Related papers: Surface group representations in ${\rm SL}_2({\mat…

We give two proofs that appropriately defined congruence subgroups of the mapping class group of a surface with punctures/boundary have enormous amounts of rational cohomology in their virtual cohomological dimension. In particular we give…

We report on the computation of the integral homology of the mapping class group of genus g surfaces with one boundary curve and m punctures, when 2g + m is smaller than 6. In particular, it includes the genus 2 case with no or one…

We make cohomological computations related to the moduli space of genus three curves with symplectic level two structure by means of counting points over finite fields. In particular, we determine the cohomology groups of the quartic locus…

Let $\Sigma$ be a closed surface, $G$ a compact Lie group, with Lie algebra $g$, $\xi \colon P \to \Sigma$ a principal $G$-bundle, let $N(\xi)$ denote the moduli space of central Yang-Mills connections on $\xi$, for suitably chosen…

We introduce some compact orbifolds on which there is a certain finite group action having a simple convex polytope as the orbit space. We compute the orbifold fundamental group and homology groups of these orbifolds. We calculate the…

We prove that the complex surfaces parametrizing cuboids and face cuboids, as well as their minimal resolution of singularities, have trivial fundamental group. We then compute the fundamental group of certain open smooth subvarieties of…

We show that the homotopy type of a finite oriented Poincar\'{e} 4-complex is determined by its quadratic 2-type provided its fundamental group is finite and has a dihedral Sylow 2-subgroup. By combining with results of Hambleton-Kreck and…

We study finite orbits for non-elementary groups of automorphisms of compact projective surfaces. In particular we prove that if the surface and the group are defined over a number field k and the group contains parabolic elements, then the…

A complex of incompressible surfaces in a handlebody is constructed so that it contains, as a subcomplex, the complex of curves of the boundary of the handlebody. For genus 2 handlebodies, the group of automorphisms of this complex is used…

The odd character variety of a Riemann surface is a moduli space of SO(3) representations of the fundamental group which can be interpreted as the moduli space of stable holomorphic rank 2 bundles of odd degree and fixed determinant. This…

Consider a compact surface of genus at least two. We prove that the first cohomology group of the mapping class group with coefficients in the space of algebraic functions on the SL(2, C) moduli space vanishes.

A holomorphic triple over a compact Riemann surface consists of two holomorphic vector bundles and a holomorphic map between them. After fixing the topological types of the bundles and a real parameter, there exist moduli spaces of stable…

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…

We define the notion of a hierarchically cocompact classifying space for a family of subgroups of a group. Our main application is to show that the mapping class group $\mbox{Mod}(S)$ of any connected oriented compact surface $S$, possibly…

We show that certain representations over fields with positive characteristic of groups having CAT(0) fixed point property ${\rm F}\mathcal{B}_{\widetilde{A}_n}$ have finite image. In particular, we obtain rigidity results for…

Starting with an O(2)-principal fibration over a closed oriented surface F_g, g>=1, a 2-fold covering of the total space is said to be special when the monodromy sends the fiber SO(2) = S^1 to the nontrivial element of Z_2. Adapting D…

We investigate the mapping class groups of a class of non-Hausdorff topological spaces which includes finite spaces. We show that the mapping class group of a finite space is isomorphic to the homeomorphism group of its $T_0$ quotient. As a…

Let $p:\Sigma'\to\Sigma$ be a finite Galois cover, possibly branched, with Galois group $G$. We are interested in the structure of the cohomology of $\Sigma'$ as a module over $G$. We treat the cases of branched and unbranched covers…

We compute cohomology of the moduli space of genus three curves with level two structure and some related spaces. In particular, we determine the cohomology groups of the moduli space of plane quartics with level two structure as…

It is a well known result in the covering groups that a subgroup $G$ of the fundamental group at the identity of a semi-locally simply connected topological group determines a covering morphism of topological groups with characteristic…