English

Automorphisms of Kronrod-Reeb graphs of Morse functions on compact surfaces

Geometric Topology 2019-12-16 v1 Algebraic Topology Combinatorics Differential Geometry Group Theory

Abstract

Let MM be a connected orientable compact surface, f:MRf:M\to\mathbb{R} be a Morse function, and Did(M)\mathcal{D}_{\mathrm{id}}(M) be the group of difeomorphisms of MM isotopic to the identity. Denote by S(f)={fh=fhDid(M)}\mathcal{S}'(f)=\{f\circ h = f\mid h\in\mathcal{D}_{\mathrm{id}}(M)\} the subgroup of Did(M)\mathcal{D}_{\mathrm{id}}(M) consisting of difeomorphisms "preserving" ff, i.e. the stabilizer of ff with respect to the right action of Did(M)\mathcal{D}_{\mathrm{id}}(M) on the space C(M,R)\mathcal{C}^{\infty}(M,\mathbb{R}) of smooth functions on MM. Let also G(f)\mathbf{G}(f) be the group of automorphisms of the Kronrod-Reeb graph of ff induced by diffeomorphisms belonging to S(f)\mathcal{S}'(f). This group is an important ingredient in determining the homotopy type of the orbit of ff with respect to the above action of Did(M)\mathcal{D}_{\mathrm{id}}(M) and it is trivial if ff is "generic", i.e. has at most one critical point at each level set f1(c)f^{-1}(c), cRc\in\mathbb{R}. For the case when MM is distinct from 22-sphere and 22-torus we present a precise description of the family G(M,R)\mathbf{G}(M,\mathbb{R}) of isomorphism classes of groups G(f)\mathbf{G}(f), where ff runs over all Morse functions on MM, and of its subfamily Gsmp(M,R)G(M,R)\mathbf{G}^{smp}(M,\mathbb{R}) \subset \mathbf{G}(M,\mathbb{R}) consisting of groups corresponding to simple Morse functions, i.e. functions having at most one critical point at each connected component of each level set. In fact, G(M,R)\mathbf{G}(M,\mathbb{R}), (resp. Gsmp(M,R)\mathbf{G}^{smp}(M,\mathbb{R})), coincides with the minimal family of isomorphism classes of groups containing the trivial group and closed with respect to direct products and also with respect to wreath products "from the top" with arbitrary finite cyclic groups, (resp. with group Z2\mathbb{Z}_2 only).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1808.08746,
  title  = {Automorphisms of Kronrod-Reeb graphs of Morse functions on compact surfaces},
  author = {Anna Kravchenko and Sergiy Maksymenko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1808.08746},
  year   = {2019}
}

Comments

15 pages, 8 figures