Isometry groups of infinite-genus hyperbolic surfaces (Q2235221)

In study of low-dimensional spaces, a common question is to ask which groups can act on a given manifold, which is equipped with a Riemannian metric of constant curvature, as the isometry group. In this paper, the authors give us an almost complete classification of such groups for infinite genus \(2\)-manifolds. Note that \textit{D. Allcock} [Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 134, No. 10, 3057--3059 (2006; Zbl 1094.51004)] and \textit{J. Winkelmann} [Doc. Math. 6, 413--417 (2001; Zbl 0989.30030)] proved that any countable group is realized as the isometry group of some complete hyperbolic surface. It is known that every finite group is realizable as the isometry group of a closed hyperbolic manifold in every dimension. For instance, \textit{L. Greenberg} showed this in case of dimension two [in: Discontin. Groups Riemann Surf., Proc. 1973 Conf. Univ. Maryland, 207--226 (1974; Zbl 0295.20053)]; \textit{S. Kojima} did it for dimension three [Topology Appl. 29, No. 3, 297--307 (1988; Zbl 0654.57006)], and \textit{M. Belolipetsky} and \textit{A. Lubotzky} [Invent. Math. 162, No. 3, 459--472 (2005; Zbl 1113.57007)] and \textit{D. D. Long} and \textit{A. W. Reid} [Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 138, No. 2, 301--306 (2005; Zbl 1065.57022)] showed the remaining cases. The authors bring up the following problem, which remains unsolved for a closed surface. Problem. Let \(S\) be a \(2\)-manifold. Characterize the groups \(G\) for which there exists a complete hyperbolic metric on \(S\) whose isometry group is isomorphic to \(G\). In this paper, they focus on the problem above in the infinite-genus setting. Terminologies used in the main theorem below are explained in Section 4. For instance, the end space of a surface \(S\) is \textit{doubly pointed} means that there are exactly two ends of \(S\) whose orbits under the action of \(\hbox{Homeo}(S)\) are finite. A subset \(\Sigma\) of \(S\) is \textit{non-displaceable} with respect to some \(U \subseteq \hbox{Homeo}(S)\) if \(f(\Sigma) \cap \Sigma \neq \emptyset\) for all \(f \in U\). Thus, we say \(\Sigma\) is \textit{non-displaceable} if it is non-displaceable with respect to the entire \(\hbox{Homeo}(S)\). The authors use the Cantor-Bendixson space to give us an idea of these terminologies. Theorem. Let \(S\) be an orientable infinite-genus 2-manifold with no planar ends and let \(G\) be an arbitrary group. Then (1) If the end space of \(S\) is self-similar, then there is a complete hyperbolic metric on \(S\) whose isometry group is \(G\) if and only if \(G\) is countable. (2) If the end space \(S\) is doubly pointed, then the isometry group of any complete hyperbolic metric on \(S\) is virtually cyclic. (3) If \(S\) contains a compact non-displaceable surface, then there exists a complete hyperbolic metric on \(S\) whose isometry group is \(G\) if and only if \(G\) is finite. Moreover, every such \(2\)-manifold satisfies at least one of the above hypotheses. Remark that this theorem is not a trichotomy since the second and the third statements are not mutually exclusive.