Related papers: A presentation for the mapping class group of a no…

Let S = S(n) denote the infinite surface with n ends, n \in N, accumulated by genus. For n \geq 6, we show that the mapping class group of S is topologically generated by five involutions. When n \geq 3, it is topologically generated by six…

A modular fusion category C allows one to define projective representations of the mapping class groups of closed surfaces of any genus. We show that if all these representations are irreducible, then C has a unique Morita-class of simple…

We prove that the mapping class group of the one-holed Cantor tree surface is acyclic. This in turn determines the homology of the mapping class group of the once-punctured Cantor tree surface (i.e. the plane minus a Cantor set), in…

We prove a finiteness result for the $\partial$-patterned guts decomposition of all 3-manifolds obtained by splitting a given orientable, irreducible and $\partial$-irreducible 3-manifold along a closed incompressible surface. Then using…

Consider the unit ball, B = D x [0,1], containing n unknotted arcs a_1, ... a_n such that the boundary of each a_i lies in D x {0}. We give a finite presentation for the mapping class group of B fixing the arcs {a_1, ..., a_n} setwise and…

The extended mapping class group of a surface $\Sigma$ is defined to be the group of isotopy classes of (not necessarily orientation-preserving) homeomorphisms of $\Sigma$. We are able to show that the extended mapping class group of an…

We show that the normal closure of any periodic element of the mapping class group of a non-orientable surface whose order is greater than 2 contains the commutator subgroup, which for $g\geq 7$ is equal to the twist subgroup, and provide…

We prove several finiteness results for the class $M_{a,b,G,n}$ of $n$-manifolds that have fundamental groups isomorphic to $G$ and that can be given complete Riemannian metrics of sectional curvatures within $[a,b]$ where $a\le b<0$. In…

We construct a finitely presented non-amenable group without free non-cyclic subgroups thus providing a finitely presented counterexample to von Neumann's problem. Our group is an extension of a group of finite exponent n >> 1 by a cyclic…

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 classify those compact 3-manifolds with incompressible toral boundary whose fundamental groups are residually free. For example, if such a manifold $M$ is prime and orientable and the fundamental group of $M$ is non-trivial then $M \cong…

We establish that, given $\Sigma$ a compact orientable surface, and $G$ a finitely presented one-ended group, the set of copies of $G$ in the mapping class group $\mathcal{MCG}(\Sigma)$ consisting of only pseudo-anosov elements except…

We show that the mapping class group acts properly on the space of maximal representations of the fundamental group of a closed Riemann surface into G when G = Sp(2n,R), SU(n,n), SO*(2n) or Spin(2,n).

The girth of a finitely generated group G is the supremum of the girth of Cayley graphs for G over all finite generating sets. Let G be a finitely generated subgroup of the mapping class group Mod(S), where S is a compact orientable…

We show that every subgroup of the mapping class group MCG(S) of a compact surface S is either virtually abelian or it has infinite dimensional second bounded cohomology. As an application, we give another proof of the…

We show that the mapping class group of a closed oriented surface of genus at least three is generated by 3 elements of order 3 and by 4 elements of order 4. Note that the mapping class group cannot be generated by finitely many torsion…

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…

We use quantum invariants to define an analytic family of representations for the mapping class group of a punctured surface. The representations depend on a complex number A with |A| <= 1 and act on an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space.…

In this paper, we make use of the relations between the braid and mapping class groups of a compact, connected, non-orientable surface N without boundary and those of its orientable double covering S to study embeddings of these groups and…

We investigate the manifold $\cal{M}$ of (real) quadratic forms in n > 1 variables having a multiple eigenvalue. In addition to known facts, we prove that 1) $\cal{M}$ is irreducible, 2) in the case of n = 3, scalar matrices and only them…