Related papers: The Topological Complexity of a Surface

A venerable problem in combinatorics and geometry asks whether a given incidence relation may be realized by a configuration of points and lines. The classic version of this would ask for algebraic lines over some field or possibly real…

Let S be a surface obtained from a plane polygon by identifying infinitely many pairs of segments along its boundary. A condition is given under which the complex structure in the interior of the polygon extends uniquely across the quotient…

Let $\Gamma_g$ be the fundamental group of a closed connected orientable surface of genus $g\geq2$. We introduce a combinatorial structure of "core surfaces", that represent subgroups of $\Gamma_g$. These structures are (usually)…

We describe an effective method for computing the topological degree of continuous functions $R:S^2 \to S^2$, where $S^2$ is the Riemann sphere. Our approach generalizes the degree formula for rational functions of complex polynomials,…

We show that finite-type surfaces are characterized by a topological analog of the Hopf property. Namely, an oriented surface $\Sigma$ is of finite-type if and only if every proper map $f\colon\Sigma\to \Sigma$ of degree one is homotopic to…

We use rewriting systems to spell out cup-products in the (twisted) cohomology groups of a product of surface groups. This allows us to detect a non-trivial obstruction bounding from below the effective topological complexity of an…

A perforated surface is the complement $\mathring\Sigma:=\Sigma\setminus A$ of a countable dense subset $A$ in a connected paracompact surface $\Sigma$. It is known that the topological type of $\Sigma\setminus A$ is independent of the…

We study the topological complexity, in the sense of Smale, of three enumerative problems in algebraic geometry: finding the 27 lines on cubic surfaces, the 28 bitangents and the 24 inflection points on quartic curves. In particular, we…

We define the surface complex for $3$-manifolds and embark on a case study in the arena of Seifert fibered spaces. The base orbifold of a Seifert fibered space captures some of the topology of the Seifert fibered space, so, not…

Consider a finite, regular cover $Y\to X$ of finite graphs, with associated deck group $G$. We relate the topology of the cover to the structure of $H_1(Y;\mathbb{C})$ as a $G$-representation. A central object in this study is the {\em…

We prove that the topological complexity of every symplectically atoroidal manifold is equal to twice its dimension. This is the analogue for topological complexity of a result of Rudyak and Oprea, who showed that the…

We show that the topological charge of the n-soliton solution of the sine-Gordon equation n is related to the genus g > 1 of a constant negative curvature compact surface described by this configuration. The relation is n=2(g-1), where n is…

Given a positive integer $p$, we consider $W^{1,p}$-maps from a Euclidean domain of dimension $p+1$ into a closed Riemannian manifold $\mathcal{N}$. The target manifold is required to satisfy suitable topological conditions; in particular,…

This note is devoted to a trick which yields almost trivial proofs that certain complexes associated to topological surfaces are connected or simply connected. Applications include new proofs that the complexes of curves, separating curves,…

Let $X$ be a Riemann surface, and let $f:X\to\mathbb{P}^1_\mathbb{C}$ be an indecomposable (branched) covering of genus $g$ and degree $n$ whose monodromy group has more than one minimal normal subgroup. Closing a gap in the literature, we…

Schwarz genus $\mathsf{g}(\xi)$ of a fibration $\xi\colon E\to B$ is defined as the minimal integer $n$, such that there exists a cover of $B$ by $n$ open sets that admit partial section to $\xi$. Many important concepts, including…

We consider surfaces immersed in three-dimensional pseudohermitian manifolds. We define the notion of (p-)mean curvature and of the associated (p-)minimal surfaces, extending some concepts previously given for the (flat) Heisenberg group.…

We study minimal complex surfaces S of general type with q(S)=q and p_g(S)=2q-3, q>= 5. We give a complete classification in case that S has a fibration onto a curve of genus >=2. For these surfaces K^2=8\chi. In general we prove that…

We consider the relations between different measures of complexity for free homotopy classes of curves on a surface $\Sigma$, including the minimum number of self-intersections, the minimum length of the words representing them in a…

Let $S$ be a closed surface of genus at least $2$. For each maximal representation $\rho: \pi_1(S)\rightarrow\mathsf{Sp}(4,\mathbb{R})$ in one of the $2g-3$ exceptional connected components, we prove there is a unique conformal structure on…