The role of funnels and punctures in the Gromov hyperbolicity of Riemann surfaces

27 pages, no figures.-- MSC2000 codes: 30F20, 30F45.MR#: MR2243795 (2007e:30063)Zbl#: Zbl 1108.30031We prove results on geodesic metric spaces which guarantee that some spaces are not hyperbolic in the Gromov sense. We use these theorems in order to study the hyperbolicity of Riemann surfaces. We obtain a criterion on the genus of a surface which implies non-hyperbolicity. We also include a characterization of the hyperbolicity of a Riemann surface S* obtained by deleting a closed set from one original surface S. In the particular case when the closed set is a union of continua and isolated points, the results clarify the role of punctures and funnels (and other more general ends) in the hyperbolicity of Riemann surfaces.Research by all three authors partially supported by a grant from DGI (BFM 2003-04870), Spain. In addition, research by third author (Eva Tourís) was partially supported by a grant from DGI (BFM 2000-0022), Spain.Publicad

Asymptotic equivalence of homogenisation procedures and fine-tuning of continuum theories

Long-wave models obtained in the process of asymptotic homogenisation of structures with a characteristic length scale are known to be non-unique. The term non-uniqueness is used here in the sense that various homogenisation strategies may lead to distinct governing equations that usually, for a given order of the governing equation, approximate the original problem with the same asymptotic accuracy. A constructive procedure presented in this paper generates a class of asymptotically equivalent long-wave models from an original homogenised theory. The described non-uniqueness manifests itself in the occurrence of additional parameters characterising the model. A simple problem of long-wave propagation in a regular one-dimensional lattice structure is used to illustrate important criteria for selecting these parameters. The procedure is then applied to derive a class of continuum theories for a two-dimensional square array of particles. Applications to asymptotic structural theories are also discussed. In particular, we demonstrate how to improve the governing equation for the Rayleigh-Love rod and explain the reasons for the well-known numerical accuracy of the Mindlin plate theory