Slow Divergence and Unique Ergodicity

Abstract

Masur showed that a Teichmuller geodesic that is recurrent in the moduli space of closed Riemann surfaces is necessarily determined by a quadratic differential with a uniquely ergodic vertical foliation. In this paper, we show that a divergent Teichmuller geodesic satisfying a certain slow rate of divergence is also necessarily determined by a quadratic differential with unique ergodic vertical foliation. As an application, we sketch a proof of a complete characterization of the set of nonergodic directions in any double cover of the flat torus branched over two points.

18 pages, 2 figures