Group actions on nonclosed 2-manifolds (Q917086): Difference between revisions

Let G be any group, F be a countable free group, and \(\eta\) : \(\to Out(F)\) be a homomorphism. The authors study the problem of realizability of \(\eta\), where \(\eta\) is said to be realizable if it is induced by a properly discontinuous action of G on some (necessarily nonclosed, possibly noncompact) surface S with \(\pi_ 1S\cong F\). With \(\eta\) is associated an extension \(1\to F\to E\to G\to 1\), unique up to isomorphism, and the main theorem of the paper states that realizability of \(\eta\) is equivalent to each of: (a) a set of purely algebraic conditions on finite subgroups of E, (b) E being the fundamental group of a graph of groups having finite vertex groups and satisfying some further conditions, or (c) E being the orbifold fundamental group of a nonclosed 2-orbifold. The authors apply this theorem to prove a number of corollaries. For example, they characterize properly discontinuous groups of isometries of the hyperbolic plane with noncompact orbit space; they characterize realizable homomorphisms \(\eta\) : \({\mathbb{Z}}_ n\to Out(F)\) in terms of the generator \(\eta\) (1); and they give sufficient conditions for realizability of \(\eta\) provided that G is finite and the restriction of \(\eta\) to each proper cyclic subgroup of G is realizable.