English

Classification of the conjugacy classes of $\widetilde{\mathrm{SL}}(2,\mathbb{R})$

Group Theory 2024-12-18 v2

Abstract

In this note, we classify the conjugacy classes of SL~2(R)\widetilde{\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R}), the universal covering group of PSL2(R)\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{R}). For any non-central element αSL~2(R)\alpha \in \widetilde{\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R}), we show that its conjugacy class may be determined by three invariants: (i) Trace: the trace (valued in the set of positive real numbers R+\mathbb{R}_{+}) of its image α\overline{\alpha} in PSL2(R)\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{R}); (ii) Direction type: the sign behavior of the induced self-homeomorphism of R\mathbb{R} determined by the lifting SL~2(R)R\widetilde{\mathrm{SL}}_2(\mathbb{R}) \curvearrowright \mathbb{R} of the action PSL2(R)S1\mathrm{PSL}_2(\mathbb{R}) \curvearrowright \mathbb{S}^{1}; (iii) The function \ell^{\sharp}: a conjugacy invariant length function introduced by S. Mochizuki [Res. Math. Sci. 3 (2016), 3:6].

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2304.08617,
  title  = {Classification of the conjugacy classes of $\widetilde{\mathrm{SL}}(2,\mathbb{R})$},
  author = {Christian Táfula},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2304.08617},
  year   = {2024}
}

Comments

12 pages, 3 figures. Accepted version