On Analogs of the Tits Alternative for Groups of Homeomorphisms of the Circle and of the Line

In [1] G. Margulis proved Ghys's conjecture stating the validity of the following analog of the Tits alternative: either the group \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$G \subseteq {\text{Homeo}}(S^1 )$$ \end{document} of homeomorphisms of the circle possesses a free subgroup with two generators or there is an invariant probabilistic measure on S1. In the present paper, we prove the following strengthening of Margulis's statement: an invariant probabilistic measure for a group \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$G \subseteq {\text{Homeo}}(S^1 )$$ \end{document} exists if and only if the quotient group \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$G/H_G $$ \end{document} does not contain a free subgroup with two generators (here \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$H_G $$ \end{document} is some specific subgroup of G defined in a canonical way). We also formulate and prove analogs of the Tits alternative for groups \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $$G \subseteq {\text{Homeo}}(\mathbb{R})$$ \end{document} of homeomorphisms of the line.