By (6.1), we also have that $`\mathrm{}_{c_j}(\gamma A_\gamma (t_j))`$ is uniformly bounded, so that by the same argument $`i(\gamma F,G)=0`$. Since we assume $`F`$ is minimal, this implies $`[\gamma F]Top[F]`$. Hence, by (2.4), $`[F]\{[F_+],[F_{}]\}`$. ∎

###### Lemma 6.4.

Let $`\sigma _j`$, $`\sigma _j^{}`$ converge in the Thurston topology to projective measured foliations $`[F]`$ and $`[F^{}]`$, respectively. Assume that $`F`$ is minimal and that $`[\sigma _j]`$ and $`[\sigma _j^{}]`$ lie in a fixed compact subset of $`𝐌_{g,n}`$. Also, we suppose that there is a fixed $`D0`$ such that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _j,\sigma _j^{})D`$ for all $`j`$. Then $`[F^{}]Top[F]`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`u_j`$ denote the Weil-Petersson geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ from $`\sigma _j`$ to $`\sigma _j^{}`$, and let $`v_j`$ denote its projection to $`𝐌_{g,n}`$. As in Section 4, we may assume (after passing to a subsequence) that the $`v_j`$ converge to a piecewise geodesic $`v_{\mathrm{}}:[0,1]\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$. More precisely, there are values $`0=x_0<x_1x_2\mathrm{}x_{N1}<x_N=1`$ with the following properties: (1) $`v_{\mathrm{}}|_{(x_i,x_{i+1})}`$ is either a geodesic in $`𝐌_{g,n}`$ or is entirely contained in $`𝐌_{g,n}`$; and (2) if $`v_{\mathrm{}}|_{[x_i,x_{i+1}]}𝐌_{g,n}`$ then for $`j`$ sufficiently large there is a sequence $`c_j^{(i)}`$ of simple closed curves on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g,n}`$ whose lengths with respect to both $`u_j(x_i)`$ and $`u_j(x_{i+1})`$ converge to zero as $`j\mathrm{}`$. We now proceed inductively: For any $`x[0,x_1)`$ and any sequence such that $`u_j(x)[F_x]`$ in the Thurston topology, we claim that $`F_x`$ is minimal and $`i(F,F_x)=0`$. For since $`v_{\mathrm{}}|_{[0,x]}`$ is contained in a compact subset of $`𝐌_{g,n}`$, on which the Weil-Petersson and Teichmüller metrics are therefore uniformly quasi-isometric, the claim follows exactly as in the proof of Lemma 6.3 above. Now choose $`x<x_1`$ and $`x_2<y`$ sufficiently close so that the lengths of $`c_j^{(1)}`$ with respect to both $`u_j(x)`$ and $`u_j(y)`$ are bounded. If we choose $`r_j1`$ such that $`r_jc_jG`$, then as in the proof of Lemma 6.3 above, $`i(F,G)=0`$. Similarly, if $`u_j(y)[F_y]`$, then $`i(G,F_y)=0`$, and so $`F_yTop[F]`$. Continuing in this way, we see that $`F^{}Top[F]`$. ∎

