Related papers: Geometric normal subgroups in mapping class groups…
We show that certain classes of graphs of free groups contain surface subgroups, including groups with positive $b_2$ obtained by doubling free groups along collections of subgroups, and groups obtained by "random" ascending HNN extensions…
For each of the 14 classes of edge-transitive maps described by Graver and Watkins, necessary and sufficient conditions are given for a group to be the automorphism group of a map, or of an orientable map without boundary, in that class.…
We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the mapping class group of the pair of the 3-sphere and a graph embedded in it to be isomorphic to the topological symmetry group of the embedded graph.
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.…
Twenty years ago Gromov asked about how large is the set of isomorphism classes of groups whose systolic area is bounded from above. This article introduces a new combinatorial invariant for finitely presentable groups called {\it…
For each integer $n$ we construct a simply connected $4$-manifold $X$ admitting a smoothly embedded surface $\Sigma$ of self intersection number $n$ such that the complement of the surface has non-trivial fundamental group. This answers a…
Given two automorphisms of a group $G$, one is interested in knowing whether they are conjugate in the automorphism group of $G$, or in the abstract commensurator of $G$, and how these two properties may differ. When $G$ is the fundamental…
We prove that a distance-regular graph with a dominant distance is a spectral expander. The key ingredient of the proof is a new inequality on the intersection numbers. We use the spectral gap bound to study the structure of the…
Given any connected compact orientable surface, a pair of mapping classes are said to be procongruently conjugate if they induce a conjugate pair of outer automophisms on the profinite completion of the fundamental group of the surface. For…
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 give a short, mostly elementary and self-contained proof of the classical result that the groups of diffeomorphisms, homeomorphisms, and homotopy equivalences of a surface have the same group of connected components.
The point-pushing subgroup P(S) of the mapping class group Mod(S) of a surface with marked point is an embedding of \pi_1(S) given by pushing the marked point around loops. We prove that for g>=3, the subgroup P(S) is the unique normal,…
We study dismantling properties of the arc, disc and sphere graphs. We prove that any finite subgroup H of the mapping class group of a surface with punctures, the handlebody group, or Out(F_n) fixes a filling (resp. simple) clique in the…
We give a sufficient condition under which the fundamental group of a reglued graph of surfaces is hyperbolic. A reglued graph of surfaces is constructed by cutting a fixed graph of surfaces along the edge surfaces, then regluing by…
We compute the invariant subspace of the rational group ring of a surface, truncated by powers of the augmentation ideal, under the action of the mapping class group. The surface is compact, oriented with one boundary component. This…
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…
For a geometrically rational surface X over an arbitrary field of characteristic different from 2 and 3 that contains all roots of 1, we show that either X is birational to a product of a projective line and a conic, or the group of…
We study model geometries of finitely generated groups. If a finitely generated group does not contain a non-trivial finite rank free abelian commensurated subgroup, we show any model geometry is dominated by either a symmetric space of…
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 consider finite-sheeted, regular, possibly branched covering spaces of compact surfaces with boundary and the associated liftable and symmetric mapping class groups. In particular, we classify when either of these subgroups coincides…