Small asymptotic translation lengths of pseudo-Anosov maps on the curve complex (Q2327663)

Let \(S : = S_{g,n}\) be an orientable surface of genus \(g\) with \(n\) punctures. The curve complex \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) consists of the homotopy classes of essential simple close curves on \(S\) as vertices and the 1-simplices connecting disjoint pairs of such curve classes. The vertex set of \(\mathcal{C}(S)\) becomes a metric space (with metric \(d_{\mathcal{C}}\)) by assigning distance 1 to each 1-simplex. Let \(\mathrm{Mod}(S)\) be the mapping class group of \(S\). Then \(\mathrm{Mod}(S)\) acts naturally on \(\mathcal{C}(S)\), preserving \(d_{\mathcal{C}}\). Let \(\alpha \subset S\) be a simple essential curve. The asymptotic translation length of \(f \in \mathrm{Mod}(S)\) is \[ l_{\mathcal{C}}(f) = \lim_{j \to \infty} \inf \frac{d_{\mathcal{C}}(\alpha, f^j(\alpha))}{j}. \] \(l_{\mathcal{C}}(f)\) is independent of the choice of \(\alpha\), hence, is an invariant of \(f\). Moreover, \(l_{\mathcal{C}}(f) > 0\) if and only if \(f\) is pseudo-Anosov. Suppose \(H \le \mathrm{Mod}(S)\). Then \(L_{\mathcal{C}}(H)\), the minimum of \(l_{\mathcal{C}(f)}\) over pseudo-Anosov \(f \in H\), is an invariant of \(H\). \(L_{\mathcal{C}}(\mathrm{Mod}(S))\) is always finite and, more importantly, is bounded below and away from zero. This means the same are true for \(L_{\mathcal{C}}(H)\) with \(H < \mathrm{Mod}(S)\). The specific bounds depend only on \(g,n\) and are related to the Euler characteristic of \(S\). The present paper gives detailed and explicit computations on various special cases of \(g, n\) and improves on the bounds. Let \(\psi\) be pseudo-Anosov. Suppose there is an essential simple closed curve \([b] \in \mathrm{H}_1(S,\mathbb{Z})\) such that \(\psi[b] = [b]\). Let \(p : \tilde{S} \to S\) be the \(\mathbb{Z}\)-cover corresponding to \([b] \in \pi_1(S)\) and \(h : \tilde{S} \to \tilde{S}\) be a generator of the corresponding deck transformation. Then there is a lift \(\tilde{\psi} : \tilde{S} \to \tilde{S}\). Let \(R_n = \tilde{S}/\langle h^n \tilde{\psi} \rangle\). Then \(h^{-1}\) descends to \(\psi_n \in \mathrm{Mod}(R_n)\). The main theorem (A) states that there exists a constant \(C\) such that for sufficiently large \(n\), \[ l_{\mathcal{C}}(\psi_n) \le \frac{C}{\chi(R_n)}. \] The subject is motivated by mapping tori and 3-dimensional hyperbolic manifolds in general. The rest of the paper gives consequences and applications of the main theorem in this context. The authors prove and improve on the bounds on \(L_{\mathcal{C}}(\mathrm{Mod}(S_{1,g})\) and \(L_{\mathcal{C}}(S_{n,0})\) and \(L_{\mathcal{C}}(H)\) for subgroups \(H < \mathrm{Mod}(S)\), where \(H\) is either the hyperelliptic mapping class group or the handlebody subgroup over \(S_{g,0}\).