Harmonic measures and rigidity for transverse foliations on Seifert $3$-manifolds

Abstract

Thurston proposed, in part of an unfinished manuscript, to study surface group actions on $S^1$ by using an $S^1$-connection on the suspension bundle obtained from a harmonic measure. Following the approach and previous work of the authors, we study the actions of general lattices of $\mathrm{PSU}(1,1)$ on $S^1$. We prove the Gauss--Bonnet formula for the $S^1$-connection associated with a harmonic measure, and show that a harmonic measure on the suspension bundle of the action with maximal Euler number has rigidity, having a form closely related to the Poisson kernel. As an application, we prove a semiconjugacy rigidity for foliations with maximal Euler number, which is analogous to theorems due to Matsumoto, Minakawa and Burger--Iozzi--Wienhard.