American Institute of Mathematical Sciences

May  2015, 35(5): 1817-1827. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2015.35.1817

Actions of solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups on surfaces with (pseudo)-Anosov elements

 1 Centro de Matemática, Facultad de Ciencias, Iguá 4225, Montevideo, CP 11400, Uruguay 2 IMERL, Facultad de Ingeniería, Julio Herrera y Reissig 565, Montevideo, CP 11300, Uruguay, Uruguay

Received  March 2014 Revised  September 2014 Published  December 2014

Let $BS(1,n)= \langle a,b : a b a ^{-1} = b ^n\rangle$ be the solvable Baumslag-Solitar group, where $n \geq 2$. We study representations of $BS(1, n)$ by homeomorphisms of closed surfaces of genus $g\geq 1$ with (pseudo)-Anosov elements. That is, we consider a closed surface $S$ of genus $g\geq 1$, and homeomorphisms $f, h: S \to S$ such that $h f h^{-1} = f^n$, for some $n\geq 2$. It is known that $f$ (or some power of $f$) must be homotopic to the identity. Suppose that $h$ is (pseudo)-Anosov with stretch factor $\lambda >1$. We show that $\langle f,h \rangle$ is not a faithful representation of $BS(1, n)$ if $\lambda > n$. We also show that there are no faithful representations of $BS(1, n)$ by torus homeomorphisms with $h$ an Anosov map and $f$ area preserving (regardless of the value of $\lambda$).
Citation: Juan Alonso, Nancy Guelman, Juliana Xavier. Actions of solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups on surfaces with (pseudo)-Anosov elements. Discrete & Continuous Dynamical Systems - A, 2015, 35 (5) : 1817-1827. doi: 10.3934/dcds.2015.35.1817
References:
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References:
 [1] M. Bestvina, Questions in geometric group theory,, Available from , (). Google Scholar [2] G. Baumslag and D. Solitar, Some two generator one-relator non-Hopfian groups,, Bull. Amer. Math. Soc., 68 (1962), 199. doi: 10.1090/S0002-9904-1962-10745-9. Google Scholar [3] D. Fisher, Groups acting on manifolds: Around the Zimmer program,, Geometry, (2011), 72. doi: 10.7208/chicago/9780226237909.001.0001. Google Scholar [4] J.Franks and M. Handel, Distortion elements in group actions on surfaces,, Duke Math. J., 131 (2006), 441. doi: 10.1215/S0012-7094-06-13132-0. Google Scholar [5] B. Farb, A. Lubotzky and Y. Minsky, Rank one phenomena for mapping class groups,, Duke Math. J., 106 (2001), 581. doi: 10.1215/S0012-7094-01-10636-4. Google Scholar [6] B. Farb and D. Margalit, A Primer on Mapping Class Groups,, {Princeton University Press}, (2012). Google Scholar [7] B. Farb and L. Mosher, A rigidity theorem for the solvable Baumslag-Solitar groups,, Invent. Math., 131 (1998), 419. doi: 10.1007/s002220050210. Google Scholar [8] N. Guelman and I. Liousse, C1- actions of Baumslag-Solitar groups on S1,, AGT, 11 (2011), 1701. doi: 10.2140/agt.2011.11.1701. Google Scholar [9] N. Guelman and I. Liousse, Actions of Baumslag-Solitar groups on surfaces,, Disc. Cont. Dyn. Sys., 33 (2013), 1945. Google Scholar [10] M. E. Hamstrom, Homotopy groups of the space of homeomorphisms on a $2$- manifold,, Ill. J. Math., 10 (1996), 563. Google Scholar [11] A. Hatcher, Algebraic Topology,, Cambridge University Press, (2002). Google Scholar [12] A. Koropecki and F. Tal, Bounded and unbounded behaviour for rational pseudo rotations,, Preprint, (). Google Scholar [13] J. D. McCarthy, Normalizers and centralizers of pseudo-Anosov mapping classes,, Preprint., (). Google Scholar [14] A. Navas, Groupes resolubles de diffeomorphismes de l'intervalle, du cercle et de la droite,, Bull. Braz. Math. Soc. (N.S.), 35 (2004), 13. doi: 10.1007/s00574-004-0002-2. Google Scholar [15] J. F. Plante, Solvable groups acting on the line,, Trans. Amer. Math. Soc., 278 (1983), 401. doi: 10.1090/S0002-9947-1983-0697084-7. Google Scholar [16] J. Palis and J. C. Yoccoz, Centralizers of Anosov diffeomorphisms on tori,, Ann. Sc. ENS, 22 (1989), 99. Google Scholar [17] J. Rocha, A note on the $C 0$-centralizer of an open class of bidimensional Anosov diffeomorphisms,, Aequ. math., 76 (2008), 105. doi: 10.1007/s00010-007-2910-x. Google Scholar [18] R. Zimmer, Actions of semisimple groups and discrete subgroups,, Proc. Internat. Congr. Math., 2 (1987), 1247. Google Scholar
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