###### Proof of Theorem 6.2.

Suppose $`A_\gamma `$ and $`A_\gamma ^{}`$ do not diverge. Then there is a constant $`D0`$ and an unbounded sequence $`(t_j,s_j)`$ such that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(A_\gamma (t_j),A_\gamma ^{}(s_j))D`$. Necessarily, $`t_j`$ and $`s_j`$ are both unbounded, so we may assume that $`t_j,s_j\mathrm{}`$. Let $`\{F_+,F_{}\}`$ and $`\{F_+^{},F_{}^{}\}`$ denote the stable and unstable foliations of $`\gamma `$ and $`\gamma ^{}`$, respectively. Since $`\gamma `$ and $`\gamma ^{}`$ are independent, all four of these foliations are mutually topologically distinct (cf. \[McP, Corollary 2.6\]). After perhaps passing to a subsequence, we may assume that there are measured foliations $`F`$ and $`F^{}`$ such that $`A_\gamma (t_j)[F]`$ and $`A_\gamma ^{}(s_j)[F^{}]`$ in the Thurston topology. By Lemma 6.3, $`[F]\{[F_+],[F_{}]\}`$ and $`[F^{}]\{[F_+^{}],[F_{}^{}]\}`$. Let $`\sigma _j=A_\gamma (t_j)`$ and $`\sigma _j^{}=A_\gamma ^{}(s_j)`$. Then since $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _j,\sigma _j^{})D`$, and $`[\sigma _j],[\sigma _j^{}]`$ lie on the closed geodesics $`[A_\gamma ]`$ and $`[A_\gamma ^{}]`$, and the stable and unstable foliations of a pseudo-Anosov are minimal, the hypotheses of Lemma 6.4 are satisfied. Thus, $`F`$ and $`F^{}`$ are topologically equivalent, which is a contradiction. This completes the proof. ∎

Let $`H\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ be a finitely generated subgroup. To each set of generators $`𝒢`$ we associate a function on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$:

(6.2)
$$\delta _{H,𝒢}(\sigma )=\mathrm{max}\left\{\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\gamma \sigma ):\gamma 𝒢\right\}.$$

###### Definition 6.5 (cf. \[KS2, §2\]).

A finitely generated subgroup $`H\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ is proper (or acts properly on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$) if there exists a generating set $`𝒢`$ of $`H`$ with the property that for every $`M0`$, the set $`\{\sigma 𝐓_{g,n}:\delta _{H,𝒢}(\sigma )M\}`$ is bounded.

Clearly, the condition in the definition of a proper subgroup is independent of the choice of generating set. For complete manifolds of nonpositive curvature, the existence of two hyperbolic isometries with nonasymptotic axes is sufficient to prove that a subgroup of isometries is proper. Theorem 1.2 shows that this works for mapping class groups as well, where hyperbolic is replaced with pseudo-Anosov. The approach taken below to prove this result uses the relationship, demonstrated above, between the axes of pseudo-Anosov’s and their corresponding stable and unstable foliations. We first need one more

###### Lemma 6.6.

Let $`A_\gamma `$ be the axis of a pseudo-Anosov $`\gamma `$ and $`\sigma _i𝐓_{g,n}`$ any sequence. Then as $`i\mathrm{}`$,

$$\mathrm{dist}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,A_\gamma )+\mathrm{}\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,\gamma \sigma _i)+\mathrm{}.$$

###### Proof.

Choose $`\sigma A_\gamma `$, and let $`\sigma _0A_\gamma `$ such that $`\mathrm{dist}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,A_\gamma )=\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\sigma _0)`$. Let $`\alpha `$ be the geodesic from $`\sigma _0`$ to $`\sigma `$, parametrized by arc length. Now $`f(t)=\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\alpha (t),\gamma \alpha (t))`$ is strictly convex with $`f^{}(0)=0`$, since $`f(0)=𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$ is the minimum of $`f`$. Moreover, since $`A_\gamma `$ projects to a closed curve in $`𝐌_{g,n}`$, there is a neighborhood of $`A_\gamma `$ on which the curvature is bounded above by a strictly negative constant. Therefore, for $`t_\gamma >0`$ sufficiently small depending only $`A_\gamma `$, there is $`\epsilon _\gamma >0`$, depending only on $`t_\gamma `$ and $`A_\gamma `$, such that $`f^{}(t_\gamma )\epsilon _\gamma `$. So if $`L=\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\sigma _0)`$, then

(6.3)
$$\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\gamma \sigma )=f(L)\epsilon _\gamma (Lt_\gamma )=\epsilon _\gamma (\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,\sigma _0)t_\gamma ).$$

