Related papers: Separating twists and the Magnus representation of…

An integral homology theory on the category of undirected reflexive graphs was constructed in [2]. A geometrical method to understand behaviors of $1$- and $2$-simplices under differential maps of the theory was developed in [3] and led us…

In this paper, we study a series of $L^2$-torsion invariants from the viewpoint of the mapping class group of a surface. We establish some vanishing theorems for them. Moreover we explicitly calculate the first two invariants and compare…

The set of homology cobordisms from a surface to itself with markings of their boundaries has a natural monoid structure. To investigate the structure of this monoid, we define and study its Magnus representation and Reidemeister torsion…

The Johnson kernel is the subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface generated by Dehn twists along bounding simple closed curves, and has the second Johnson homomorphism as a free abelian quotient. In terms of the representation…

By Torelli topology the author understands aspects of the topology of surfaces (potentially) relevant to the study of Torelli groups. The present paper is devoted to a new approach to the results of W. Vautaw about Dehn multi-twists in…

Let a and b be two simple closed curves on an orientable surface S such that their geometric intersection number is greater than 1. It is known that the group generated by corresponding Dehn twists t_a and t_b is isomorphic to the free…

Let T(N) be the subgroup of the mapping class group of a nonorientable surface N (possibly with punctures and/or boundary components) generated by twists about two-sided circles. We obtain a simple generating set for T(N). As an application…

A $g$-tuple of disjoint, linearly independent circles in a Riemann surface of genus $g$ determines a `Heegaard torus' in its $g$-fold symmetric product. Changing the circles by a handleslide produces a new torus. It is proved that, for…

For any positive integer $n$, we exhibit a cofinite subgroup $\Gamma_n$ of the mapping class group of a surface of genus at most two such that $\Gamma_n$ admits an epimorphism onto a free group of rank $n$. We conclude that…

In the early 1980's, Johnson defined a homomorphism $\mathcal{I}_{g}^1\to\bigwedge^3 H_1(S_{g},\mathbb{Z})$, where $\mathcal{I}_{g}^1$ is the Torelli group of a closed, connected and oriented surface of genus $g$ with a boundary component…

McCarthy's Theorem for the mapping class group of a closed hyperbolic surface states that for any two mapping classes $\sigma,\tau \in \mathrm{Mod}(S)$ there is some power $N$ such that the group $\langle \sigma^N,\tau^N\rangle$ is either…

Let $S_g$ denote a closed oriented surface of genus $g \geq 2$. A set $\Omega = \{ c_1, \dots, c_d\}$ of pairwise non-homotopic simple closed curves on $S_g$ is called a filling system or simply a filling of $S_g$, if $S_g\setminus \Omega$…

We compute the automorphism groups of the Torelli complex and the complex of separating curves for all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces. As an application, we show that the abstract commensurators of the Torelli group and the…

We continue the study of low dimensional linear representations of mapping class groups of surfaces initiated by Franks--Handel and Korkmaz. We consider $(2g+1)$-dimensional complex linear representations of the pure mapping class groups of…

For any surface $\Sigma$ of infinite topological type, we study the Torelli subgroup ${\mathcal I}(\Sigma)$ of the mapping class group ${\rm MCG}(\Sigma)$, whose elements are those mapping classes that act trivially on the homology of…

We show for g > 6 that the second homology group of the Torelli group of a surface of genus g and 1 boundary component is generated as an Sp(2g,Z)-module by the image under the stabilization map of the second homology group of the Torelli…

The mapping class group ${\Gamma}_g^ 1$ of a closed orientable surface of genus $g \geq 1$ with one marked point can be identified, by the Nielsen action, with a subgroup of the group of orientation preserving homeomorphims of the circle.…

We classify homomorphisms from the braid group on $n$ strands to the pure mapping class group of a nonoriantable surface of genus $g$. For $n\ge 14$ and $g\le 2\lfloor{n/2}\rfloor+1$ every such homomorphism is either cyclic, or it maps…

The group of 2-by-2 matrices with integer entries and determinant $\pm > 1$ can be identified either with the group of outer automorphisms of a rank two free group or with the group of isotopy classes of homeomorphisms of a 2-dimensional…

We first develop a general theory of Johnson filtrations and Johnson homomorphisms for a group $G$ acting on another group $K$ equipped with a filtration indexed by a "good" ordered commutative monoid. Then, specializing it to the case…