Dehn-Seidel twist, $C^0$ symplectic topology and barcodes

TL;DR

This paper explores the $C^0$ symplectic mapping class group, proving the non-triviality of certain elements using Floer theory and barcodes, thus extending Seidel's classical results to the $C^0$ setting.

Contribution

It introduces methods from Floer theory and barcodes to study the $C^0$ symplectic mapping class group, demonstrating the non-triviality of specific elements.

Findings

Different powers of the square of the Dehn-Seidel twist are in distinct connected components.

The $C^0$ symplectic mapping class group contains elements of infinite order.

Develops a Floer-theoretic approach adapted to $C^0$ symplectic topology.

Abstract

We initiate the study of the $C^0$ symplectic mapping class group, i.e. the group of isotopy classes of symplectic homeomorphisms. We prove that none of the different powers of the square of the Dehn-Seidel twist belong to the same connected component of the group of symplectic homeomorphisms of certain Liouville domains. This generalizes to the $C^0$ setting a celebrated result of Seidel. In other words, we obtain the non-triviality of the $C^0$ symplectic mapping class group in these domains and in fact an element of infinite order. For that purpose, we develop a method coming from Floer theory and the theory of barcodes. This builds on recent developments of $C^0$-symplectic topology. In particular, we adapt and generalize to our context results by Buhovsky-Humili\`ere-Seyfaddini and Kislev-Shelukhin.