Invariants of translation surfaces

We definite invariants of translation surfaces which refine Veech groups. These aid in exact determination of Veech groups. We give examples where two surfaces of isomorphic Veech group cannot even share a common tree of balanced affine coverings. We also show that there exist translation surfaces of isomorphic Veech groups which cannot affinely cover any common surface. We also extend a result of Gutkin and Judge and thereby give the first examples of noncompact Fuchsian groups which cannot appear as Veech groups. We give an infinite family of these.