Related papers: Point pushing, homology, and the hyperelliptic inv…
For almost finite groupoids, we study how their homology groups reflect dynamical properties of their topological full groups. It is shown that two clopen subsets of the unit space has the same class in H_0 if and only if there exists an…
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…
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…
For all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces, we show that any superinjective map from the complex of separating curves into itself is induced by an element of the extended mapping class group. We apply this result to proving that…
Proving a conjecture of Dennis Johnson, we show that the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group has a finite generating set whose size grows cubically with respect to the genus of the surface. Our main tool is a new space called the…
We provide algorithms for computing the Rochlin invariants of mod 2 homology spheres and mapping tori. This provides a unified framework for studying two families of maps: the Birman-Craggs maps of the Torelli group, and Sato's maps of the…
We construct a splitting of the cohomology of configuration spaces of points on a smooth proper variety with a multiplicative Chow--K\"unneth decomposition. Applied to hyperelliptic curves, this shows that the hyperelliptic Torelli group…
The mapping class group of an orientable surface, which records its symmetries up to isotopy, plays a central role in low-dimensional topology. This chapter explores the foundational problem of determining minimal generating sets for these…
The Torelli group, I(S_g), is the subgroup of the mapping class group consisting of elements that act trivially on the homology of the surface. There are three types of elements that naturally arise in studying I(S_g): bounding pair maps,…
We explicitly describe the Teichmuller space TH_n of hyperelliptic surfaces in terms of natural and effective coordinates as the space of certain (2n-6)-tuples of distinct points on the ideal boundary of the Poincare disc. We essentially…
A mapping class group of an oriented manifold is a quotient of its diffeomorphism group by the isotopies. We compute a mapping class group of a hypekahler manifold $M$, showing that it is commensurable to an arithmetic subgroup in SO(3,…
We prove a homological stability theorem for the subgroup of the mapping class group acting as the identity on some fixed portion of the first homology group of the surface. We also prove a similar theorem for the subgroup of the mapping…
This article grew out of an effort to understand the smooth mapping class groups of certain 4-manifolds in a geometric manner. We prove a smooth analog of the Birman-Hilden theorem for manifolds that admit a hyperk\"ahler structure. This…
A group-category is an additively semisimple category with a monoidal product structure in which the simple objects are invertible. For example in the category of representations of a group, 1-dimensional representations are the invertible…
A mapping class group of an oriented manifold is a quotient of its diffeomorphism group by the isotopies. In the published version of "Mapping class group and a global Torelli theorem for hyperkahler manifolds" I made an error based on a…
We show that for all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces, any superinjective map from the complex of separating curves into the Torelli complex is induced by an element of the extended mapping class group. As an application, we…
For groups of a topological origin, such as braid groups and mapping class groups, an important source of interesting and highly non-trivial representations is given by their actions on the twisted homology of associated spaces; these are…
In this paper, we prove that each automorphism of the Torelli group of a surface is induced by a diffeomorphism of the surface, provided that the surface is a closed, connected, orientable surface of genus at least 3. This result was…
Dehn twists around simple closed curves in oriented surfaces satisfy the braid relations. This gives rise to a group theoretic from the braid group to the mapping class group. We prove here that this map is trivial in stable homology with…
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…