Automatic continuity for homeomorphism groups and applications (with an appendix by Frédéric Le Roux and Kathryn Mann) (Q321688)

We say that a topological group \(G\) has the automatic continuity property if every homomorphism from \(G\) to any separable group \(H\) is necessarily continuous. Automatic continuity is a very strong property which fails for most familiar topological groups. Examples of groups with this property were found by Rosendal, Solecki, Kittrell, Tsankov and Sabok. For example, \textit{C. Rosendal} [Isr. J. Math. 166, 349--367 (2008; Zbl 1155.54025)] proved that the homeomorphism groups of compact \(2\)-dimensional manifolds have this property. In this paper, the author proves a remarkable theorem stating that automatic continuity holds for any homeomorphism group of a compact manifold, possibly with boundary. This answers a question of Rosendal. Furthermore, this property also holds for groups of homeomorphisms which preserve a given submanifold. The author presents many applications of this theorem. {\parindent=0.7cm\begin{itemize}\item[(1)] She answers a problem by \textit{D. Epstein} and \textit{V. Markovic} [Geom. Topol. 11, 517--595 (2007; Zbl 1154.30012)] by showing that any extension homomorphism \(\text{Homeo}_0(S^1)\to\text{Homeo}_0(D^2)\) is continuous. \item[(2)] Let \({\mathcal G}_+({\mathbb R}^n, 0)\) denote the group of germs at \(0\) of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of \({\mathbb R}^n\) fixing \(0\). Then any homomophism from \({\mathcal G}_+({\mathbb R}^n, 0)\) to a separable group is trivial. \item[(3)] Let \(M\) be a compact manifold. Then \(\text{Homeo}_0(M)\) has regularity 0, meaning that for any manifold \(N\), any homomorphism \(\text{Homeo}_0(M)\to\text{Diff}^1(N)\) is trivial. In particular, \(\text{Homeo}_0(M)\) is not algebraically \(C^1\)-smoothable. \end{itemize}}