On fibered commensurability (Q2431636)

A surface automorphism \((F , \phi)\) is a pair of a compact surface \(F\) and an isotopy class of self-homeomorphisms of \(F\). A surface automorphism determines a 3-manifold as an \(F\)-bundle over \(S^1\) with monodromy \(\phi\), together with a foliation by surface fibers. This paper initiates the study of commensurability of surface automorphisms, where two automorphisms are commensurable if they lift to automorphisms of a finite covering surface that have non-trivial common powers. This translates to a relation of fibered commensurability on 3-manifolds fibering over \(S^1\). This is a more rigid relation than ordinary commensurability of 3-manifolds already studied by various authors (see for example \textit{A. Borel} [``Commensurability classes and volumes of hperbolic 3-manifolds'', Ann. Scuola Norm. Sup. Pisa Cl. Sci. 8, 1--33 (1981; Zbl 0473.57003)], or \textit{A. M. Macbeath} [``Commensurability of co-compact three-dimensional hyperbolic groups'', Duke Math. J. 50, 1245--1253 (1983; Zbl 0588.22009)]). However a given 3-manifold can fiber in infinitely many different ways. The main questions addressed by the authors are the number of commensurability classes for a given type of surface automorphism of a given 3-manifold, and also the number of minimal elements in a given fibered commensurability class. The authors give a complete description of commensurability classes in the first simple cases when \(\chi (F) \geq 0\), and when \(\chi(F)<0\) and \(\phi\) is of finite order. In the latter case, there are exactly two fibered commensurability classes for either Seifert fibered manifolds with torus boundary or closed ones. These classes contain infinitely many minimal elements. In the case where \((F,\phi)\) is a Pseudo-Anosov automorphism, or equivalently given a hyperbolic fibered 3-manifold, the authors show that every commensurability class contains a unique minimal element. They also define commensurability invariants for Pseudo-Anosov automorphisms, and then exhibit examples of incommensurable fibrations of the same hyperbolic 3-manifold by means of these invariants. The last case of study is when \((F,\phi)\) is a reducible automorphism. Invariants of commensurability classes are constructed and then some examples exhibiting various behaviors for commensurability classes are given. In particular, there are commensurability classes with infinitely many minimal elements. The authors also give two important examples of graph manifolds with infinitely many incommensurable fibrations. One with boundary which also admits infinitely many commensurable fibrations, and the other one closed with incommensurable fibrations of the same genus.