Related papers: Distortion in Groups of Circle and Surface Diffeom…

This is an expository article on properties of actions on Lie groups by subgroups of their automorphism groups. After recalling various results on the structure of the automorphism groups, we discuss actions with dense orbits, invariant and…

We establish obstructions for groups to act by homeomorphisms on dendrites. For instance, lattices in higher rank simple Lie groups will always fix a point or a pair. The same holds for irreducible lattices in products of connected groups.…

If $G$ is a finitely generated group with generators $\{g_1,..., g_s\}$, we say an infinite-order element $f \in G$ is a distortion element of $G$ provided that $\displaystyle \liminf_{n \to \infty} \frac{|f^n|}{n} = 0$, where $|f^n|$ is…

We exhibit rigid rotations of spheres as distortion elements in groups of diffeomorphisms, thereby answering a question of J Franks and M Handel. We also show that every homeomorphism of a sphere is, in a suitable sense, as distorted as…

Let $G$ be a noncompact real algebraic group and $\G<G$ a lattice. One purpose of this paper is to show that there is an smooth, volume preserving, mixing action of $G$ or $\G$ on a compact manifold which admits a smooth deformation. We…

If $\G$ is a finitely generated group with generators $\{g_1,...,g_j\}$ then an infinite order element $f \in \G$ is a {\em distortion element} of $\G$ provided $\displaystyle{\liminf_{n \to \infty} |f^n|/n = 0,}$ where $|f^n|$ is the word…

We study topological properties of semi-group actions on the circle by orientation-preserving homeomorhisms. We prove that a generic action either possesses a forward-invariant interval-domain (i.e. a finite union of disjoint circle arcs),…

We survey rigidity results for groups acting on the circle in various settings, from local to global and $C^0$ to smooth. Our primary focus is on actions of surface groups, with the aim of introducing the reader to recent developments and…

This article gives an up-to-date account of the theory of discrete group actions on non-Riemannian homogeneous spaces. As an introduction of the motifs of this article, we begin by reviewing the current knowledge of possible global forms of…

Suppose G is an almost simple group containing a subgroup isomorphic to the three-dimensional integer Heisenberg group. For example any finite index subgroup of SL(3,Z) is such a group. The main result of this paper is that every action of…

For a discrete group $G$ and the compact space Sub$_G$ of (closed) subgroups of $G$ endowed with the Chabauty topology, we study the dynamics of actions of automorphisms of $G$ on Sub$_G$ in terms of distality and expansivity. We also study…

We generalize the classical construction principles of infinite-dimensional real (and complex) Lie groups to the case of Lie groups over non-discrete topological fields. In particular, we discuss linear Lie groups, mapping groups, test…

This is a survey on the automorphism groups in various classes of affine algebraic surfaces and the algebraic group actions on such surfaces. Being infinite-dimensional, these automorphism groups share some important features of algebraic…

Let $f:M\to \mathbb{R}$ be a Morse function on a smooth closed surface, $V$ be a connected component of some critical level of $f$, and $\mathcal{E}_V$ be its atom. Let also $\mathcal{S}(f)$ be a stabilizer of the function $f$ under the…

We study groups of circle diffeomorphisms whose action on the cylinder $\mathcal C=\mathbb S^1\times \mathbb S^1\setminus \Delta$ preserves a volume form. We first show that such a group is topologically conjugate to a subgroup of…

Quasi-invariant measures for non-discrete groups of diffeomorphisms containing a Morse-Smale dynamics are studied. The assumption concerning the presence of a Morse-Smale dynamics allows us to extend to higher dimensions a number of…

This paper studies separating invariants of finite groups acting on affine varieties through automorphisms. Several results, proved by Serre, Dufresne, Kac-Watanabe and Gordeev, and Jeffries and Dufresne exist that relate properties of the…

The study of actions of countable groups by automorphisms of compact abelian groups has recently undergone intensive development, revealing deep connections with operator algebras and other areas. The discrete Heisenberg group is the…

For r at least 3, p at least 2, we classify all actions of the groups Diff^r_c(R) and Diff^r_+(S1) by C^p -diffeomorphisms on the line and on the circle. This is the same as describing all nontrivial group homomorphisms between groups of…

We consider endomorphism actions of arbitrary discrete semigroups on a connected metrizable topological group G. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for expansiveness of such actions when G is a Lie group or a compact…