Covers and the curve complex (Q1016799)

Let \(S\) be a compact connected orientable two-dimensional orbifold with nonpositive orbifold Euler characteristic and let \(P:\Sigma\to S\) be an orbifold covering map. Then \(P\) defines a one-to-many relation \(\Pi:\mathcal{C}(S)\to {\mathcal C}(\Sigma)\), where \({\mathcal C}(\cdot)\) denotes the curve complex. In this paper, the authors prove the following results: Theorem: The covering relation \(\Pi:{\mathcal C}(S)\to {\mathcal C}(\Sigma)\) is a \(Q\)-quasi-isometric embedding where the constant \(Q\) depends only on the complexity of \(S\) and on the degree of the covering map. Theorem: The covering \(P\) induces a quasi-isometric embedding \(\Pi_*:{\mathcal{MCG}}(S)\to {\mathcal{MCG}}(\Sigma)\), where \({\mathcal{MCG}}(\cdot)\) denotes the orbifold mapping class group. The following is obtained as a corollary: Theorem: Let \(\Delta\subset {\mathcal{MCG}}(S)\) be a finite subgroup. Then, the normalizer of \(\Delta\) is undistorted in \({\mathcal{MCG}}(S)\).