Geometric realizations of cyclic actions on surfaces -- II

Abstract

Let $\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$ denote the mapping class group of the closed orientable surface $S_g$ of genus $g\ge 2$. Given a finite subgroup $H$ of $\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$, let $\mathrm{Fix}(H)$ denote the set of fixed points induced by the action of $H$ on the Teichmüller space $\mathrm{Teich}(S_g)$. When $H$ is cyclic with $|H|\ge 3$, we show that $\mathrm{Fix}(H)$ admits a decomposition as a product of two-dimensional strips at least one of which is of bounded width. For an arbitrary $H$ with at least one generator of order $\ge 3$, we derive a computable optimal upper bound for the restriction $\mathrm{sys}:\mathrm{Fix}(H)\to {\mathbb{R}}^{+}$ of the systole function. Furthermore, we show that in such a case, $\mathrm{Fix}(H)$ is not symplectomorphic to the Euclidean space of the same dimension. Finally, we apply our theory to recover three well-known results, namely: (a) Harvey's result giving the dimension of $\mathrm{Fix}(H)$, (b) Gilman's result that $H$ is irreducible if and only if the corresponding orbifold is a sphere with three cone points, and (c) the Nielsen realization theorem for cyclic groups.

26 pages, 8 figures