Automorphisms of the \(k\)-curve graph (Q6108386)

Let \(S\) be an orientable surface of genus \(g\) with \(p \ge 0\) punctures. \textit{N. V. Ivanov} proved [Int. Math. Res. Not. 1997, No. 14, 651--666 (1997; Zbl 0890.57018)] that the automorphism group \(\mathrm{Aut} (C(S))\) of the \textit{curve graph} \(C(S)\) of \(S\) is naturally isomorphic to the extended modular group \(\mathrm{Mod}^\pm(S)\), in all but finitely many cases (the vertices of \(C(S)\) correspond to isotopy classes of essential simple closed curves on \(S\), the edges to classes with disjoint representatives). The main result of the present paper states that also the automorphism group \(\mathrm{Aut} (C_k(S))\) of the \textit{\(k\)-curve graph} \(C_k(S)\) of \(S\) is naturally isomorphic to \(\mathrm{Mod}^\pm(S)\), for all positive integers \(k \le |\chi(S)| - 512\); the vertices of \(C_k(S)\) are again isotopy classes of essential simple closed curves, edges represent classes of curves with geometric intersection number at most \(k\). This is in concordance with ``Ivanovs's metaconjecture'' that any ``sufficiently rich'' complex naturally associated with a surface should have \(\mathrm{Mod}^\pm(S)\) as its automorphism group (and moreover should have a proof which factors through Ivanov's original theorem). The authors prove the same result also for the \textit{systolic complex}, a variant of the curve graph with many complete subgraphs coming from interesting collections of systoles with respect to a hyperbolic metric, confirming a conjecture of \textit{P. Schmutz Schaller} [Compos. Math. 122, No. 3, 243--260 (2000; Zbl 0981.57004)] .