Extending periodic automorphisms of surfaces to 3-manifolds

Abstract

Let $G$ be a finite group acting on a connected compact surface $\Sigma$, and $M$ be an integer homology 3-sphere. We show that if each element of $G$ is extendable over $M$ with respect to a fixed embedding $\Sigma \to M$, then $G$ is extendable over some $M^{\prime }$ which is 1-dominated by $M$. From this result, in the orientable category we classify all periodic automorphisms of closed surfaces that are extendable over the 3-sphere. The corresponding embedded surface of such an automorphism can always be a Heegaard surface.

17 pages, 5 figures