Extending finite group actions from surfaces to handlebodies

Abstract

We show that every action of a finite dihedral group on a closed orientable surface F \mathcal F extends to a 3-dimensional handlebody V \mathcal V , with ∂ V = F \partial \mathcal V=\mathcal F . In the case of a finite abelian group G G , we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a G G -action on a surface to extend to a compact 3 3 -manifold, or, equivalently in this case, to a 3-dimensional handlebody; in particular all (fixed-point) free actions of finite abelian groups extend to handlebodies. This is no longer true for free actions of arbitrary finite groups: we give a procedure which allows us to construct free actions of finite groups on surfaces which do not extend to a handlebody. We also show that the unique Hurwitz action of order 84 ( g − 1 ) 84(g-1) of P S L ( 2 , 27 ) PSL(2,27) on a surface F \mathcal F of genus g = 118 g=118 does not extend to any compact 3-manifold M M with ∂ M = F \partial M=\mathcal F , thus resolving the only case of Hurwitz actions of type P S L ( 2 , q ) PSL(2,q) of low order which remained open in an earlier paper (Math. Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 117 (1995), 137–151).