Label the polygon vertices cyclically. Translation pairing of opposite sides identifies
with indices modulo . The vertex classes are consequently the cosets of the subgroup generated by in , and their number is
The quotient is a compact Hausdorff space. An interior point has a disk neighbourhood, a paired-side point has two half-disks joined to a disk, and each vertex class has its incident sectors cyclically joined to a cone, topologically a disk. Thus it is a connected closed surface with an orientation. Its Euler characteristic is , since there are paired edges and one face. Hence
The polygon interior and paired-side charts are translation surface charts with . Each corner angle is . For even , all corners meet, giving cone angle ; for odd , each of the two classes contains corners, giving cone angle . Both are integral multiples of . A cone of angle has the local uniformizing coordinate with ; the holomorphic one-form is . Filling the vertices therefore supplies the Riemann surface structure and the holomorphic one-form, with
An order-zero entry denotes a regular point, not an actual zero: for the surface is a torus and the form is nowhere zero. The zero orders otherwise sum to , as a check against the degree of the canonical bundle.
Figure 1.
Opposite-side pairings: one vertex class in the octagon and two in the decagon
.
For , the form has one double zero and lies in the stratum of holomorphic one-forms ; for , it has two simple zeros and lies in . The SL2R action on differentials preserves zero multiplicities, as the local cone argument shows. Therefore
Their equal genus and area do not distinguish the orbits; their different strata of holomorphic one-forms do.