For the constant-curvature constructions, the three data sets lead respectively to genera two, three and four. The first two pairs are isometric through a lifted reflection; the third gives nonisometric pairs under the length-identification hypothesis stated below. Nonconjugacy of the two subgroups inside the finite group is not by itself a test for nonisometry.
Replace each , if necessary, by the joint image of its two coset actions, generated by the corresponding pair of generator permutations. The joint kernel lies in both subgroups, so passing to this finite quotient leaves the two coset actions unchanged. We use these faithful joint images in the constructions below.
First verify the Gassmann equivalence needed for the Sunada theorem for all group elements, not just the displayed generators. Write for their permutation matrices. Invertible matrices satisfying
intertwine every word in the generators, hence give equal permutation characters. Here are explicit certificates calculated from the coset actions. Define when column label belongs to the th support below, and zero otherwise. For , labels run from one to twelve; the row supports in their order are
For and , labels run from zero to six, and the row supports are respectively
Direct substitution gives the two intertwining identities, and elimination gives , . These nonzero determinants certify equivalent linear permutation representations. Equal characters imply almost conjugacy: for a subgroup ,
because a fixed coset corresponds to , and each specified conjugate has conjugating elements. The subgroup orders agree since their indices agree, so equality of these characters gives equal intersection counts with every conjugacy class.
Nonconjugacy can also be checked directly: a bijective equivariant sheet relabelling would be determined by the image of one label, since the actions are transitive. Propagating each of the twelve or seven possible images by the two generators gives no consistent bijection in any of the three cases.
For genus two, use . The generator orders are , and their product has order six; on both twelve-sheet coset spaces their cycles are respectively . Map the hyperbolic triangle group onto the joint finite permutation image . Its kernel is torsion-free because these orders are exact, giving a smooth normal cover of the sphere orbifold with cone orders . The subgroups act freely by the smoothness criterion from cone-monodromy cycles, since all coset cycles have their full orders. The two quotient surfaces therefore have
Their equal permutation characters give isospectrality by the Sunada theorem.
There is nevertheless an isometry. The sheet relabelling
fixes labels three and five and satisfies
To see the geometric significance, write the triangle-group generators as , , where reflect in triangle sides. Conjugation by sends both to their inverses. The two displayed permutation identities say exactly that reflecting the triangles and relabelling the sheets preserves their gluings. This reflection intertwining of triangle-cover coset actions lifts the base reflection to an orientation-reversing isometry of the quotient surfaces. Thus the genus-two pair from these hyperbolic triangles is isometric, despite the subgroups being nonconjugate in the orientation-preserving finite group.
For genus three, use . Both generators and their product act in seven-cycles, so the same construction with gives smooth seven-sheet quotients and
Their isospectrality follows from the certificate . The relabelling , namely with label two fixed, again satisfies and . Therefore this constant-curvature genus-three pair is also isometric by the same lifted triangle reflection. This assertion concerns the constructed triangle metrics, rather than arbitrary metrics placed independently on the two topological surfaces.
For genus four, use and a different base: a hyperbolic torus with one cone point of order seven. Its orbifold fundamental group has presentation
Map to . Multiplying the given permutations shows that their commutator is a seven-cycle in both coset actions, so this map has torsion-free kernel and both subgroup quotients are smooth. The base orbifold Euler characteristic is , giving
The certificate and the Sunada theorem give an isospectral pair for each base metric. This is the cone-torus construction of genus-four Sunada surfaces.
For nonisometry, choose simple closed base geodesics representing , avoiding the cone point and meeting once. We use the following additional geometric hypothesis, as permitted in this question: choose a cone-torus metric such that, in each cover, the length identifies its unique degree-four lift, and the length identifies precisely its two degree-three lifts, among all primitive closed geodesics. This is a generic length-separation choice; it excludes coincidences with other geodesic lengths. No claim about an arbitrary symmetric choice of base metric is needed.
