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Let $M$ be a compact surface and $P$ be either $\mathbb{R}$ or $S^1$. For a smooth map $f:M\to P$ and a closed subset $V\subset M$, denote by $\mathcal{S}(f,V)$ the group of diffeomorphisms $h$ of $M$ preserving $f$, i.e. satisfying the…
Let $f $ be a Morse function on a smooth compact surface $M$ and $\mathcal{S}'(f)$ be a group of $f$-preserving diffeomorphisms of $M$ which are isotopic to the identity map. Let also $G(f)$ be a group of automorphisms of the graph of $f$…
The affine diffeomorphism group $\mathrm{Aff}(S,q)$ of a half-translation surface $(S,q)$ comprise the self-diffeomorphisms with constant differential away from the singularities. This group coincides with the stabiliser of the associated…
Let S be a surface and let Mod(S,K) be the mapping class group of S permuting a Cantor subset K of S. We prove two structure theorems for normal subgroups of Mod(S,K). (Purity:) if S has finite type, every normal subgroup of Mod(S,K) either…
A normal subgroup of the (extended) mapping class group of a surface is said to be geometric if its automorphism group is the mapping class group. We prove that in the case of the Cantor tree surface, every normal subgroup is geometric. We…
Consider a connected manifold of dimension at least two and the group of compactly supported diffeomorphisms that are compactly supported isotopic to the identity. This group acts $n$-transitive: Any tuple of $n$ points can be moved to any…
The group of $\mathcal C^1$-diffeomorphisms of any sparse Cantor subset of a manifold is countable and discrete (possibly trivial). Thompson's groups come out of this construction when we consider central ternary Cantor subsets of an…
In this work we relate the known results about the homotopy type of classifying spaces for smooth foliations, with the homology and cohomology of the discrete group of diffeomorphisms of a smooth compact connected oriented manifold. The…
If $G$ is a finitely generated group with generators $\{g_1,..., g_s\}$, we say an infinite-order element $f \in G$ is a distortion element of $G$ provided that $\displaystyle \liminf_{n \to \infty} \frac{|f^n|}{n} = 0$, where $|f^n|$ is…
Let $X$ be a surface, possibly with boundary. Suppose it has infinite genus or infinitely many punctures, or a closed subset which is a disk with a Cantor set removed from its interior. For example, $X$ could be any surface of infinite type…
Smale proved that the orientation-preserving diffeomorphism group of S^2 has a continuous strong deformation retraction to SO(3). In this paper, we construct such a strong deformation retraction which is diffeologically smooth.
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…
Given a closed, smooth 4-manifold $X$ and self-diffeomorphism $f$ that is topologically pseudo-isotopic to the identity, we study the question of whether $f$ is moreover smoothly pseudo-isotopic to the identity. If the fundamental group of…
In this note, we prove that the compactly supported mapping class group of a surface containing a genus $3$ subsurface has no realization as a subgroup of the homeomorphism group. We also prove that for certain surfaces with order $6$…
We consider two pairs: the standard unknotted $n$-sphere in $S^{n+2}$, and the product of two $p$-spheres trivially embedded in $S^{2p+2}$, and study orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of these pairs. Pseudo-isotopy classes of such…
This paper is part 1 of a series of papers culminating in the result that measure preserving diffeomorphisms of the disc or 2-torus are unclassifiable. It also addresses another classical problem: which abstract measure preserving systems…
For a homeomorphism $T \colon X \to X$ of a Cantor set $X$, the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}(T)$ is the group of isotopy classes of orientation-preserving self-homeomorphisms of the suspension $\Sigma_{T}X$. The group $\mathcal{M}(T)$…
Let $B$ be a M\"obius band and $f:B \to \mathbb{R}$ be a Morse map taking a constant value on $\partial B$, and $\mathcal{S}(f,\partial B)$ be the group of diffeomorphisms $h$ of $B$ fixed on $\partial B$ and preserving $f$ in the sense…
Let $T= S^1\times D^2$ be the solid torus, $\mathcal{F}$ the Morse-Bott foliation on $T$ into $2$-tori parallel to the boundary and one singular circle $S^1\times 0$, which is the central circle of the torus $T$, and…
We consider the groups $\operatorname{Diff}_{\mathcal B}(\mathbb R^n)$, $\operatorname{Diff}_{H^\infty}(\mathbb R^n)$, and $\operatorname{Diff}_{\mathcal S}(\mathbb R^n)$ of smooth diffeomorphisms on $\mathbb R^n$ which differ from the…