A discrete uniformization theorem for decorated piecewise hyperbolic metrics on surfaces

Abstract

In this paper, we study a natural discretization of the smooth Gaussian curvature on surfaces. A discrete uniformization theorem is established for this discrete Gaussian curvature. We further investigate the prescribing combinatorial curvature problem for a parametrization of this discrete Gaussian curvature, which is called the combinatorial $\alpha$-curvature. To find decorated piecewise hyperbolic metrics with prescribed combinatorial $\alpha$-curvatures, we introduce the combinatorial $\alpha$-Ricci flow for decorated piecewise hyperbolic metrics. To handle the potential singularities along the combinatorial $\alpha$-Ricci flow, we do surgery along the flow by edge flipping under the weighted Delaunay condition. Then we prove the longtime existence and convergence of the combinatorial $\alpha$-Ricci flow with surgery. As an application of the combinatorial $\alpha$-Ricci flow with surgery, we give the existence of decorated piecewise hyperbolic metrics with prescribed combinatorial $\alpha$-curvatures. We further introduce the combinatorial $\alpha$-Calabi flow with surgery and study its longtime behavior.