Cross-ratio dynamics on ideal polygons Maxim Arnold∗ Dmitry Fuchsy Ivan Izmestievz Serge Tabachnikovx Abstract Two ideal polygons, (p1; : : : ; pn) and (q1; : : : ; qn), in the hyperbolic plane or in hyperbolic space are said to be α-related if the cross-ratio [pi; pi+1; qi; qi+1] = α for all i (the vertices lie on the projective line, real or complex, respectively). For example, if α = 1, the respec- − tive sides of the two polygons are orthogonal. This relation extends to twisted ideal polygons, that is, polygons with monodromy, and it descends to the moduli space of M¨obius-equivalent polygons. We prove that this relation, which is, generically, a 2-2 map, is completely integrable in the sense of Liouville. We describe integrals and invari- ant Poisson structures, and show that these relations, with different values of the constants α, commute, in an appropriate sense. We inves- tigate the case of small-gons, describe the exceptional ideal polygons, that possess infinitely many α-related polygons, and study the ideal polygons that are α-related to themselves (with a cyclic shift of the indices). Contents 1 Introduction 3 ∗Department of Mathematics, University of Texas, 800 West Campbell Road, Richard- son, TX 75080;
[email protected] yDepartment of Mathematics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616;
[email protected] zDepartment of Mathematics, University of Fribourg, Chemin du Mus´ee 23, CH-1700 Fribourg;
[email protected] xDepartment of Mathematics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802;
[email protected] 1 1.1 Motivation: iterations of evolutes . .3 1.2 Plan of the paper and main results .