Related papers: Cyclic Nielsen realization for del Pezzo surfaces

Let $M$ be a smooth $4$-manifold underlying some del Pezzo surface of degree $d \geq 6$. We consider the smooth Nielsen realization problem for $M$: which finite subgroups of $\text{Mod}(M) = \pi_0(\text{Homeo}^+(M))$ have lifts to…

The smooth (resp. metric and complex) Nielsen Realization Problem for K3 surfaces $M$ asks: when can a finite group $G$ of mapping classes of $M$ be realized by a finite group of diffeomorphisms (resp. isometries of a Ricci-flat metric, or…

We demonstrate the existence of numerous non-spin 4-manifolds for which the smooth Nielsen realization problem fails; namely, there exist finite subgroups of their mapping class groups that cannot be realized by any group of…

Given a finite subgroup G of the mapping class group of a surface S, the Nielsen realization problem asks whether G can be realized as a finite group of homeomorphisms of S. In 1983, Kerckhoff showed that for S a finite-type surface, any…

Given a smooth, oriented, simply-connected $4$-manifold $M$, the homological Nielsen realization problem asks: when does a finite group of isometries $G\leq O(H_2(M;\mathbb{Z}))$ preserving the intersection form lift isomorphically to a…

Let $ \text{Mod}(S_g)$ denote the mapping class group of the closed orientable surface $S_g$ of genus $g\geq 2$, and let $f\in \text{Mod}(S_g)$ be of finite order. We give an inductive procedure to construct an explicit hyperbolic structure…

We show the Teichm\"uller space of a non-orientable surface with marked points (considered as a Klein surface) can be identified with a subspace of the Teichm\"uller space of its orientable double cover. Also, it is well known that the…

The Nielsen Realization problem asks when the group homomorphism from Diff(M) to pi_0 Diff(M) admits a section. For M a closed surface, Kerckhoff proved that a section exists over any finite subgroup, but Morita proved that if the genus is…

We prove that, for a closed oriented smooth spin 4-manifold $X$ with non-zero signature, the Dehn twist about a $(+2)$- or $(-2)$-sphere in $X$ is not homotopic to any finite order diffeomorphism. In particular, we negatively answer the…

Let $M_n := \mathbb{CP}^2 \# n\overline{\mathbb{CP}^2}$ for $0 \leq n \leq 8$ be the underlying smooth manifold of a degree $9-n$ del Pezzo surface. We prove three results about the mapping class group $\text{Mod}(M_n) :=…

We prove that all nontrivial finite subgroups of derived automorphisms of K3 surfaces of Picard number one have order two and give formulas for the numbers of their conjugacy classes. We also obtain a similar result for the subgroups which…

We discuss recent results and open questions on the broad theme of (Nielsen) realization problems. Beyond realizing subgroups of mapping class groups, there are many other natural instances where one can ask if a surjection from a group of…

We give a numerical criterion for the Nielsen realization problem for Enriques manifolds, based on the recent developments on the Birman-Hilden theory for hyper-K\"ahler manifolds and on Nielsen realization for hyper-K\"ahler manifolds. We…

For a 3-manifold M, the twist group Twist(M) is the subgroup of the mapping class group Mod(M) generated by twists about embedded 2-spheres. We study the Nielsen realization problem for subgroups of Twist(M). We prove that a nontrivial…

We consider finite group-actions on 3-manifolds $\cal H_g$ obtained as the connected sum of $g$ copies of $S^2 \times S^1$, with free fundamental group $F_g$ of rank $g$. We prove that, for $g > 1$, a finite group of diffeomorphisms of…

We show that for any closed surface of genus greater than one and for any finite weighted graph filling the surface, there exists a hyperbolic metric which realizes the least Dirichlet energy harmonic embedding of the graph among a fixed…

We consider the problem of whether, for a given virtually torsionfree discrete group $\Gamma$, there exists a cocompact proper topological $\Gamma$-manifold, which is equivariantly homotopy equivalent to the classifying space for proper…

For a based manifold (M,*), the question of whether the surjection Diff(M,*) \rightarrow \pi_0 Diff(M,*) admits a section is an example of a Nielsen realization problem. This question is related to a question about flat connections on…

We state a number of conjectures that together allow one to classify a broad class of del Pezzo surfaces with cyclic quotient singularities using mirror symmetry. We prove our conjectures in the simplest cases. The conjectures relate…

We construct projective unitary representations of the smooth Deligne cohomology group of a compact oriented Riemannian manifold of dimension 4k+1, generalizing positive energy representations of the loop group of the circle. We also…