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For a nonvanishing local $m$-differential $\varphi (z)d{z}^m$, choose $w=\int {\varphi }^{1/m}dz$. Then the differential is $d{w}^m$. Different root choices give $w\mapsto \zeta w+b$, ${\zeta }^m=1$. For $m=1,2$ the permitted linear parts are translations or signs, producing translation surfaces and half-translation surfaces.

First use the nonzero loci, as required by the standard SL2R action on differentials. A nonzero holomorphic one-form has, away from its zeros, flat coordinateswhose changes of coordinate are translations. A nonzero holomorphic quadratic differential similarly has local flat coordinates $w=\int \sqrt{q}$, with $q=d{w}^2$ and changes of coordinate $w_j=\pm w_i+c_{ij}$. These are respectively translation surfaces and half-translation surfaces.

Identify a flat coordinate with a vector in ${\mathbb{R}}^2$. For $A\in {\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R})$, replace every flat coordinate by $W=Aw$. Since $A$ preserves orientation and commutes with multiplication by $-1$, the new changes of coordinate areThey are holomorphic in the new coordinates, and so define a new complex structure. Define ${\omega }_A=dW$ or $q_A=d{W}^2$ in that structure. The forms glue because translations preserve $dW$, and the extra signs preserve $d{W}^2$.

The zeros also extend. A zero of order $m$ of a holomorphic one-form has cone angle $2\pi (m+1)$; a zero of order $m$ of a holomorphic quadratic differential has cone angle $(m+2)\pi$. The real-linear deformation preserves the corresponding winding multiplicity. Filling the cone in a local coordinate $\zeta$ gives $W={\zeta }^{m+1}$ in the first case, or a local branch of $W={\zeta }^{(m+2)/2}$ in the second. Thus the resulting forms are constant multiples of ${\zeta }^{m}d\zeta$ or ${\zeta }^{m}d{\zeta }^2$ and have the same zero orders. This verifies extension across the missing points, rather than merely producing an atlas on the punctured surface.

An isomorphism preserving the original differential identifies its flat coordinates up to the permitted translations or signs; applying $A$ identifies the deformed atlases too. Hence the construction descends to the corresponding moduli spaces. Applying $B$ after $A$ replaces $w$ by $BAw$, soThe area of a quadratic differential, and the analogous area of a holomorphic one-form, are preserved because $\det A=1$.

For $q={\omega }^2$, the flat coordinates obtained from $\omega$ already give the required half-translation surface atlas for $q$. The same replacement $w\mapsto Aw$ therefore constructs both deformations, and

The printed sets include identically zero differentials. They have no flat coordinates, so the customary geometric group action is defined on the nonzero loci. One can obtain a set-theoretic action on the displayed entire sets by declaring $A\cdot (X,0)=(X,0)$; the same equivariance identity then holds at zero. This extension is generally not continuous: as $t\omega \to 0$, the deformed underlying surface is the same $X_A$ for every real $t>0$, and can differ from $X$. Thus a claim about the standard continuous geometric group action requires the nonzero convention.

The analogous flat-coordinate construction does not define a full ${\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ action on arbitrary cubic differentials. Away from zeros, a nonzero holomorphic cubic differential has flat coordinatesTheir changes of coordinate are $w_j=\zeta w_i+b_{ij}$ with ${\zeta }^3=1$. A branch change is therefore a rotation through $2\pi /3$, not merely a sign. Applying a real-linear map $A$ changes its linear part to $AR{A}^{-1}$, where $R$ is that rotation. In general this is not a complex-linear map, so the proposed changes of coordinate are not holomorphic and cannot define the required deformed complex structure.

For example, take $A=\mathrm{diag}(2,1/2)$ and $R=\left(\begin{array}{cc}\cos \theta & -\sin \theta \\ \sin \theta & \cos \theta \end{array}\right)$ with $\theta =2\pi /3$. Thenwhose off-diagonal entries fail the condition for a complex-linear map. This dependence on the choice of cube-root coordinate is the obstruction even when considering descent from the locus $c={\omega }^3$: the three possible roots need not lead to the same deformation of the cubic pair.

The real matrices preserving orientation that normalize the order-three rotations are precisely the matrices of complex-linear maps; intersecting with ${\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R})$ leaves $\mathrm{SO}(2)$. Indeed a nonreal rotation determines its complex structure, and conjugation to its inverse would reverse that structure's orientation. Thus there is a natural rotation action,The conclusion concerns the geometric group action analogous to that for translation surfaces and half-translation surfaces; it does not rule out artificial group actions unrelated to these atlases.