Irreducible Sp-representations and subgroup distortion in the mapping class group (Q550548)

It is proved that various subgroups of the mapping class group \(\mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma)\) of a surface \(\Sigma\) are at least exponentially distorted. Working examples include: -- The Torelli subgroup of an oriented surface with genus at least 3 and at most one boundary component. It is shown (Theorem 1.1) that its distortion is at least exponential and at most doubly exponential. That answers a question of Hamenstädt. -- The surface braid groups, for an oriented punctured surface with genus at least 2. It is shown (Theorem 1.2) that its distortion is exactly exponential. -- The Lagrangian subgroup of an oriented surface with genus at least 4. It is shown (Theorem 1.3) that its distortion is at least exponential. -- Let \(g,h\) be non-negative integers such that \(g-h\geqslant 2\), and \(\Sigma'\) be a surface with genus \(h\) and one boundary component embedded in a closed surface \(\Sigma\) with genus \(g\). Let \(K\) be the pull-back to \(\mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma)\) of the copy of \(\text{Sp}(2h,{\mathbb Z})\) in \(\text{Sp}(2g,{\mathbb Z})\). It is shown (Theorem 1.5) that \(K\) is at least exponentially distorted in \(\mathrm{Mod}(\Sigma)\). The method for finding lower bounds on distortion makes use of irreducible representations and of a generalization of the Johnson homomorphism to other subgroups of the mapping class group (Theorem 5.8). The method for finding upper bounds of the distortion of a normal subgroup \(K\) in \(\Omega\) makes use of the isoperimetric and isodiametric functions on the quotient group \(\Omega/K\) (\S~ 2.3). The methods apply to study the distortion of several subgroups of the mapping class group, but there are also examples to which it does not apply. Thereupon the authors ask whether the last working example remains true when \(g-h=1\), and what is the distortion of the handlebody subgroup in the mapping class group (Question 1.6).