Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 November 2008
Every finite group G acts as an automorphism group of some non-orientable Klein surfaces without boundary. The minimal genus of these surfaces is called the symmetric cross-cap number and denoted by . This number is related to other parameters defined on surfaces as the symmetric genus and the strong symmetric genus.
The systematic study of the symmetric cross-cap number was begun by C. L. May, who also calculated it for certain finite groups. Here we obtain the symmetric cross-cap number for the groups Cm × Dn. As an application of this result, we obtain arithmetic sequences of integers which are the symmetric cross-cap number of some group. Finally, we recall the several different genera of the groups Cm × Dn.