Orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of Euclidean space are commutators

We prove that every orientation-preserving homeomorphism of Euclidean space can be expressed as a commutator of two orientation-preserving homeomorphisms. We give an analogous result for annuli. In the annulus case, we also extend the result to the smooth category in the dimensions for which the associated sphere has a unique smooth structure. As a corollary, we establish that every orientation-preserving diffeomorphism of the real line is the commutator of two orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society Series B
Published
2025-04-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1090/bproc/258
Primary Topic
Geometric and Algebraic Topology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of Euclidean space are commutators

M. Ashraf Bhat, Nicholas G. Vlamis
Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society Series B
Geometric and Algebraic Topology
article

Orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of Euclidean space are commutators

M. Ashraf Bhat, Nicholas G. Vlamis
article en

Abstract

We prove that every orientation-preserving homeomorphism of Euclidean space can be expressed as a commutator of two orientation-preserving homeomorphisms. We give an analogous result for annuli. In the annulus case, we also extend the result to the smooth category in the dimensions for which the associated sphere has a unique smooth structure. As a corollary, we establish that every orientation-preserving diffeomorphism of the real line is the commutator of two orientation-preserving diffeomorphisms.

Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society Series BVol. 12(4)
Queens College, CUNY (US), The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
National Science Foundation, City University of New York
Openalex Percentile: Top 87%
Geometric and Algebraic Topology
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