Virtual critical regularity of mapping class group actions on the circle

Abstract

We show that if $G_1$ and $G_2$ are non-solvable groups, then no $C^{1,\tau }$ action of $(G_1\times G_2)\ast \mathbb{Z}$ on $S^1$ is faithful for $\tau >0$. As a corollary, if $S$ is an orientable surface of complexity at least three then the critical regularity of an arbitrary finite index subgroup of the mapping class group $\mathrm{Mod}(S)$ with respect to the circle is at most one, thus strengthening a result of the first two authors with Baik.

11 pages, to appear in Transformation Groups