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Poincaré metric

In mathematics, the Poincaré metric, named after Henri Poincaré, is the metric tensor describing a two-dimensional surface of constant negative curvature. It is the natural metric commonly used in a variety of calculations in hyperbolic geometry or Riemann surfaces.

There are three equivalent representations commonly used in two-dimensional hyperbolic geometry. One is the Poincaré half-plane model, defining a model of hyperbolic space on the upper half-plane. The Poincaré disk model defines a model for hyperbolic space on the unit disk. The disk and the upper half plane are related by a conformal map, and isometries are given by Möbius transformations. A third representation is on the punctured disk, where relations for q-analogues are sometimes expressed. These various forms are reviewed below.

Schwarz lemma[edit]

The Poincaré metric is distance-decreasing on harmonic functions. This is an extension of the Schwarz lemma, called the Schwarz–Ahlfors–Pick theorem.

Fuchsian group

Fuchsian model

Kleinian group

Kleinian model

Poincaré disk model

Poincaré half-plane model

Prime geodesic

Hershel M. Farkas and Irwin Kra, Riemann Surfaces (1980), Springer-Verlag, New York.  0-387-90465-4.

ISBN

Jurgen Jost, Compact Riemann Surfaces (2002), Springer-Verlag, New York.  3-540-43299-X (See Section 2.3).

ISBN

Fuchsian Groups (1992), University of Chicago Press, Chicago ISBN 0-226-42583-5 (Provides a simple, easily readable introduction.)

Svetlana Katok