Quasi-morphisms and L^p-metrics on groups of volume-preserving diffeomorphisms

Abstract

Let M be a smooth compact connected oriented manifold of dimension at least two endowed with a volume form. We show that every homogeneous quasi-morphism on the identity component $Diff_0(M,vol)$ of the group of volume preserving diffeomorphisms of M, which is induced by a quasi-morphism on the fundamental group, is Lipschitz with respect to the L^p-metric on the group $Diff_0(M,vol)$. As a consequence, assuming certain conditions on the fundamental group, we construct bi-Lipschitz embeddings of finite dimensional vector spaces into $Diff_0(M,vol)$.