Applying this to the sequence $`\sigma _i`$ completes the proof. ∎

###### Proof of Theorem 1.2.

Let $`H\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ be sufficiently large. Then by definition $`H`$ contains two independent pseudo-Anosov’s $`\gamma `$ and $`\gamma ^{}`$. Since the condition of being proper does not depend on the choice of generating set, we may include the elements $`\gamma ,\gamma ^{}`$ in $`𝒢`$. If $`H`$ is not proper then there is a number $`M0`$ and an unbounded sequence $`\sigma _i𝐓_{g,n}`$ such that $`\delta _{H,𝒢}(\sigma _i)M`$. In particular, $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,\gamma \sigma _i)`$ and $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,\gamma ^{}\sigma _i)`$ are both bounded by $`M`$ for all $`i`$. By Lemma 6.6, it follows that both $`\mathrm{dist}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,A_\gamma )`$ and $`\mathrm{dist}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma _i,A_\gamma ^{})`$ are bounded. Since $`\sigma _i`$ is unbounded in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, this implies that $`\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(A_\gamma (t_i),A_\gamma ^{}(s_i))`$ is bounded along some unbounded sequence $`(t_i,s_i)`$. But this contradicts Theorem 6.2. ∎

## 7. Further Results

This section is independent of the rest of the paper. In it we discuss the convergence of the heat equation as a method for finding equivariant geodesics. The result, Theorem 7.4, relies on the existence Theorem 1.1. It would be useful to have a direct proof of convergence that would circumvent the detailed discussion in Section 4, though at present it is not clear how to do this. At the end of this section we also point out additional consequences of the existence of equivariant geodesics.

Let $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ and $`u:𝐓_{g,n}`$, equivariant with respect to $`\gamma `$. The length of $`u`$ is, by our convention,

(7.1)
$$L(u)=L\left(u|_{[0,1]}\right)=_0^1\dot{u}𝑑x,$$

where $``$ denotes the Weil-Petersson norm on tangent vectors to $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. We use a similar convention for the energy $`E(u)`$:

(7.2)
$$E(u)=E\left(u|_{[0,1]}\right)=_0^1\dot{u}^2𝑑x.$$

In particular, $`L(u)E^{1/2}(u)`$.

We define the heat flow of $`u`$ as follows (cf. \[ES, Ham\]). The flow is a time dependent family of $`\gamma `$-equivariant paths $`u(t,):𝐓_{g,n}`$, where for $`t0`$, $`u(t,x)`$ satisfies the heat equation:

(7.3)
$$\dot{u}=\mathrm{\Delta }u,u(0,x)=u(x).$$

Here, $`\dot{u}`$ denotes the $`t`$ derivative of $`u(t,x)`$, and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is the induced Laplacian from the Levi-Cività connection of the Weil-Petersson metric on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. The following is standard:

###### Lemma 7.1.

For any initial condition, there is $`T>0`$ such that the solution $`u(t,x)`$ of (7.3) exists and is unique for all $`0t<T`$.

To obtain existence for all time, we need to guarantee that the solution does not run off to the boundary $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$ in finite time. By convexity, it suffices to require this at a single point, as the following lemma demonstrates:

###### Lemma 7.2.

Let $`u(t,x)`$ be a $`\gamma `$-equivariant solution to the heat equation for $`0t<T`$. Suppose there is $`x_0`$ and a compact set $`K𝐓_{g,n}`$ such that $`u(t,x_0)K`$ for all $`t<T`$. Then there is $`\epsilon >0`$ such that $`u(t,x)`$ may be extended to a solution for $`0t<T+\epsilon `$.