A lift component of a base geodesic corresponds to a cycle of its monodromy permutation. The degree-four cycle is on the sheets and on the sheets. The degree-three cycles are on the first cover and on the second. Since the base curves meet once, their lifted geometric intersection numbers are the sizes of the intersections of these sheet-label sets. The cycle intersections count intersections of lifted curves therefore gives the two unordered multisets
Negative curvature ensures that the geodesic representatives realize geometric intersection number. An isometry would preserve the length-identified degree-four lift and the set of the two length-identified degree-three lifts, even if it exchanged the latter, so it would preserve this unordered multiset. The multisets differ. The intersection test for nonisometric finite covers thus proves the genus-four pair is nonisometric for this choice of constant-curvature metric. Without a condition excluding relevant accidental length coincidences, subgroup nonconjugacy alone would not establish that conclusion.
Subgroups of a finite group have Gassmann equivalence when
Summing over the conjugacy classes gives . Equivalently, their coset permutation representations have the same character of a representation. In particular, almost conjugate subgroups need not be conjugate.
Put , , and . Begin with the sphere punctured at three points. Its fundamental group is , and the epimorphism sending to defines a connected regular -sheeted covering space. Around the punctures the monodromies have cycles of lengths . Fill each lifted puncture by a disk, using the local branched covering models , and . This produces a closed oriented surface , with acting by homeomorphisms that are smooth in these local models. This construction works even if one of is one.
Triangulate the base sphere with the three marked points as vertices and two faces. Lifting this triangulation gives
so the Euler characteristic is
In the hyperbolic case , this is equivalently the triangle cover construction for Sunada surfaces. Take the hyperbolic triangle group
and its epimorphism with the same images. All finite-order elements of are conjugate to powers of its three elliptic generators. Because their images have the same exact orders, is torsion-free and . It can be assembled from hyperbolic triangles of angles . Both examples below belong to this hyperbolic case.
For and to be smooth surfaces normally covered by , the subgroup actions must be free. The precise condition is that neither subgroup meet any conjugate in of a nonidentity power of , or . These are exactly the possible point stabilizers. Then and are regular coverings, with deck transformation groups respectively. No normality of in is needed: normality would concern the further covering of the base orbifold, not these coverings from . For a free subgroup ,
Choose any -invariant smooth Riemannian metric on , for example by averaging an arbitrary metric. It descends to both quotients. On functions let be the unitary action of , and let for . The averaging operator projects orthogonally onto the -invariant functions, which identify with functions on . The trace formula underlying the Sunada theorem is
The expression is a class function, because commutes with . Thus Gassmann equivalence makes the two sums identical. Alternatively, apply the same averaging formula to each finite-dimensional Laplacian eigenspace: its invariant dimension is . This proves equality of every eigenvalue multiplicity and hence isospectrality of the two quotient metrics.
If for some , the action of gives an isometry between the quotients for every such metric. Nonconjugacy is therefore necessary. To make it sufficient, choose the quotient orbifold metric generically so that its regular locus has no nonidentity local isometries; this is the equivariant, or orbifold, version of the Sunada local isometry lemma. Smooth perturbations on regular coordinate balls provide this genericity while their lifts remain smooth on . Any isometry between and , when composed locally with their projections, would then identify the same points of the base regular locus. By continuation it is an isomorphism of their coverings of that locus, and the classification of connected covering spaces forces to be conjugate in . Thus nonconjugate subgroups give non-isometric isospectral quotients for a suitable generic invariant metric. The genericity belongs to the base regular locus; the covering metric on itself necessarily has the prescribed deck symmetries.
For genus two, an explicit choice is the following permutation group on twelve labels, with permutation products composed from right to left:
These parameters are those in Kang's genus-two construction. They admit a direct finite verification. Starting with and iterating , the successive sizes are , after which the set is unchanged. Thus , and direct multiplication gives and . The conjugacy-class triples , obtained as , are
This proves Gassmann equivalence. The subgroup fixes the labels , whereas has no common fixed label, so they cannot be conjugate even in the full symmetric group. Both are groups of order eight, so they meet no nonidentity order-three element. The only order-two power of is
which is central in and lies in neither subgroup. This also excludes its conjugates and proves freeness. The quotient Euler characteristics and genera are therefore
The covering surface has genus nine.
