Suppose a compact parameter set carries a locally finite countable multiset of positive quantities, and a fixed injective transform of each labelled quantity is a polynomial in finitely many ambient coordinates. Assume only finitely many labels can have bounded value anywhere in the compact set. Then a uniform finite initial multiset determines the entire multiset. For each source label there are finitely many possible matching labels. Equality for finitely many labels in both directions is a finite union of algebraic sets, obtained from injective matchings and polynomial equalities. These algebraic sets decrease as more labels are included, so they stabilize by the Hilbert basis theorem. A compatible infinite matching in each direction follows by the König infinity lemma, and local finiteness makes multiplicities equal. Squared traces of hyperbolic holonomy representations give the application to the Buser finite length spectrum theorem.
A Riemann surface is a connected one-complex-dimensional complex manifold: it has local complex coordinates with holomorphic transition maps. These coordinates induce an orientation and a conformal structure. Fix a closed oriented topological surface of genus . A point of Teichmüller space is a marked Riemann surface , where is an orientation-preserving marking. Two pairs are equivalent if there is a biholomorphism with isotopic to . Thus the marking remembers how curves on the reference surface sit in ; forgetting it gives the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, obtained by quotienting by the mapping class group.
For , the uniformization theorem supplies a unique curvature- hyperbolic metric in each conformal class. A pants decomposition has cuffs, and their positive lengths together with their real twists give Fenchel–Nielsen coordinates. Hence
For completeness, is a point, whereas is the upper half-plane, parametrizing marked complex tori with .
The Wolpert generic spectral rigidity theorem says that, for fixed , there is a closed proper real-analytic exceptional subset of such that a hyperbolic surface outside that subset is determined up to isometry by its unmarked length spectrum, equivalently its Laplacian spectrum. This is an unoriented isometry statement: reversing orientation cannot be detected by either spectrum.
The Huber spectral equivalence theorem says that two closed curvature- hyperbolic surfaces have the same Laplacian spectrum, with multiplicities, if and only if they have the same unmarked length spectrum, with multiplicities. One may consistently count unoriented closed geodesics including their iterates; alternatively, the primitive multiset determines the multiset with iterates and conversely. This equivalence comes from the Selberg trace formula.
The Buser finite length spectrum theorem is the finite-determination ingredient: for each and there is a finite number such that, for any two closed hyperbolic surfaces of genus with hyperbolic systole at least , equality of their length multisets through implies equality of their entire length spectra. The finite-length statement is used in Buser's chapter on Wolpert's theorem. It determines the full spectrum, not necessarily the isometry class.
Here is a proof of the Buser finite length spectrum theorem through finite spectral matching by polynomial invariants. We use the following subsidiary results, stating the required content. First, Mumford's compactness theorem makes the part of the genus- moduli space of Riemann surfaces with hyperbolic systole at least compact. Second, marked hyperbolic holonomy representations of a closed oriented surface lift from to , and normalized representatives can be chosen continuously on sufficiently small parameter charts. Their hyperbolic translation length satisfies
Third, the length spectrum of a compact hyperbolic surface is locally finite, and metrics on compact marked parameter charts are uniformly bilipschitz equivalent. Finally, the Hilbert basis theorem implies that a descending sequence of algebraic sets in a finite-dimensional affine space stabilizes. These are compactness, holonomy, elementary geometric finiteness and algebraic finiteness results; none is the finite unmarked-spectrum assertion we are proving.
By compactness, finitely many relatively compact marked charts cover the thick moduli space of Riemann surfaces. Choose normalized lifted hyperbolic holonomy representations on these charts and take their compact closures. Their finite union is a compact set of determinant-one matrix tuples representing every surface in the thick part, possibly more than once. Each tuple records the images of the generators of the fundamental group. Thus sits in a fixed finite-dimensional real matrix space. Every group word is a polynomial in these matrix entries: multiplication is polynomial, and for a determinant-one two-by-two matrix its inverse is its adjugate, also polynomial. Consequently each is a polynomial on the ambient space. Squared traces remove the sign ambiguity of the lift, and is strictly increasing for positive .
Enumerate the unoriented nontrivial free homotopy classes as , including the iterates, and write for their geodesic lengths at . The uniform finiteness of short geodesic classes follows here directly: on each of the finitely many compact marked charts, choose a fixed reference metric and a uniform bilipschitz constant . A class with somewhere on that chart has reference length at most . Only finitely many classes have that reference length, and a finite union of these finite collections is finite. In particular, for every the candidate set
is finite. If two parameters in have equal lengths for classes , then . These candidate sets depend on the fixed compact set and the source label , not on the number of labels currently being matched.
For every , define in the full ambient space of pairs of matrix tuples as follows. Require an injective choice with and
and independently require an injective choice with and
There are finitely many possible pairs of choices because every is finite. For each choice these are finitely many polynomial equations. Therefore is a finite union of algebraic sets, hence an algebraic set. Restricting an injective matching to its first entries proves
The Hilbert basis theorem now supplies such that for all . This step takes place in a fixed affine space and uses polynomial equations, so it gives stabilization of the actual sets, not just stabilization of germs at individual parameters.
For , stabilization gives injective partial length matchings in both directions for every . Fix any length . Only finitely many labels have length at or at , by local finiteness. Take large enough to contain every such label at . Its injective matching into the labels at preserves , and hence preserves length, so the multiplicity of at is at most its multiplicity at . The reverse matching gives the opposite inequality. Thus the two multiplicities are equal for every , proving equality of the entire unmarked length spectra. No assumed global matching or unjustified exchange of infinitely many neighborhoods is needed.
Finally choose a number
Suppose the two length multisets agree through . For each of the first labels at , select a distinct equal-length label at , which is possible precisely because the truncated multisets agree with multiplicity. Each selected label belongs to the corresponding . Do the same in the reverse direction. Then , and the previous paragraph proves equality of the full length spectra. Since was selected using only the fixed thick genus- parameter space, the resulting finite depends only on . This proves
with each intersection interpreted as a multiset. By the Huber spectral equivalence theorem, the corresponding entire Laplacian spectra also agree. This is the finite matching reduction needed before the analytic and geometric rigidity steps in the Wolpert generic spectral rigidity theorem.
Use the usual algebraically closed field convention for classical algebraic sets, or equivalently interpret their points geometrically. The proof also gives the scheme-theoretic statement over any field; the difference from an arbitrary-field rational-point image is explained below.
Choose an affine open cover . On each , the subset is closed relative to . If the affine-base assertion holds, its projected image is closed in . But
Thus the complement of is open on each member of the open cover and hence open in . Therefore it suffices to prove closedness for affine . No finite-cover assumption is needed for this localization argument.