Quantum Teichmüller space from the quantum plane

Abstract

We derive the quantum Teichmüller space, previously constructed by Kashaev and by Fock and Chekhov, from tensor products of a single canonical representation of the modular double of the quantum plane. We show that the quantum dilogarithm function appears naturally in the decomposition of the tensor square, the quantum mutation operator arises from the tensor cube, the pentagon identity from the tensor fourth power of the canonical representation, and an operator of order three from isomorphisms between canonical representation and its left and right duals. We also show that the quantum universal Teichmüller space is realized in the infinite tensor power of the canonical representation naturally indexed by rational numbers including infinity. This suggests a relation to the same index set in the classification of projective modules over the quantum torus, the unitary counterpart of the quantum plane, and points to a new quantization of the universal Teichmüller space.