Markov partitions for the geodesic flow on compact Riemann surfaces of constant negative curvature

Abstract

It is well-known that hyperbolic flows admit Markov partitions of arbitrarily small size. However, the constructions of Markov partitions for general hyperbolic flows are very abstract and not easy to understand. To establish a more detailed understanding of Markov partitions, in this paper we consider the geodesic flow on Riemann surfaces of constant negative curvature. We provide a rigorous construction of Markov partitions for this hyperbolic flow with explicit forms of rectangles and local cross sections. The local product structure is also calculated in detail.