Degree of roots of disk twists on 3-dimensional handlebodies (Q1953072)

Let \(H_{g}\) be an oriented 3-dimensional handlebody of genus \(g,\) and let \(\Sigma_{g}=\partial H_{g}.\) Let \(Homeo_{+}(H_{g})\) (resp. \(Homeo_{+} (\Sigma_{g}))\) be the group of orientation preserving homemorphisms of \(H_{g}\) (resp. \(\Sigma_{g}),\) and let \(\mathcal{M}(H_{g})\) (resp. \(\mathcal{M} (\Sigma_{g})\)) be the mapping class group of \(H_{g}\) (resp. \(\Sigma_{g}),\) i.e. the group of isotopy classes of elements of \(Homeo_{+}(H_{g})\) (resp. \(Homeo_{+}(\Sigma_{g})).\) The elements of \(\mathcal{M}(H_{g})\) (resp. \(\mathcal{M}(\Sigma_{g})\)) are denoted by \([f].\) If \(D\) is a disk properly embedded in \(H_{g}\) the isotopy class of the (left handed) disk twist is denoted by \([d_{D}]\in\mathcal{M}(H_{g}).\) Also the isotopy class of the (left handed) Dehn twist about a simple (non-trivial) closed curve of \(\Sigma_{g}\) is denoted by \([t_{C}]\in\mathcal{M}(\Sigma_{g}).\) If an element \([f]\in\mathcal{M}(H_{g})\) (resp. \([h]\in\mathcal{M}(\Sigma_{g}))\) satisfies \([d_{D}]=[f]^{n}\) (resp. \([t_{C}]=[h]^{n})\) for an integer \(n>1\) and \([d_{D}]\neq[ f]^{k}\) (resp. \([t_{C}]\neq[ h]^{k})\) for any integer \(k\) with \(1<k<n,\) then \([f]\) (resp. \([h])\) is called a root of \([d_{D}]\) (resp. \([t_{C}]).\) \textit{D. Margalit} and \textit{S. Schleimer} discovered a nontrivial root of \([t_{C}]\) about a nonseparating curve \(C\) of \(\Sigma_{g}\) for \(g\geq2\) [Geom. Topol. 13, No. 3, 1495--1497 (2009; Zbl 1203.57007)]. The main result of the present work is the following: Let \(D\) be a nonseparating disk properly embedded in \(H_{g}.\) For any \(g\neq2,4,\) \([d_{D}]\) has a root of degree 3. When \(g\) is odd and \(g\geq3,\) \([d_{D}]\) has a root of degree \(g.\) When \(g\equiv 2(\operatorname{mod}\) \(4)\) and \(g\neq2,\) \([d_{D}]\) has a root of degree \(g/2.\) When \(g=2\) or \(4,\) \([d_{D}]\) has no root. Furthermore, in the paper interesting properties of roots are proved.