ISSN 1364-0380 (on line) 1465-3060 (printed) 877 eometry & opology G T Volume 8 (2004) 877–924 Published: 5 June 2004 Global rigidity of solvable group actions on S1 Lizzie Burslem Amie Wilkinson Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan 2074 East Hall, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1109 USA and Department of Mathematics, Northwestern University 2033 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-2730 USA Email:
[email protected],
[email protected] Abstract In this paper we find all solvable subgroups of Diffω(S1) and classify their actions. We also investigate the Cr local rigidity of actions of the solvable Baumslag–Solitar groups on the circle. The investigation leads to two novel phenomena in the study of infinite group actions on compact manifolds. We exhibit a finitely generated group Γ and a manifold M such that: Γ has exactly countably infinitely many effective real-analytic actions on • M , up to conjugacy in Diffω(M); every effective, real analytic action of Γ on M is Cr locally rigid, for • some r 3, and for every such r, there are infinitely many nonconjugate, ≥ effective real-analytic actions of Γ on M that are Cr locally rigid, but not Cr−1 locally rigid. AMS Classification numbers Primary: 58E40, 22F05 Secondary: 20F16, 57M60 Keywords: Group action, solvable group, rigidity, Diffω(S1) Proposed:RobionKirby Received:26January2004 Seconded: Martin Bridson, Steven Ferry Accepted: 28 May 2004 c eometry & opology ublications G T P 878 Lizzie Burslem and Amie Wilkinson Introduction This paper describes two novel phenomena in the study of infinite group actions on compact manifolds. We exhibit a finitely generated group Γ and a manifold M such that: Γ has exactly countably infinitely many effective real-analytic actions on • M , up to conjugacy in Diffω(M); every effective, real analytic action of Γ on M is Cr locally rigid, for • some r 3, and for every such r, there are infinitely many nonconjugate, ≥ effective real-analytic actions of Γ on M that are Cr locally rigid, but not Cr−1 locally rigid.