Right-veering diffeomorphisms of compact surfaces with boundary I

Ko Honda, William H. Kazez, Gordana Matic

Published 2005-10-28Version 1

We initiate the study of the monoid of right-veering diffeomorphisms on a compact oriented surface with nonempty boundary. The monoid strictly contains the monoid of products of positive Dehn twists. We explain the relationship to tight contact structures and open book decompositions.