Finding surface mappings with least distortion arises from many applications in various fields. Extremal Teichm ller maps are surface mappings with least conformality distortion. The existence and uniqueness of the extremal Teichm ller map between Riemann surfaces of finite type are theoretically guaranteed [1]. Recently, a simple iterative algorithm for computing the Teichm ller maps between connected Riemann surfaces with given boundary value was proposed in [11]. Numerical results was reported in the paper to show the effectiveness of the algorithm. The method was successfully applied to landmark-matching registration. The purpose of this paper is to prove the iterative algorithm proposed in [11] indeed converges.

It is a theorem of Casson and Rivin that the complete hyperbolic metric on a cusp end ideal triangulated 3-manifold maximizes volume in the space of all positive angle structures. We show that the conclusion still holds if some of the tetrahedra in the complete metric are flat.

Based on the proof of Labastida-Mari {} o-Ooguri-Vafa conjecture\cite {lmov}, we derive an infinite product formula for Chern-Simons partition functions, the generating function of quantum $\fsl_N $ invariants. Some symmetry properties of the infinite product will also be discussed.

We introduce a combinatorial curvature flow for piecewise constant curvature metrics on compact triangulated 3-manifolds with boundary consisting of surfaces of negative Euler characteristic. The flow tends to find the complete hyperbolic metric with totally geodesic boundary on a manifold. Some of the basic properties of the combinatorial flow are established. The most important one is that the evolution of the combinatorial curvature satisfies a combinatorial heat equation. It implies that the total curvature decreases along the flow. The local convergence of the flow to the hyperbolic metric is also established if the triangulation is isotopic to a totally geodesic triangulation.

We define a new combinatorial class of triangulations of closed 3manifolds, and study them using twisted squares. As an application, we obtain strong restrictions on the topology of a 3manifold from the existence of non-smooth maxima of the volume function on the space of circle-valued angle structures.