Related papers: The proper geometric dimension of the mapping clas…

In [10] it was shown that there is a mapping class group-equivariant deformation retraction of the Teichm\"uller space of a closed surface onto a CW complex with dimension equal to the virtual cohomological dimension of the mapping class…

We address the question of determining which mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces admit nonelementary continuous actions on hyperbolic spaces. More precisely, let $\Sigma$ be a connected, orientable surface of infinite type with…

Let $\Sigma$ be a compact orientable surface of genus $g=1$ with $n=1$ boundary component. The mapping class group $\Gamma$ of $\Sigma$ acts on the SU(3)-character variety of $\Sigma$. We show that the action is ergodic with respect to the…

It is a classical result of Powell that pure mapping class groups of connected, orientable surfaces of finite type and genus at least three are perfect. In stark contrast, we construct nontrivial homomorphisms from infinite-genus mapping…

By considering appropriate finite covering spaces of closed non-orientable surfaces, we construct linear representations of their mapping class group which have finite index image in certain big arithmetic groups.

We give completely combinatorial proofs of the main results of [3] using polygons. Namely, we prove that the mapping class group of a surface with boundary acts faithfully on a finitely-generated linear category. Along the way we prove some…

Let $\Sigma$ be a surface with either boundary or marked points, equipped with an arbitrary framing. In this note we determine the action of the associated "framed mapping class group" on the homology of $\Sigma$ relative to its boundary…

In this paper, we study equivariant real cycle class maps for group actions on real schemes, with a view toward Witt-sheaf characteristic classes. The cycle class maps take values in singular cohomology of the real points of the quotient…

It is shown, that the mapping class group of a surface of the genus g > 1 admits a faithful representation into the matrix group GL (6g-6, Z). The proof is based on a categorical correspondence between the Riemann surfaces and the so-called…

By a Cantor group we mean a topological group homeomorphic to the Cantor set. We show that a compact metric space of rational cohomological dimension $n$ can be obtained as the orbit space of a Cantor group action on a metric compact space…

In this paper we prove stability results for the homology of the mapping class group of a surface. We get a stability range that is near optimal, and extend the result to twisted coefficients.

Let G be a connected, compact, semisimple Lie group. It is known that for a compact closed orientable surface $\Sigma$ of genus $l >1$, the order of the group $H^2(\Sigma,\pi_1(G))$ is equal to the number of connected components of the…

A cohomogeneity one manifold is a manifold with the action of a compact Lie group, whose quotient is one dimensional. Such manifolds are of interest in Riemannian geometry, in the context of nonnegative sectional curvature, as well as in…

We study when the mapping class group of an infinite-type surface $S$ admits an action with unbounded orbits on a connected graph whose vertices are simple closed curves on $S$. We introduce a topological invariant for infinite-type…

Coxeter groups admit amenable actions on compact spaces. Moreover, they have finite asymptotic dimension.

In this paper, we survey recent works on the structure of the mapping class groups of surfaces mainly from the point of view of topology. We then discuss several possible directions for future research. These include the relation between…

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 define a $\mathbf{QP}^1$-valued class function on the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}_{g,2}$ of a surface $\Sigma_{g,2}$ of genus $g$ with two boundary components. Let $E$ be a $\Sigma_{g,2}$ bundle over a pair of pants…

Consider a proper action of $\mathbb{Z}^d$ on a smooth (perhaps non-paracompact) manifold $M$. The $p^{th}$ cohomology $H^p(\mathbb{Z}^d,\ \Gamma_{\mathrm{c}}(\mathcal{F}))$ valued in the space of compactly-supported sections of a natural…

In this paper we investigate the higher dimensional divergence functions of mapping class groups of surfaces and of CAT(0)--groups. We show that, for mapping class groups of surfaces, these functions exhibit phase transitions at the rank…