English

Detecting Free Products in the Mapping Class Group of Punctured Disks via Dynnikov Coordinates

Geometric Topology 2025-01-29 v3

Abstract

We prove that Dehn twists about opposite curves that define a complete partition on an nn-punctured disk DnD_n generate either a free group or a free product of abelian groups. Additionally, we introduce an algorithm based on Dynnikov coordinates to determine whether a given collection of opposite curves forms a complete partition. This algorithm not only verifies completeness but also reveals the exact structure of the free products generated by these Dehn twists, relying solely on the Dynnikov coordinates of the curves as input.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.11912,
  title  = {Detecting Free Products in the Mapping Class Group of Punctured Disks via Dynnikov Coordinates},
  author = {Elif Medetoğulları and Elif Dalyan and S. Öykü Yurttaş},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.11912},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

10 pages, 8 figures, minor changes