The Burnside problem for \(\text{Diff}_{\omega}(\mathbb{S}^2)\) (Q2217898)

A group \(G\) is said to be periodic if every element of \(G\) has finite order. If there exists \(N \in \mathbb{N}\) such that \(g^N = \mathrm{id}\) for every \(g \in G\), then \(G\) is said to be a periodic group of bounded exponent. The authors are investigating the following problem (Burnside problem for homeomorphism groups): let \(M\) be a connected compact manifold and \(G\) be a finitely generated subgroup \(G< \mathrm{Homeo}(M)\) such that all the elements of \(G\) have finite order. Then, is \(G\) necessarily finite? The main results of this article are the following. Let \(\omega\) be an area form on \(\mathbb{S}^2\) and Diff\(^\infty_\omega(\mathbb{S}^2)\) be the group \(C^\infty\) diffeomorphisms of \(\mathbb{S}^2\) that preserve \(\omega\). Then, any finitely generated periodic subgroup of bounded exponent of Diff\(^\infty_\omega(\mathbb{S}^2)\) is finite. We should point out that \textit{J. Conejeros} [Algebr. Geom. Topol. 18, No. 7, 4093--4107 (2018; Zbl 1486.20046)] recently proved by other methods some results about periodic groups in Homeo\(_+(\mathbb{S}^2)\), using the theory of rotation sets.