Factorizations of diffeomorphisms of compact surfaces with boundary (Q888881)

It is a classical fact that mapping class groups of surfaces are generated by (left and right) Dehn twists. The paper under review contributes to the question which mapping classes can be presented as products of right Dehn twists only. One reason why factorization into right Dehn twists is a relevant question is that an open book carries a Stein-fillable contact structure if its monodromy can be presented as a product of right Dehn twists. The main new tool is the notion of ``right position'' for the images of a collection \(\Gamma\) of disjoint properly embedded arcs under a given diffeomorphism \(\phi\), and a certain ``consistency'' condition. It is then proved that, when \(\phi\) is a product of positive Dehn twists, for any collection of disjoint, properly embedded arcs there exists a consistent right position. This is then used to prove a necessary condition for when a given Dehn twist can occur as a factor in a factorization of \(\phi\) into positive Dehn twists. As an application of these methods the author obtains open book decompositions which support Stein-fillable contact structures but whose monodromies cannot be factorized into positive Dehn twists.