On Selberg's Eigenvalue Conjecture for moduli spaces of abelian differentials

Abstract

J.-C. Yoccoz proposed a natural extension of Selberg's Eigenvalue Conjecture to moduli spaces of abelian differentials. We prove an approximation to this conjecture. This gives a qualitative generalization of Selberg's $\frac{3}{16}$ Theorem to moduli spaces of abelian differentials on surfaces of genus $\geq 2$.