Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-29T02:59:06.661Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Commutators and diffeomorphisms of surfaces

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 October 2004

JEAN-MARC GAMBAUDO
Affiliation:
Université de Bourgogne, Institut de Mathématiques de Bourgogne, U.M.R. 5584 du CNRS, 9, Avenue Alain Savary, 21078 Dijon Cedex, France (e-mail: [email protected])
ÉTIENNE GHYS
Affiliation:
Unité de Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées de l'École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, U.M.R. 5669 du CNRS, 46, Allée d'Italie, 69364 Lyon Cedex 07, France (e-mail: [email protected])

Abstract

For any compact oriented surface $\Sigma$ we consider the group of diffeomorphisms of $\Sigma$ which preserve a given area form. In this paper we show that the vector space of homogeneous quasi-morphisms on this group has infinite dimension. This result is proved by constructing explicitly and for each surface an infinite family of independent homogeneous quasi-morphisms. These constructions use simple arguments related to linking properties of the orbits of the diffeomorphisms.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2004 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)