Veech groups without parabolic elements

We prove that a ``bouillabaisse'' surface (translation surface which has two transverse parabolic elements) has totally real trace field. As a corollary, non trivial Veech groups which have no parabolic elements do exist. The proof follows Veech's viewpoint on Thurston's construction of pseudo-Anosov diffeomorphisms.Comment: 7 pages, Corrected typos, to appear in Duke Mathematical Journa

The Lagrange spectrum of a Veech surface has a Hall ray

We study Lagrange spectra of Veech translation surfaces, which are a generalization of the classical Lagrange spectrum. We show that any such Lagrange spectrum contains a Hall ray. As a main tool, we use the boundary expansion developed by Bowen and Series to code geodesics in the corresponding Teichm\"uller disk and prove a formula which allows to express large values in the Lagrange spectrum as sums of Cantor sets.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures. Minor revisio

Convex lattice polygonal lines with a constrained number of vertices

A detailed combinatorial analysis of planar convex lattice polygonal lines is presented. This makes it possible to answer an open question of Vershik regarding the existence of a limit shape when the number of vertices is constrained