Related papers: Flexibility of group actions on the circle
We prove that any rigid representation of $\pi_1\Sigma_g$ in $\mathrm{Homeo}_+(S^1)$ with Euler number at least $g$ is necessarily semi-conjugate to a discrete, faithful representation into $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$. Combined with…
In this work we exhibit flexibility phenomena for some (countable) groups acting by order preserving homeomorphisms of the line. More precisely, we show that if a left orderable group admits an amalgam decomposition of the form…
We construct a finitely presented, infinite, simple group that acts by homeomorphisms on the circle, but does not admit a non-trivial action by $C^1$-diffeomorphisms on the circle. The group emerges as a group of piecewise projective…
On a closed and connected symplectic manifold, the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms has the structure of an infinite-dimensional Fr\'echet Lie group, where the Lie algebra is naturally identified with the space of smooth and zero-mean…
We discuss how the global geometry and topology of manifolds depend on different group actions of their fundamental groups, and in particular, how properties of a non-trivial compact 4-dimensional cobordism $M$ whose interior has a complete…
We propose a program to study groups acting faithfully on S^1 in terms of number of pairwise transverse dense invariant laminations. We give some examples of groups which admit a small number of invariant laminations as an introduction to…
This self-contained paper is part of a series \cite{FF2,FF3} on actions by diffeomorphisms of infinite groups on compact manifolds. The two main results presented here are: 1) Any homomorphism of (almost any) mapping class group or…
Let S be a connected orientable surface with finitely many punctures, finitely many boundary components, and genus at least 6. Then any C^1 action of the mapping class group of S on the circle is trivial. The techniques used in the proof of…
We prove various results that, given a sufficiently rich subgroup $G$ of the group of homeomorphisms on the real line, describe the structure of the other possible actions of $G$ on the line, and address under which conditions such actions…
A subgroup of $\mathrm{Homeo}_+(\mathbb{S}^1)$ is M\"obius-like if every element is conjugate to an element of $\mathrm{PSL}(2,\mathbb{R})$. In general, a M\"obius-like subgroup of $\mathrm{Homeo}_+(\mathbb{S}^1)$ is not necessarily…
We show that the (topological) full group of a minimal pseudogroup over the Cantor set satisfies various rigidity phenomena of topological dynamical and combinatorial nature. Our main result applies to its possible homomorphisms into other…
It has been known since the time of Nielsen that the mapping class group $\text{Mod}_{g,1}$ of a surface of genus $g$ and one puncture acts faithfully by homeomorphisms on the circle. In this note, we show that this standard representation…
The group SL(3,Z) cannot act (faithfully) on the circle (by homeomorphisms). We will see that many other arithmetic groups also cannot act on the circle. The discussion will involve several important topics in group theory, such as ordered…
We consider actions of cocompact lattices in semisimple Lie groups of the noncompact type on their boundaries $G/Q$, $Q$ a parabolic group, the so-called standard actions. We show that perturbations of the standard action in the…
We explore transformation groups of manifolds of the form $M\times S^n$, where $M$ is an asymmetric manifold, i.e. a manifold which does not admit any non-trivial action of a finite group. In particular, we prove that for $n=2$ there exists…
We prove a structural result for orientation-preserving actions of finitely generated solvable groups on real intervals, considered up to semi-conjugacy. As applications we obtain new answers to a problem first considered by J. F. Plante,…
In this paper, we study the action of $\text{Homeo}_0(M)$, the identity component of the group of homeomorphisms of an $n$-dimensional manifold $M$ with an $\mathbb{F}_p$-free action, on another manifold $N$ of dimension $n+k<2n$. We prove…
Let $G$ be a connected simple Lie group of real rank one and finite center, and let $K$ be a maximal compact subgroup. We study the families of spherical, ball, and uniform averages $(\sigma_t)_{t>0}$, $(\beta_t)_{t>0}$, and $(\mu_t)_{t>0}$…
We consider Abelian-by-cyclic groups for which the cyclic factor acts by hyperbolic automorphisms on the Abelian subgroup. We show that if such a group acts faithfully by $C^1$ diffeomorphisms of the closed interval with no global fixed…
On an open, connected symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$, the group of Hamiltonian diffeomorphisms forms an infinite-dimensional Fr\'echet Lie group with Lie algebra $C^{\infty}_c(M)$ and adjoint action given by pullbacks. We prove that this…