On the exponent of the automorphism group of a compact Riemann surface (Q330074)

The author proves a number of things about the exponent of a group \(G\) of automorphisms of a compact Riemann surface \(X\) of genus \(g > 1\). First, he shows that this exponent is bounded above by \(42(g-1)\), and that the latter value is attained if and only if \(|G| = 84(g-1)\) and \(G\) is isomorphic to PSL\((2,7)\) or PSL\((2,p)\) for some prime \(p \equiv \pm 1\) mod \(7\). (In particular, in that case \(G =\) Aut\((X)\) and \(G\) is a Hurwitz group.) Then he gives upper bounds of \(16(g-1)\) in the case where \(G\) is soluble and \(g > 2\), and \(4g+2\) in the case where \(G\) is nilpotent (and \(g > 1\)). Finally he shows that if \(m\) is the exponent of \(G\) then \(|G|\) divides \(2m(g-1)\), and that there are only finitely many \(G\) for which \(|G| = 2m(g-1)\), with \(G\) soluble and \(m \leq 24\) whenever that happens.