Decomposing diffeomorphisms of the sphere

DOI10.1112/BLMS/BDR111MaRDI QIDQ2893277zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Alastair Fletcher, Vladimir Markovic

Publication date 19 June 2012

Published in Bulletin of the London Mathematical Society (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1009.3905, https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20120622-134602277

zbMATH Keywords

bilipschitz mapsfactorization of diffeomorphisms

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Fuchsian groups and their generalizations (group-theoretic aspects) (20H10) Quasiconformal mappings in (mathbb{R}^n), other generalizations (30C65) Differentiable mappings in differential topology (57R35) Differential topological aspects of diffeomorphisms (57R50)

Abstract: We prove that any diffeomorphism of the sphere S^n to itself can be decomposed into bi-Lipschitz mappings of small isometric distortion and which move points a small amount in the spherical metric.

Review text

A diffeomorphism of the sphere \(S^n\) cannot, in general, be decomposed into diffeomorphisms that are \(C^1\) close to the identity -- this is due the existence of exotic spheres in high dimensions, see [\textit{J. W. Milnor}, Ann. Math. (2) 64, 399--405 (1956; Zbl 0072.18402)]. The authors show that for every \(\varepsilon > 0\) a diffeomorphism \(f : S^n \rightarrow S^n\) can be decomposed as \(f = f_m \circ \dots \circ f_1\), where \(f_k\) is \((1+\varepsilon)\)-bilipschitz with respect to the spherical metric \(q\) on \(S^n\) and \(q(f_k(x), x) < \varepsilon\) for all \(x \in S^n\). A byproduct of the construction is that every \(f_k\) is differentiable but need not be continuously differentiable. The proof also shows that \(f\) can be connected to the identity by a path put together of special bilipschitz paths. Contrary to the diffeomorphism case little is known about factorization of bilipschitz mappings; see [\textit{M. Freedman} and \textit{Z.-X. He}, Invent. Math. 92, No. 1, 129--138 (1988; Zbl 0622.30011)] and [\textit{V. Gutlyanskii} and the reviewer, Conform. Geom. Dyn. 5, 6--20 (2001; Zbl 0981.30014)]. For the proof the authors make use of the Munkres deformation result for \(C^k\)-diffeomorphisms, see [\textit{F. W. Wilson jun.}, Ill. J. Math. 16, 222--233 (1972; Zbl 0238.57016)].

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