On James Hyde's example of non-orderable subgroup of $\mathrm{Homeo}(D,\partial D)$

Abstract

In [Ann. Math. 190 (2019), 657-661], James Hyde presented the first example of non-left-orderable, finitely generated subgroup of $\mathrm{Homeo}(D,\partial D)$, the group of homeomorphisms of the disk fixing the boundary. This implies that the group $\mathrm{Homeo}(D,\partial D)$ itself is not left-orderable. We revisit the construction, and present a slightly different proof of purely dynamical flavor, avoiding direct references to properties of left-orders. Our approach allows to solve the analogue problem for actions on the circle.

7 pages, 1 figure; final version to appear in L'Enseignement Mathématique (2)