Related papers: Low-dimensional linear representations of mapping …
A space $X$ is said to be $C$-trivial if the total Chern class $c(\alpha)$ equals $1$ for every complex vector bundle $\alpha$ over $X$. In this note we give a complete homological classification of $C$-trivial closed smooth manifolds of…
In this paper we look at the notion of cohomological triviality of fibrations of homogeneous spaces of affine algebraic groups defined over $\mathbb{C}$ and use topological methods, primarily the theory of covering spaces. This is made…
The cohomology of the degree-$n$ general linear group over a finite field of characteristic $p$, with coefficients also in characteristic $p$, remains poorly understood. For example, the lowest degree previously known to contain nontrivial…
We prove that the hyperelliptic mapping class group of a nonorientable surface of genus $g\geq 4$ has a faithful linear representation of dimension $g^2-1$ over $\mathbb{R}$.
Let $R$ be a compact, connected, orientable surface of genus $g$, $Mod_R^*$ be the extended mapping class group of $R$, $\mathcal{C}(R)$ be the complex of curves on $R$, and $\mathcal{N}(R)$ be the complex of nonseparating curves on $R$. We…
Let $\Sigma_{g,n}$ be an orientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. We study actions of the mapping class group of $\Sigma_{g,n}$ via Hodge-theoretic and arithmetic techniques. We show that if $$\rho: \pi_1(\Sigma_{g,n})\to…
We study the topological triviality of families of singular surfaces in ${\mathbb C}^3$ parametrized by $\mathcal A$-finitely determined map germs. We prove that the constancy of the Milnor number of the double point locus characterizes the…
A complex of incompressible surfaces in a handlebody is constructed so that it contains, as a subcomplex, the complex of curves of the boundary of the handlebody. For genus 2 handlebodies, the group of automorphisms of this complex is used…
We show that the morphisms from the braid group with n strands in the mapping class group of a surface with a possible non empty boundary, assuming that its genus is smaller or equal to n/2 are either cyclic morphisms (their images are…
Let $N$ be a compact, connected, non-orientable surface of genus $\rho$ with $n$ boundary components, with $\rho \ge 5$ and $n \ge 0$, and let $\mathcal{M} (N)$ be the mapping class group of $N$. We show that, if $\mathcal{G}$ is a finite…
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…
A complete mapping of a group $G$ is a permutation $\phi:G\rightarrow G$ such that $g\mapsto g\phi(g)$ is also a permutation. Complete mappings of $G$ are equivalent to tranversals of the Cayley table of $G$, considered as a latin square.…
Let $g$ be a non-negative integer, $\Sigma _g$ a closed orientable surface of genus $g$, and $\mathcal{M}_g$ its mapping class group. We classify all the group homomorphisms $\pi _1(\Sigma _g)\to G$ up to the action of $\mathcal{M}_g$ on…
We prove that the action of any non-trivial normal subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g\geqslant 2$ is almost minimal on the character variety $X(\pi_1\Sigma_g,{\rm SU}_2)$: the orbit of almost every point is dense.
We initiate the study of holomorphically convex groups: groups that can be realized as fundamental groups of smooth complex projective varieties with holomorphically convex universal covers. If $G$ is a holomorphically convex group of…
We apply results proved in [Li19] to the linear order expansions of non-trivial free homogeneous structures and the universal n-linear order for $n\geq 2$, and prove the simplicity of their automorphism groups.
We give a finite presentation of the mapping class group of an oriented (possibly bounded) surface of genus greater or equal than 1, considering Dehn twists on a very simple set of curves.
Let $N$ be a connected nonorientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. Suppose that $g$ is odd and $g+n \geqslant 6$. We prove that the automorphism group of the complex of curves of $N$ is isomorphic to the mapping class group…
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…
Let $\Sigma_{g,n}$ be the orientable genus $g$ surface with $n$ punctures, where $2-2g-n<0$. Let $$\rho: \pi_1(\Sigma_{g,n})\to GL_m(\mathbb{C})$$ be a representation. Suppose that for each finite covering map $f: \Sigma_{g', n'}\to…