Abstract/Summary

In this paper we describe a simple method that allows for a fast direct computation of the scattering matrix for a surface with hyperbolic cusps from the Neumann-to-Dirichlet map on the compact manifold with boundary obtained by removing the cusps. We illustrate that even if the Neumann-to-Dirichlet map is obtained by a Finite Element Method (FEM) one can achieve good accuracy for the scattering matrix. We give various interesting examples of how this can be used to investigate the behaviour of resonances under conformal perturbations or when moving in Teichmüller space. For example, based on numerical experiments we rediscover the four arithmetic surfaces of genus one with one cusp. This demonstrates that it is possible to identify arithmetic objects using FEM.