Defining Curvature as a Measure via Gauss-Bonnet on Certain Singular Surfaces

Abstract

We show how to define curvature as a measure using the Gauss-Bonnet Theorem on a family of singular surfaces obtained by gluing together smooth surfaces along boundary curves. We find an explicit formula for the curvature measure as a sum of three types of measures: absolutely continuous measures, measures supported on singular curves, and discrete measures supported on singular points. We discuss the spectral asymptotics of the Laplacian on these surfaces.