Determining whether a finite group of outer automorphisms of a free group is geometric

In this article we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a given finite group of outer automorphisms to be induced by the action of a group of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms on the fundamental group of a punctured surface. When the group is abelian, necessary and sufficient conditions can also be given in the absence of orientability assumptions. These properties are formulated in terms of the finite automorphism groups which project into the given outer automorphism group: each non-trivial automorphism in any such group can fix at most a cyclic subgroup of the fundamental group.