PSL(2, q) as an image of the extended modular group with applications to group actions on surfaces

Abstract

The modular group PSL(2, ℤ), which is isomorphic to a free product of a cyclicgroupof order 2 and a cyclic group of order 3, has many important homomorphic images. Inparticular, Macbeath [7] showed that PSL(2, q) is an image of the modular group if q ≠ 9. (Here, as usual, q is a prime power.) The extended modular group PGL(2, ℤ) contains PSL{2, ℤ) with index 2. It has a presentationthe subgroup PSL(2, ℤ) being generated by UV and VW.