###### Proof.

Let $`f`$ be the convex exhaustion function on $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ from Proposition 3.1 (4). Then by a straightforward calculation using the negative curvature of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, $`g(t,x)=f(u(t,x))`$ is a subsolution to the heat equation. By equivariance of the path we conclude that for each $`N`$ there is a compact set $`K_N𝐓_{g,n}`$ such that $`u(t,x_0+N)`$ and $`u(t,x_0N)`$ are contained in $`K_N`$ for all $`t<T`$. In particular, $`g(t,x_0+N)`$ and $`g(t,x_0N)`$ are uniformly bounded in $`t`$. On the other hand, since $`g(t,x)`$ is a subsolution, an interior maximum on $`[x_0N,x_0+N]`$ decreases in $`t`$. Hence, for each fixed $`N`$, $`g(t,x)`$ is uniformly bounded for all $`0t<T`$ and for all $`x[x_0N,x_0+N]`$. So for $`x`$ in a compact set in $``$, $`u(t,x)`$ lies in a compact set in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. It follows that as $`tT`$, $`u(t,x)`$ converges to a $`\gamma `$-equivariant path $`u_T:𝐓_{g,n}`$. Using $`u_T`$ as initial conditions in Lemma 7.1, we may find an extension to some $`T+\epsilon `$. ∎

We also have the following criterion for convergence of the flow at infinite time:

###### Lemma 7.3.

Let $`u(t,x)`$ be a $`\gamma `$-equivariant solution to the heat equation. Suppose there is $`x_0`$, $`T0`$, and a compact set $`K𝐓_{g,n}`$ such that $`u(t,x_0)K`$ for all $`tT`$. Then $`u(t,x)`$ converges to a complete $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.

###### Proof.

The proof follows that of Lemma 7.2 verbatim. One obtains convergence of $`u(t,x)`$ along a subsequence $`t_j\mathrm{}`$ by standard methods. Convergence for all $`t`$ follows from Hartman’s lemma \[Har\]. ∎

Finally, given the existence Theorem 1.1, we can state a general result for convergence of the heat flow:

###### Theorem 7.4.

Let $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ be pseudo-Anosov. There is a constant $`c(\gamma )>0`$ with the following significance: If $`u:𝐓_{g,n}`$ is a $`\gamma `$-equivariant smooth map satisfying $`E^{1/2}(u)𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )+c(\gamma )`$, and $`u(t,x)`$ denotes the heat flow (7.3) with initial condition $`u(x)`$, then $`u(t,x)`$ exists for all $`t0`$ and converges as $`t\mathrm{}`$ to the unique $`\gamma `$-equivariant complete geodesic in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$.

###### Proof.

Let $`A_\gamma :𝐓_{g,n}`$ denote the complete $`\gamma `$-equivariant geodesic from Theorem 1.1. By (6.3) it follows that if the length of a $`\gamma `$-equivariant map $`u`$ is near to $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )`$, then $`u`$ must be uniformly close to $`A_\gamma `$. We can now apply Hartman’s distance decreasing property \[Har\] to conclude that along the flow,

$$\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u(t,x),A_\gamma (x))\underset{x^{}}{sup}\mathrm{d}_{\mathrm{WP}}(u(x^{}),A_\gamma (x^{}))$$

for all $`x`$ and all $`t`$ in the domain of definition. In particular, if the right hand side in the above expression is sufficiently small compared to the distance of $`A_\gamma `$ to $`\overline{𝐓}_{g,n}`$, then the inequality guarantees that $`u(t,x)`$ stays in a compact set in $`𝐓_{g,n}`$. The result then follows from Lemmas 7.2 and 7.3. ∎

To conclude, it is worth pointing out two additional consequences of the results in this paper. First, we immediately obtain the following well-known fact concerning mapping class groups (cf. \[Mc\]):

###### Corollary 7.5.

Let $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ be pseudo-Anosov and let $`\gamma `$ denote the cyclic group generated by $`\gamma `$. Then the centralizer and normalizer of $`\gamma `$ in $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ are both virtually cyclic.