For genus three, use , of order . Let stabilize a nonzero vector and let stabilize a two-dimensional subspace. Both have index seven and order twenty-four. An element fixes nonzero vectors. Hyperplanes correspond to nonzero dual vectors over , so the number fixed in the dual action is , the same number. Equality of these permutation characters proves that the point and hyperplane stabilizers are almost conjugate.
They are not conjugate. In coordinates where fixes , its elements include all matrices with arbitrary row and . An invariant plane containing would project to a line invariant under every , which is impossible. A plane not containing would be the graph of a linear functional on the quotient, and arbitrary would move that graph. Thus stabilizes no plane, whereas every conjugate of does.
Choose the concrete generators
Over , each of has order seven. The same closure iteration has sizes , verifying that generate . Since seven does not divide , neither stabilizer contains a nonidentity power of these generators, or any conjugate of such a power. We may therefore use in the triangle cover construction for Sunada surfaces. The quotient calculation is
Here the covering surface has genus forty-nine. Choosing the generic invariant metrics described above completes both requested pairs.
Sunada's theorem states that if a finite group acts isometrically on a closed Riemannian manifold , and two Gassmann equivalent subgroups act freely, then and are isospectral for the function Laplace-Beltrami operator. Gassmann equivalence means for every conjugacy class of . For each Laplace-Beltrami operator eigenspace , its invariant subspace has dimension
The character of a representation is a class function, so the two multiplicities agree. A necessary condition for nonisometry is that the subgroups are not conjugate in : conjugation by an ambient deck transformation would induce an isometry. This is not sufficient when the common covering has additional geometric symmetries.
Use the oriented hyperbolic triangle group
and the epimorphism given by , . Its base orbifold is the doubled hyperbolic triangle with angles , having signature . Let and .
The groups are torsion free. Indeed, torsion elements in an oriented triangle group are conjugate to nontrivial powers of its three vertex rotations. Such powers map either to elements of order three, which cannot lie in a subgroup of order , or to the order-two cube . The latter is central and absent from both , so it is absent from every conjugate as well. Thus the degree-twelve orbifold covers
are smooth, closed, connected orientable surfaces. The common cover is smooth too; act freely on it. Orbifold Euler characteristic gives
For example, this formula follows by triangulating the base and weighting a vertex of order by before multiplying by the cover degree. Equivalently, each doubled triangle has hyperbolic area , so has area and Gauss-Bonnet theorem gives the same genus.
There is one extra issue in obtaining the same hyperbolic limit on a single marked surface: the two limiting hyperbolic covers must themselves be isometric. Nonconjugacy and the displayed element orders alone do not prove this. An explicit realization of the supplied example resolves the issue. The group seed is recorded in the original genus-two construction; the following coset actions and reflection identities give a direct verification. Label the twelve sheets so that the two right-coset actions of are
These are concrete permutation data for an order- realization with the required two subgroups. The permutation
satisfies, by direct substitution,
Reflection of the doubled triangle reverses both vertex rotations. Apply this reflection on every fundamental domain and relabel sheets by . The two identities ensure that identified edges go to identified edges, so this descends to a hyperbolic isometry . Fix , let be its hyperbolic metric, and use to mark by the same smooth surface. Thus both pulled-back limiting Riemannian metrics are exactly . The explicit reversed-action check is what makes the common limit justified, rather than treating it as a consequence of Sunada's theorem.
Choose smooth orbifold Riemannian metrics on the base converging to its hyperbolic metric , with no nonidentity local isometry on the regular part. The density assertion in Sunada's local isometry lemma applies in orbifold charts as well: use equivariant perturbations at the finitely many cone points and ordinary local perturbations elsewhere. Smoothness here is orbifold smoothness, so the lifted Riemannian metrics on and the two smooth covers are ordinary smooth Riemannian metrics. Such choices can be made in successively smaller smooth neighbourhoods of ; cone orders and the topological coverings stay fixed.
