Distortion elements in group actions on surfaces

DOI10.1215/S0012-7094-06-13132-0MaRDI QIDQ817952zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Publication date 23 March 2006

Published in Duke Mathematical Journal (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0404532

distorsion group actions on surfaces measure-preserving homeomorphism property T

Measurable group actions (22F10) Dynamics induced by group actions other than (mathbb{Z}) and (mathbb{R}), and (mathbb{C}) (37C85) Group actions on manifolds and cell complexes in low dimensions (57M60)

Abstract: If

G

is a finitely generated group with generators

g_{1}, ..., g_{j}

then an infinite order element

f i n G

is a {em distortion element} of

G

provided

d i s p l a y s t y l e l i m i n f_{n o i n f t y} | f^{n} | / n = 0,

where

| f^{n} |

is the word length of

f^{n}

in the generators. Let

S

be a closed orientable surface and let

D i f f (S)_{0}

denote the identity component of the group of

C^{1}

diffeomorphisms of

S

. Our main result shows that if

S

has genus at least two and if

f

is a distortion element in some finitely generated subgroup of

D i f f (S)_{0}

, then

s u p p (m u) s u b s e t F i x (f)

for every

f

-invariant Borel probability measure

m u

. Related results are proved for

S = T^{2}

or

S^{2}

. For

m u

a Borel probability measure on

S

, denote the group of

C^{1}

diffeomorphisms that preserve

m u

by

D i f f_{m u} (S)

. We give several applications of our main result showing that certain groups, including a large class of higher rank lattices, admit no homomorphisms to

D i f f_{m u} (S)

with infinite image.

Review text

Here, \(S\) is a closed orientable surface, \(\mu\) is a Borel probability measure on \(S\) and \(\text{Diff}(S)_0\) is the group if \(C^1\)-diffeomorphisms of \(S\) that are isotopic to the identity. Let \(G\) be a finitely generated group. An element \(f\in G\) is said to be a distorsion element of \(G\) if \(f\) has infinite order and if we have \(\lim\inf_{n\to\infty} | f^n| / n=0\) where \(| f^n| \) denotes the length of the element \(f^n\) of \(G\) with respect to the word metric associated to some finite system of generators of \(G\). (The definition obviously does not depend on the chosen system of generators). The group \(G\) is said to satisfy property \(T\) if the identity element of \(G\) is isolated in the unitary dual \(\widehat G\). The group \(G\) is said to be almost simple if every normal subgroup of \(G\) is finite or has finite index. The main results of this paper are the following theorems: Theorem 1: If \(f\) is a distorsion element of \(\text{Diff}(S)_0\) and if \(\mu\) is \(f\)-invariant, then the support of \(\mu\) is contained in the fixed-point set of \(f\), provided the genus of \(S\) is \(\geq 2\). The authors also give related results in the case where \(S\) is a torus or a 2-sphere. Theorem 2: If \(S\) has positive genus, if \(G\) is almost simple and possesses a distorsion element \(u\), and if either the Borel measure \(\mu\) has infinite support or \(G\) satisfies property \(T\), then any homomorphism from \(G\) into the group of \(C^1\)-diffeomorphisms of \(S\) that preserve \(\mu\) has finite image. Again, the authors give a related result in the case where \(S\) is the 2-sphere. Theorem 3: If \(G\) is almost simple and has a subgroup isomorphic to the three-dimensional Heisenberg group, then any homomorphism from \(G\) into the group of \(C^1\)-diffeomorphisms of \(S\) that preserve \(\mu\) has finite image. Several corollaries are obtained, in particular concerning the images of homomorphisms from subgroups of higher-rank lattices in the group of \(C^1\)-diffeomorphisms of \(S\) that preserve \(\mu\).

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