###### Proof.

It clearly suffices to prove the statement for the normalizer, which we denote by $`N\gamma `$. Recall from Section 4 that there is a finite index subgroup $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ which contains no periodic mapping classes. Let $`N^{}\gamma =N\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}^{}`$, and let $`A_\gamma `$ the axis of $`\gamma `$. Then for $`gN^{}\gamma `$, we have $`\gamma ^kgA_\gamma gA_\gamma `$ for some $`k`$. But $`A_\gamma `$ is also the unique $`\gamma ^k`$-equivariant geodesic, so $`gA_\gamma =A_\gamma `$. In this way, we have a homomorphism $`N^{}\gamma Iso(A_\gamma )Iso()`$, which, by the assumption of no periodic mapping classes, must be injective. The result follows, since by proper discontinuity of the action of $`\mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$, the image of $`N^{}\gamma `$ in $`Iso(A_\gamma )`$ is also discrete. ∎

Second, the proof of Theorem 5.1 shows that, just like for the Teichmüller metric, there is a *shortest* length for a closed Weil-Petersson geodesic in the moduli space of curves.

###### Theorem 7.6.

There exists a constant $`\delta (g,n)>0`$ depending only on $`(g,n)`$ such that if $`\gamma \mathrm{\Gamma }_{g,n}`$ satisfies $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )0`$, then $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )\delta (g,n)`$.

###### Proof.

The proof proceeds by induction on $`3g3+n`$. Reducible elements fall into the inductive hypothesis. Hence, we may assume that $`\gamma `$ is pseudo-Anosov. Let $`A_\gamma `$ be the axis of $`\gamma `$ as above. We claim that there is some $`\delta _1>0`$ depending only on $`(g,n)`$ such that either $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )\delta _1`$ or there is some point $`\sigma A_\gamma `$ such that $`\mathrm{dist}_{\mathrm{WP}}(\sigma ,𝐓_{g,n})\delta _1`$. This follows from Lemma 5.2 and the compactness of $`\overline{𝐌}_{g,n}`$. Next, on the set of points a distance $`\delta _1/2`$ from $`𝐓_{g,n}`$, the Weil-Petersson and Teichmüller metrics are uniformly quasi-isometric. If $`𝔏_{\mathrm{WP}}(\gamma )\delta _1/2`$ is very small, then the translation length of $`\gamma `$ with respect to the Teichmüller metric would also be very small. On the other hand, the latter has a uniform lower bound depending only on $`(g,n)`$ (cf. \[Pe\]). This completes the proof. ∎

## 8. Appendix

The purpose of this appendix is to prove the asymptotic estimate for the Weil-Petersson metric asserted in (3.5). The idea, due to Yamada \[Y1\], is to combine the original construction of Masur \[M2\] with the precise estimates for the hyperbolic metric due to Wolpert \[W5\]. This requires some background notation which we shall sketch rather quickly. A more detailed discussion may be found in the references cited.

Consider a point $`\sigma \widehat{𝐓}=𝐓_{g_1,n_1}\times \mathrm{}\times 𝐓_{g_N,n_N}`$ obtained by collapsing curves $`c_1,\mathrm{},c_k`$. Then $`\sigma `$ corresponds to a nodal surface: that is, a collection of Riemann surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g_1,n_1},\mathrm{},\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g_N,n_N}`$ with identifications that are holomorphically the coordinate lines in $`^2`$ made in a neighborhood of certain of the marked points. More precisely, each curve $`c_{\mathrm{}}`$ gives rise to a pair of points $`p_{\mathrm{}},q_{\mathrm{}}`$ that are identified with marked points in the disjoint union of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{g_j,n_j}`$. Let $`z_{\mathrm{}},w_{\mathrm{}}`$ indicate local conformal coordinates at $`p_{\mathrm{}},q_{\mathrm{}}`$. Then the (connected) nodal surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0`$ is formed via the identification $`z_{\mathrm{}}w_{\mathrm{}}=0`$. We construct a degenerating family of Riemann surfaces $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$, $`t=(t_1,\mathrm{},t_k)`$, by replacing the nodal neighborhoods with annuli $`A_{\mathrm{},t}`$ given by the equations $`z_{\mathrm{}}w_{\mathrm{}}=t_{\mathrm{}}`$. We also may deform the conformal structure on the initial nodal surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0`$ in regions compactly supported away from the nodes. In the notation of (3.5), this gives rise to deformations $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_{t,\tau }`$ of the family $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$ corresponding to the coordinates $`\tau _{k+1},\mathrm{},\tau _{3g3+n}`$. Passing to the infinite abelian covering with coordinates $`(\theta _{\mathrm{}},|t_{\mathrm{}}|)`$, these degenerating families parametrize a neighborhood of $`\sigma `$ in the model neighborhood. For brevity we will omit the $`\tau `$ parameters from the notation. Since the uniformizing coordinates may be chosen to vary continuously with respect to the $`\tau `$ parameters, this is no loss of generality.