For area separation of convergent Sunada families, adjust each by a constant positive factor so that
Explicitly, multiply the initially chosen Riemannian metric by the ratio of the desired area to its actual area. In dimension two this ratio is exactly the area multiplier. The ratios tend to one, so smooth convergence persists, and constant scaling preserves the absence of local isometries. Lift these adjusted Riemannian metrics to and pull them back by the fixed markings to obtain , for . The three required properties follow below.
Let , and . Cut the Riemann sphere along arcs joining three marked points, say , so the complement is simply connected. Take copies labeled by the elements of and glue the slit banks with monodromies given by left multiplication by . The product relation ensures consistency. The surface is connected because generate . At a puncture with monodromy order , fill each cycle using the local complex coordinate ; use the analogous charts at the other two punctures. This constructs the three-branch-point regular surface cover .
Right multiplication by inverses defines a left action of , commutes with the monodromy gluing and extends holomorphically over the filled points. Average a compatible metric over this finite group to obtain a metric for which acts by Riemannian isometries. When the genus is at least two, the unique compatible curvature-minus-one metric from the uniformization theorem is an invariant choice. Away from the three marked fibers the action is free. The nontrivial stabilizer subgroups are the conjugates of , and , of orders , omitting order-one groups.
There are , , points over the corresponding branch points. The Riemann-Hurwitz formula gives
This construction also covers the spherical and toroidal cases. If one monodromy has order one it is simply an unbranched marked fiber, with no nontrivial stabilizer.
For the supplied coset actions, faithfulness gives . Compose permutations with the rightmost factor acting first. The two products have cycle decompositions
Thus . The index is twelve and each subgroup has order eight, so . Consequently
All cycles of on each coset set have the full orders . No nontrivial power of any of these branch monodromies fixes a coset. The fixed-coset criterion means that each has trivial intersection with every conjugate of each cyclic branch stabilizer. Since these are all stabilizers on , both act freely. Their quotient surfaces are therefore smooth closed surfaces, not cone-point orbifolds. Sunada theorem supplies isospectrality, and the unbranched Euler characteristic formula gives
Choose the hyperbolic metric for these surfaces and their common genus-nine cover.
In this natural construction the two genus-two surfaces are isometric, by an orientation-reversing map. Define the sheet permutation
Direct composition verifies
Complex conjugation of the base sphere fixes its three real branch points and reverses the two chosen generating loops, so their monodromies become the inverses. These identities supply a lift, after relabeling sheets by , to an anticonformal map between the two branched covers. It extends across the branch points by the local power charts. An anticonformal map between closed hyperbolic Riemann surfaces is a Riemannian isometry, by uniqueness of the compatible hyperbolic metric.
Equivalently, take the hyperbolic triangle group of signature . Reflection in the side joining the two order-three vertices conjugates its two vertex rotations to their inverses. The displayed sheet permutation identifies the reflected subgroup for the first covering with the subgroup for the second, up to an irrelevant change of base sheet. This is the orientation-reversing equivalence of branched-cover monodromy. The exhibited isometry is anticonformal, so the conclusion is about Riemannian isometry, without asserting that this map is holomorphic. Merely knowing the subgroups were almost conjugate would not have settled isometry; the explicit inverse-monodromy symmetry does. Nor does the data force this symmetry for every arbitrarily chosen invariant deformation of the cover's metric: it is present for the constructed hyperbolic metric.
Let be the orientation-preserving hyperbolic triangle group, acting on the hyperbolic plane with presentation
Its quotient is a topological sphere with three cone points of order seven. Define the surjective group homomorphism
The stated order conditions make this well defined, and the generation hypothesis makes it surjective. Set . Every finite-order element of a hyperbolic triangle group is conjugate to a power of a cone-point generator. None of its nontrivial such powers lies in , since all three images have order seven. Therefore is torsion free, and is a closed oriented hyperbolic surface carrying an isometric action of .
