Topologically unique maximal elementary Abelian group actions on compact oriented surfaces (Q1004463)

In this paper actions of maximal elementary groups on compact oriented surfaces are studied. First, the authors give the list of all groups and signatures for elementary abelian groups actions that are unique up to topological equivalence and they determine which of them define maximal actions and those which never define maximal actions. Next, maximal actions are considered and group extensions which also define unique actions up to topological equivalence are studied. The authors prove that any normal extension of a genus \(0\) unique elementary abelian action also defines a unique action. It is obtained as a consequence that any finite group of homeomorphisms of a surface of genus \(\sigma\geq 2\) which contains a hyperelliptic involution is unique up to topological equivalence. Fuchsian signatures play an important role in this paper. Several propositions and theorems are proved in a case-by-case analysis. Four tables show the signatures and conditions that the parameters must satisfy in the different cases. The style of several results is similar to the following Theorem 3.3: ''Suppose an elementary abelian group \(A=C_p^n\) acts on a surface \(S\) of genus \(\sigma\geq 2\) with signature \((\rho; p^r)\) where \(\sigma=1+p^n(p-1)\frac{rp^{n-1}(p-1)}{2}.\) Then the action is unique up to topological equivalence if and only if \(\rho,p,r\) and \(n\) satisfy one of the cases of Table 2.'' The family of the so-called hyper-Fermat curves is discussed with detail in the last section of the paper. The authors prove that these curves depend upon \(n-2\) moduli. In the nice introduction the authors carefully explain the different sources and related problems which motivate their work. They also indicate that the study of maximal actions may provide insight into the structure of the mapping class group \(\mathcal{M}_\sigma\) of a closed oriented surface of genus \(\sigma\).