We will denote by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ the surface with boundary which is the complement of a neighborhood of the nodes of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0`$. The gluing of $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ with the annuli $`A_{\mathrm{},t}`$ takes place on pairs of annuli $`B_{\mathrm{},t}`$, also supported away from the nodes (see \[W5\]). The nodal surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_0`$ carries a complete hyperbolic metric $`ds_0^2=\rho _0(z)|dz|^2`$ which induces a hyperbolic metric on the surface $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ with boundary. We assume that the conformal coordinates used in the gluing have been chosen so that in a neighborhood of each node, $`\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})=(|z_{\mathrm{}}|\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2`$. Furthermore, each annulus $`A_{\mathrm{},t}`$ carries a hyperbolic metric:

(8.1)
$$ds_{\mathrm{},|t|}^2=ds_{\mathrm{},0}^2\frac{\mathrm{\Theta }_{\mathrm{},|t|}^2}{\left(\mathrm{sin}\mathrm{\Theta }_{\mathrm{},|t|}\right)^2},$$

where

$$ds_{\mathrm{},0}^2=\frac{|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2}{|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2},\mathrm{\Theta }_{\mathrm{},|t|}=\pi \frac{\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|}{\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|}.$$

Following Wolpert, we construct a “grafted” metric $`ds_{t,\mathrm{graft}}^2`$ on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$ as follows: $`ds_{t,\mathrm{graft}}^2`$ agrees with the hyperbolic metrics $`ds_{\mathrm{},|t|}^2`$ on each annulus $`A_{\mathrm{},t}`$, $`ds_{t,\mathrm{graft}}^2`$ is a smooth family of hyperbolic metrics with boundary on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }^{}`$ converging as $`t0`$ to the one induced by $`ds_0^2`$, and in the regions $`B_{\mathrm{},t}`$, $`ds_{t,\mathrm{graft}}^2`$ interpolates between these hyperbolic metrics. The actual hyperbolic metric $`ds_t^2`$ on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$ will be related to $`ds_{t,\mathrm{graft}}^2`$ by a conformal factor:

$$\rho _t(z)|dz|^2=ds_t^2=\frac{\rho _t(z)}{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z)}ds_{t,\mathrm{graft}}^2.$$

Then we have the following uniform estimate on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$ (cf. \[W5, Expansion 4.2\]):

(8.2)
$$\left|\frac{\rho _t(z)}{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z)}1\right|=\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right).$$

We also note that in each $`A_{\mathrm{},t}`$ the interpolation satisfies:

(8.3)
$$\left|\frac{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z_{\mathrm{}})}1\right|=O\left(\mathrm{\Theta }_{\mathrm{},|t|}^2\right)$$

(cf. \[W5, §3.4.MG\]).

