Exact counting of spherical metrics with one conical singularity on rectangular tori

Abstract

We prove that for every integer $n\geq 2$ and $8\pi(n-1)<\rho<8\pi n$, the singular Liouville equation $\Delta u+\e^u=\rho\delta_0$ on a rectangular torus $E_{\mathrm{i}b}=\mathbb{C}/(\mathbb Z+\mathrm{i} b\mathbb Z)$ has exactly $n$ solutions, which are all axisymmetric. Together with previous results by Chen-Lin and Lin-Wang, this yields that \begin{itemize} \item $E_{\mathrm{i} b}$ admits no spherical metrics with a conical singularity of angle $2\pi\vartheta$ as long as $\vartheta$ is a positive odd integer. \item For every integer $n\geq 1$, $E_{\mathrm{i} b}$ admits exactly $n$ spherical metrics with a conical singularity of angle $2\pi\vartheta$ for each $\vartheta\in (2n-1, 2n+1)$. \end{itemize} The basic idea is to prove that the linearized equation has only trivial solutions in the space of axisymmetric functions. The previous method of analysing nodal domains via Bol's isoperimetric inequality only works for $\rho\leq 8\pi$. We develop a unified approach for all $\rho\in (0,+\infty)\setminus 8\pi\mathbb{N}_{\geq 1}$ by exploring the deep connection with the monodromy of the classical Lam\'{e} equation.