The orbifold Euler characteristic of the base is
The covering degree is , so and has genus . The subgroups have order . Point stabilizers for the action are trivial or cyclic of order seven. Since seven does not divide , each acts freely. Thus
are smooth closed hyperbolic surfaces, and
Equivalently, each is a seven-sheeted orbifold cover of the base with three branch values, and the Riemann-Hurwitz formula gives the same genus.
Gassmann equivalence means that meet each conjugacy class of in the same number of elements. To prove isospectrality directly, let be a Laplacian eigenfunction space on , viewed as a representation of . Pullback identifies with its -invariant subspace. Averaging over is the projection onto this subspace, and hence
The character of a representation in this sum is constant on conjugacy classes. The sums are equal by Gassmann equivalence, so the eigenvalues and their multiplicities agree. This is the mechanism of the Sunada theorem. The constructed genus-three hyperbolic surfaces are isospectral.
Nonconjugacy of in does not prove nonisometry. For example, an isometry of outside the given subgroup might conjugate to and descend to an isometry of the quotients. More generally, an isometry between the quotients lifts to an isometry of conjugating the two groups ; there is no requirement that this lift come from an element of . Additional symmetries of the three-cone-point construction are a possible source of this coincidence.
One can prevent this by modifying the common metric, while keeping the action isometric. Here is a geometric way to make that step precise. On the regular part of the base orbifold , choose a sufficiently small smooth conformal rescaling of a Riemannian metric of its metric whose local geometry distinguishes base points and local directions. One may use a generic smooth conformal factor with separate curvature features on a countable collection of small disks. Let these disks approach the cone points, with amplitudes decaying sufficiently rapidly that the lifted conformal factor and all its derivatives vanish at their centres. This gives smooth metrics on the covering surface, without retaining an open homogeneous region near a cone point. The purpose is to ensure that a local isometry in the regular part covering a quotient is the identity on the base: the curvature features identify its base point and local frame. Pull the metric back to and then descend it to both . The only points with the cone-point rotational symmetry in their metric germs are the lifts of the cone points; the perturbation removes such symmetries in the regular part. Any quotient isometry must therefore preserve this finite distinguished set.
If the perturbed quotients were isometric, their local maps on the dense regular part would preserve the projection to . They would therefore give equivalent connected covers of the punctured base; the correspondence between connected covering spaces and subgroups would conjugate to inside . Applying would conjugate inside , contrary to hypothesis. Thus the perturbed quotients are nonisometric. The same averaging argument still proves isospectrality, because it requires a common -invariant Riemannian metric, not constant curvature. The genus remains three.
This last step produces nonisometric isospectral metrics of variable curvature on genus-three surfaces. An oriented metric defines a Riemann surface through its conformal structure; using a conformal perturbation even preserves the original conformal structures. If “Riemann surface” means specifically its canonical curvature metric, the last step should instead be described as producing Riemannian surfaces. The orbifold has no hyperbolic deformation parameters: uniformizing the perturbed metrics does not preserve their Laplace-Beltrami operator spectra, and cannot be used to claim nonisometric hyperbolic examples from this argument.
The relations and say that conjugation by either or sends to . Thus is a normal subgroup of order at most . Quotienting by it gives
the orientation-preserving hyperbolic triangle group . This group acts properly discontinuously and cocompactly by isometries on the hyperbolic plane. The Milnor–Švarc lemma therefore makes quasi-isometric to .
The quotient map has finite kernel, so part (b), equivalently the finite-kernel quotient quasi-isometry, makes quasi-isometric to . By transitivity of quasi-isometry,
Let
be the orientation-preserving hyperbolic triangle group. Define
Every defining relator of maps to the identity, and lie in the image, so this is a surjective group homomorphism. Since
is a non-elementary Fuchsian group.
Let a finite group be generated by elements of exact orders whose product has exact order , with . The epimorphism from the hyperbolic triangle group sending its generators to these elements has torsion-free kernel. Its quotient of the hyperbolic plane is a closed surface with a action. A subgroup acts freely precisely when it meets no conjugate of a nonidentity power of the three elliptic generators. Free almost conjugate subgroups give isospectral manifolds by the Sunada theorem.