RAAGs in Ham (Q1938486)

A right-angled Artin group is a group generated by the vertices of a finite undirected graph, and whose relations are given by commutation of adjacent vertices. The author proves that for every finite graph, the associated right-angled Artin group embeds into the group \(\mathrm{Ham}(S^2)\) of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of the \(2\)-sphere in such a way that it pointwise preserves a closed disk in \(S^2\). As a corollary, every subgroup of a right-angled Artin group embeds into the group of Hamiltonian symplectomorphisms of every symplectic manifold. The proof proceeds as follows: First, one finds a closed, orientable surface into which a given right-angled Artin group embeds. Then, one appropriately lifts to the universal cover of the surface, which is identified with the hyperbolic plane lying in the Riemann sphere. Finally, one does a mollifier-type approximation to get a faithful representation of the right-angled Artin group into \(\mathrm{Ham}(S^2)\). The author also provides some open questions.