Next, we review Masur’s estimate of the Weil-Petersson metric. According to \[M2\], we can find a family of quadratic differentials $`\phi _i(z,t)`$, meromorphic on $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$ with at most simple poles at the $`n`$ marked points, parametrizing the cotangent bundle of $`𝐓_{g,n}`$ at the point represented by $`\mathrm{\Sigma }_t`$. Then for $`ik+1`$, the $`\phi _i`$ converge as $`t0`$ to quadratic differentials with at most simple poles at the marked points (which now include the nodes). For $`ik`$, the $`\phi _i`$ represent normal directions to the boundary stratum.

In terms of the local coordinate $`z_{\mathrm{}}`$ for the annular region $`A_{\mathrm{},t}`$ we have the following uniform bounds (cf. \[M2\], 5.4, 5.5, and note the remark on p. 633 before “Proof of Theorem 1”). Here, $`C`$ denotes a constant that is independent of $`t`$.

(8.4) $`\text{For}i,jk+1,|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|C/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
(8.5) $`\text{For}i,jk,|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|\{\begin{array}{cc}C_1|t_{\mathrm{}}|^2/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^4+C|t_{\mathrm{}}|^2/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^3\hfill & i=j=\mathrm{},C_10\hfill \\ C|t_i||t_j|/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^3\hfill & i=\mathrm{},j\mathrm{}\text{or }\text{vice versa}\hfill \\ C|t_i||t_j|/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2\hfill & i\mathrm{},j\mathrm{}\hfill \end{array}`$
(8.6) $`\text{For}ik,jk+1,|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|\{\begin{array}{cc}C|t_i|/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^3\hfill & i=\mathrm{}\hfill \\ C|t_i|/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2\hfill & i\mathrm{}\hfill \end{array}`$
(8.7) $`\text{For}i,jk+1,\left|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\right|C|t_{\mathrm{}}|/|z_{\mathrm{}}|^4`$
Let $`G_{i\overline{j}}(t)`$ denote the components of the Weil-Petersson metric tensor with respect to this choice of (dual) basis. With this understood, we now state

###### Lemma 8.1.

1. There is a nonzero constant $`C`$ independent of $`t`$ such that for $`ik`$,

$$\left|G_{i\overline{i}}(t)\right|=C|t_i|^2(\mathrm{log}|t_i|)^3\left(1+\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right)\right).$$
2. For $`i,jk`$, $`ij`$,

$$\left|G_{i\overline{j}}(t)\right|=O\left(|t_i|^1|t_j|^1(\mathrm{log}|t_i|)^3(\mathrm{log}|t_j|)^3\right).$$
3. For $`ik`$, $`jk+1`$,

$$\left|G_{i\overline{j}}(t)\right|=O\left(|t_i|^1(\mathrm{log}|t_i|)^3\right).$$
4. For $`i,jk+1`$,

$$\left|G_{i\overline{j}}(t)G_{i\overline{j}}(0)\right|=\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right).$$

Let us first point out that the estimate (3.5) follows from Lemma 8.1 by making the substitution: $`(\theta _i,|t_i|)(\theta _i,\xi _i)`$, where $`\xi _i=(\mathrm{log}|t_i|)^{1/2}`$. The rest of this section is therefore devoted to the

###### Proof of Lemma 8.1.

As in \[M2\], the result will follow by first estimating the cometric. Let $`\phi _i(t),\phi _j(t)`$ denote the Weil-Petersson pairing. We will show that:

1. There is a nonzero constant $`C`$ such that for $`ik`$,

$$\left|\phi _i(t),\phi _i(t)\right|=C|t_i|^2(\mathrm{log}|t_i|)^3\left(1+\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right)\right).$$
2. For $`i,jk`$, $`ij`$, $`\left|\phi _i(t),\phi _j(t)\right|=O\left(|t_i||t_j|\right)`$.
3. For $`ik`$, $`jk+1`$, $`\left|\phi _i(t),\phi _j(t)\right|=O\left(|t_i|\right)`$.
4. For $`i,jk+1`$,

$$\left|\phi _i(t),\phi _j(t)\phi _i(0),\phi _j(0)\right|=\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right).$$

Given these estimates, Lemma 8.1 then follows via the cofactor expansion for the inverse as in \[M2\].

