THE ORDER OF PERIODIC ELEMENTS OF TEICHMÜLLER MODULAR GROUPS

Abstract

We consider a quasiconformal automorphism of a Riemann surface, which fixes the homotopy class of a simple closed geodesic. Under certain conditions on the injectivity radius of the surface and bounds on the dilatation of the map, the automorphism induces a periodic element of the Teichmüller modular group. We may also estimate the order of the period.