Related papers: Semisimple actions of mapping class groups on CAT(…
Positive Dehn twist products for some elements of finite order in the mapping class group of a 2-dimensional closed, compact, oriented surface $\Sigma_g$, which are rotations of $\Sigma_g$ through $2\pi /p$, are presented. The homeomorphism…
We introduce subgroups ${\mathcal{B}}_g< {\mathcal H}_g$ of the mapping class group $Mod(\Sigma_g)$ of a closed surface of genus $g \ge 0$ with a Cantor set removed, which are extensions of Thompson's group $V$ by a direct limit of mapping…
An isometric compact group action $G \times (M,g) \rightarrow (M,g)$ is called polar if there exists a closed embedded submanifold $\Sigma \subseteq M$ which meets all orbits orthogonally. Let $\Pi$ be the associated generalized Weyl group.…
The main result of this paper is the conformal flatness of real-analytic compact Lorentz manifolds of dimension at least $3$ admitting a conformal essential (i.e. conformal, but not isometric) action of a Lie group locally isomorphic to…
The genus spectrum of a finite group $G$ is the set of all $g\geq 2$ such that $G$ acts faithfully and orientation-preserving on a closed compact orientable surface of genus $g$. This article is an overview of some results relating the…
We exhibit 3-generator Artin groups which have finite 2-dimensional Eilenberg-Mac Lane spaces, but which do not act properly discontinuously by semi-simple isometries on a 2-dimensional CAT(0) complex. We prove that infinitely many of these…
Let $BS(1,n) =< a, b \ | \ aba^{-1} = b^n >$ be the solvable Baumslag-Solitar group, where $ n\geq 2$. It is known that BS(1,n) is isomorphic to the group generated by the two affine maps of the real line: $f_0(x) = x + 1$ and $h_0(x) = nx…
Two groups are virtually isomorphic if they can be obtained one from the other via a finite number of steps, where each step consists in taking a finite extension or a finite index subgroup (or viceversa). Virtually isomorphic groups are…
The Torelli group of a compact non-orientable Klein surface is the subgroup of the modular group consisting of the mapping classes that act trivially on the first homology group of the surface. We prove that if a surface has genus at least…
We consider properly discontinuous, isometric, convex cocompact actions of surface groups on a CAT(-1) space. We show that the limit set of such an action, equipped with the canonical visual metric, is a (weak) quasicircle in the sense of…
We describe the mapping class group action on the cohomology of the twisted $\mathrm{SL}_n$-character variety of a surface $\Sigma_g$ of genus $g$. Our main tool is a relative version of the endoscopic decomposition of Maulik-Shen; this…
We study topological properties of semi-group actions on the circle by orientation-preserving homeomorhisms. We prove that a generic action either possesses a forward-invariant interval-domain (i.e. a finite union of disjoint circle arcs),…
We construct a boundary for the mapping class group Mod(S) of a surface S of finite type. The action of Mod(S) on this boundary is minimal, strongly proximal and topologically free. The boundary is the boundary of an EZ-structure for…
We investigate some properties of the clopen type semigroup of an action of a countable group on a compact, $0$-dimensional, Hausdorff space X. We discuss some characterizations of dynamical comparison (most of which were already known in…
Let $\Gamma$ be a finitely generated group of matrices over $\mathbb{C}$. We construct an isometric action of $\Gamma$ on a complete CAT(0) space $X$ such that the restriction of this action to any subgroup of $\Gamma$ containing no…
We prove results toward classifying compact Lorentz manifolds on which Heisenberg groups act isometrically. We give a general construction, leading to a new example, of codimension-one actions--those for which the dimension of the…
In this paper, we discuss certain types of conformal/anticonformal actions of the generalized quasi-dihedral group $G_{n}$ of order $8n$, for $n\geq 2$, on closed Riemann surfaces, pseudo-real Riemann surfaces and compact Klein surfaces,…
Many of the existing results for closed Hamiltonian G-manifolds are based on the analysis of the corresponding Hamiltonian functions using Morse-Bott techniques. In general such methods fail for non-compact manifolds or for manifolds with…
We consider actions of locally compact groups $G$ on certain CAT(0) spaces $X$ by isometries. The CAT(0) spaces we consider have finite dimension at large scale. In case $B$ is a $G$-boundary, that is a measurable $G$-space with amenability…
Finite presentations for the mapping class group M(F) are known for arbitrary orientable compact surface F. If F is non-orientable, then such presentations are known only when F has genus at most 3 and few boundary components. In this paper…