Related papers: Homomorphisms into mapping class groups. An addend…

We classify homomorphisms from mapping class groups by using finite subgroups. First, we give a new proof of a result of Aramayona--Souto that homomorphisms between mapping class groups of closed surfaces are trivial for a range of genera.…

We construct examples of finitely generated groups L that have non-trivial actions on $\mathbb{R}$-trees but which cannot act, without fixing a vertex, on any simplicial tree. Moreover, any finitely presented group mapping onto L does have…

This self-contained paper is part of a series \cite{FF2,FF3} on actions by diffeomorphisms of infinite groups on compact manifolds. The two main results presented here are: 1) Any homomorphism of (almost any) mapping class group or…

We construct a finitely presented, infinite, simple group that acts by homeomorphisms on the circle, but does not admit a non-trivial action by $C^1$-diffeomorphisms on the circle. The group emerges as a group of piecewise projective…

It is shown that for any action of a finitely presented group $G$ on an $\R$-tree, there is a decomposition of $G$ as the fundamental group of a graph of groups related to this action. If the action of $G$ on $T$ is non-trivial, i.e. there…

This paper concerns rigidity of the mapping class groups. We show that any homomorphism $\phi:{\rm Mod}_g\to {\rm Mod}_h$ between mapping class groups of closed orientable surfaces with distinct genera $g>h$ is trivial if $g\geq 3$ and has…

We show that several classes of groups G of PL-homeomorphisms of the real line admit non-trivial homomorphisms from G to the additive group of reals that are fixed by every automorphism of G. The classes of groups enjoying the stated…

We construct an explicit infinite family of pairwise non-isomorphic infinite simple groups of type $\mathrm{F}_\infty$ (in particular, they are finitely presented) that act faithfully on the circle by orientation-preserving homeomorphisms,…

We prove that a finitely generated group contains a sequence of non-trivial elements which converge to the identity in every compact homomorphic image if and only if the group is not virtually abelian.

We notice that the class of nontrivial groups without proper subgroups of finite index is not elementary, because some groups in this class, such as $\mathbb Q*\mathbb Q$, have ultrapowers that map homomorphically onto $\mathbb Z/p\mathbb…

Homomorphism duality pairs play crucial role in the theory of relational structures and in the Constraint Satisfaction Problem. The case where both classes are finite is fully characterized. The case when both side are infinite seems to be…

We extend the lattice-theoretic approach of Brandhorst--Cattaneo to classify algebraically trivial actions on the known IHS manifolds, up to deformation and birational conjugacy. In particular, we classify even order algebraically trivial…

We prove that if a finite group $G$ has a representation with fixity $f$, then it acts freely and homologically trivially on a finite CW-complex homotopy equivalent to a product of $f+1$ spheres. This shows, in particular, that every finite…

We consider the class of countable groups possessing an action on a finite product of hyperbolic graphs where every infinite order element acts loxodromically. When the graphs are locally finite, we obtain strong structure theorems for the…

It is shown that a finitely generated branch group has Serre's property (FA) if and only if it does not surject onto the infinite cyclic group or the infinite dihedral group. An example of a finitely generated self-similar branch group…

We show that mapping class groups of surfaces of genus at least two contain elements of infinite order that are not conjugate to their inverses, but whose powers have bounded torsion lengths. In particular every homogeneous…

We study properties of a group, abelian group, ring, or monoid $B$ which (a) guarantee that every homomorphism from an infinite direct product $\prod_I A_i$ of objects of the same sort onto $B$ factors through the direct product of finitely…

We generalize some results of Paulin and Rips-Sela on endomorphisms of hyperbolic groups to relatively hyperbolic groups, and in particular prove the following. (1) If G is a finitely generated non-elementary relatively hyperbolic group…

Let $\Gamma$ denote the mapping class group of the plane minus a Cantor set. We show that every action of $\Gamma$ on the circle is either trivial or semi-conjugate to a unique minimal action on the so-called simple circle.

Suppose that $X$ and $Y$ are surfaces of finite topological type, where $X$ has genus $g\geq 6$ and $Y$ has genus at most $2g-1$; in addition, suppose that $Y$ is not closed if it has genus $2g-1$. Our main result asserts that every…