Maximum orders of periodic maps on closed surfaces (Q1187125)

Let \(F_ g\), respectively \(N_ g\), be the closed orientable, respectively non-orientable surface of genus \(g\) and let \(O(M)\) be the maximum of the orders of periodic maps on \(M\). In 1895 Wiman showed that the maximum possible order of an orientation preserving periodic map on \(F_ g\) for \(g\geq 2\) is \(4g+2\), and in 1966 Harvey showed that this maximum is realized. In the present paper these results are generalized with no orientability assumptions. It is shown that \(O(F_ g)=4g+2\) (and is realized by an orientation preserving map) if \(g\) is \(\text{odd}\geq 2\), \(O(F_ g)=4g+4\) (and is realized by an orientation reversing map with isolated fixed points) if \(g\) is even \(\geq 2\), \(O(N_ g)=2g\) if \(g\) is \(\text{odd}\geq 3\) and \(O(N_ g)=2g-2\) if \(g\) is even \(\geq 3\) (both cases are realized).