Related papers: Problems, Questions, and Conjectures about Mapping…
By Torelli topology the author understands aspects of the topology of surfaces (potentially) relevant to the study of Torelli groups. The extension problem in Torelli topology is the problem of determining when a diffeomorphism of compact…
We derive two types of linearity conditions for mapping class groups of orientable surfaces: one for once-punctured surface, and the other for closed surface, respectively. For the once-punctured case, the condition is described in terms of…
We prove that many normal subgroups of the extended mapping class group of a surface with punctures are geometric, that is, that their automorphism groups and abstract commensurator groups are isomorphic to the extended mapping class group.…
This expository paper explores the interaction of group ordering with topological questions, especially in dimensions 2 and 3. Among the topics considered are surfaces, braid groups, 3-manifolds and their structures such as foliations and…
An algorithm is proposed that solves two decision problems for pseudo-Anosov elements in the mapping class group of a surface with at least one marked fixed point. The first problem is the root problem: decide if the element is a power and…
For any positive integer $n$, we exhibit a cofinite subgroup $\Gamma_n$ of the mapping class group of a surface of genus at most two such that $\Gamma_n$ admits an epimorphism onto a free group of rank $n$. We conclude that…
We strengthen the analogy between convex co-compact Kleinian groups and convex co-compact subgroups of the mapping class group of a surface (in the sense of B. Farb and L. Mosher).
In this survey paper, we give a complete list of known results on the first and the second homology groups of surface mapping class groups. Some known results on higher (co)homology are also mentioned.
The action of the mapping class group of a surface on the collection of homotopy classes of disjointly embedded curves or arcs in the surface is discussed here as a tool for understanding Riemann's moduli space and its topological and…
Floer cohomology is computed for certain elements of the mapping class group of a surface $\Sigma$ of genus $g>1$ which are compositions of positive and negative dehn twists along some loops in $\Sigma$. The computations cover a certain…
We investigate the complexity of generalizations of colourings (acyclic colourings, $(k,\ell)$-colourings, homomorphisms, and matrix partitions), for the class of transitive digraphs. Even though transitive digraphs are nicely structured,…
We refine the construction of quasi-homomorphisms on mapping class groups. It is useful to know that there are unbounded quasi-homomorphisms which are bounded when restricted to particular subgroups since then one deduces that the mapping…
The special linear groups, the mapping class groups of surfaces, the outer autormorphism groups of free groups appear in numerous domains. Their analogies, developped in particular in K. Vogtmann's work, have been written about a lot. In…
The mapping class group of a closed surface of genus $g$ is an extension of the Torelli group by the symplectic group. This leads to two natural problems: (a) compute (stably) the symplectic decomposition of the lower central series of the…
We prove that various subgroups of the mapping class group $Mod(\Sigma)$ of a surface $\Sigma$ are at least exponentially distorted. Examples include the Torelli group (answering a question of Hamenstadt), the "point-pushing" and surface…
We study smooth maps between smooth manifolds with only fold points as their singularities, and clarify the obstructions to the existence of such a map in a given homotopy class for certain dimensions. The obstructions are described in…
We construct new monomorphisms between mapping class groups of surfaces. The first family of examples injects the mapping class group of a closed surface into that of a different closed surface. The second family of examples are defined on…
In this article we survey, and make a few new observations about, the surprising connection between sub-monoids of mapping class groups and interesting geometry and topology in low-dimensions.
We describe a cocompact model for the classifying space for proper actions of the mapping class group of a surface with punctures and boundary components. Our construction relies on a known model for the case of a closed surface and uses an…
Combinatorial aspects of the Torelli-Johnson-Morita theory of surface automorphisms are extended to certain subgroups of the mapping class groups. These subgroups are defined relative to a specified homomorphism from the fundamental group…