To begin, notice that (ii’) and (iii’) are precisely the statements (iv) and (vi), respectively, of \[M2, p. 634\]. To prove (i’), we note that for $`ik`$, $`|\phi _i(t)|^2`$ is $`O(|t_i|^2)`$ uniformly on compact sets away from the pinching region. We therefore need to estimate:

(8.8)
$$_{A_{\mathrm{},t}}\frac{|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2}{\rho _t(z_{\mathrm{}})}|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2.$$

Using (8.2) we observe that (8.8) is bounded by

$`{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$ $`+{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _t(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right)|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+C{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _t(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right)|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right)|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
(8.9) $`{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle \underset{j=1}{\overset{k}{}}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_j|)^2\right){\displaystyle _{A_{l,t}}}|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)|^2|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\left({\displaystyle \frac{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right)|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
Using (8.5) we see that the right hand side of (8.9) is $`O(|t_i|^2)`$ if $`il`$. If $`i=l`$, then again by (8.5) the first term on the right hand side of (8.9) is $`O(|t_i|^2(\mathrm{log}|t_i|)^3)`$, and this contribution is in fact nonzero. The second term is similarly bounded. Finally, the third term is bounded in the same way, after applying (8.3). This proves (i’).

To prove (iv’), first note that by (8.2) we have an estimate

$$\left|_K\frac{\phi _i(z,t)\overline{\phi }_j(z,t)}{\rho _t(z)}|dz|^2_K\frac{\phi _i(z,0)\overline{\phi }_j(z,0)}{\rho _0(z)}|dz|^2\right|=\underset{\mathrm{}=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right)$$

where $`K`$ is a compact set supported away from the pinching region. Note also that since $`\phi _i(z,0)`$ have at most simple poles,

$$\left|_{|z_{\mathrm{}}||t_{\mathrm{}}|}\frac{\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},0)}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2\right|=O(|t_{\mathrm{}}|).$$

Hence, we need only estimate

$`|{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}{\rho _t(z_{\mathrm{}})}}|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$ $`{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},0)}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2|`$
$`{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\right|}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _t(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right||dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}\left|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\right|{\displaystyle \frac{|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}`$
(8.10) $`C{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\right|}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _t(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right||dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}{\displaystyle \frac{\left|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\right|}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}\left|{\displaystyle \frac{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}{\rho _{t,\text{graft}}(z_{\mathrm{}},t)}}1\right||dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2`$
$`+{\displaystyle _{A_{\mathrm{},t}}}\left|\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},t)\phi _i(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\overline{\phi }_j(z_{\mathrm{}},0)\right|{\displaystyle \frac{|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2}{\rho _0(z_{\mathrm{}})}}`$
By (8.2) and (8.4), the first term on the right hand side of (8.10) is bounded by

$$\underset{p=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_p|)^2\right)_{A_{\mathrm{},t}}(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2=\underset{p=1}{\overset{k}{}}O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_p|)^2\right).$$

By (8.3), the second term is $`O\left((\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^2\right)`$. Using (8.7), the third term on the right hand side of (8.10) is bounded by a constant times

$$_{A_{\mathrm{},t}}\frac{|t_{\mathrm{}}|}{|z_{\mathrm{}}|^4}|z_{\mathrm{}}|^2(\mathrm{log}|z_{\mathrm{}}|)^2|dz_{\mathrm{}}|^2=O\left(|t_{\mathrm{}}|(\mathrm{log}|t_{\mathrm{}}|)^3\right).$$

Hence, the desired estimate holds on each annular region $`A_{l,t}`$ as well. This proves (iv’) and completes the proof of the lemma. ∎