Related papers: Geometric normal subgroups in mapping class groups…
A detailed proof is given of a theorem describing the centraliser of a transitive permutation group, with applications to automorphism groups of objects in various categories of maps, hypermaps, dessins, polytopes and covering spaces, where…
We survey some recent developments at the interface of algebraic geometry, surface topology, and the theory of ordinary differential equations. Motivated by "non-abelian" analogues of standard conjectures on the cohomology of algebraic…
Let $T$ be a tree and $e$ an edge in $T$. If $C$ is a component of $T\setminus e$ and both $C$ and its complement are infinite we say that $C$ is a half-tree. The main result of this paper is that if $G$ is a closed subgroup of the…
We give a cohomological criterion for existence of outer automorphisms of a semisimple algebraic group over an arbitrary field. This criterion is then applied to the special case of groups of type D_2n over a global field, which completes…
It is shown that in various categories, including many consisting of maps or hypermaps, oriented or unoriented, of a given hyperbolic type, every countable group $A$ is isomorphic to the automorphism group of uncountably many non-isomorphic…
Using the existence of certain symplectic submanifolds in symplectic 4-manifolds, we prove an estimate from above for the number of singular fibers with separating vanishing cycles in minimal Lefschetz fibrations over surfaces of positive…
Let C be a complex smooth projective algebraic curve endowed with an action of a finite group G such that the quotient curve has genus at least 3. We prove that if the G-curve C is very general for these properties, then the natural map…
We classify all possible automorphism groups of smooth cubic surfaces over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic. As an intermediate step we also classify automorphism groups of quartic del Pezzo surfaces. We show that…
We show that the topological full group of a Hausdorff ample groupoid with compact unit space coincides with the group of homotopy classes of invertible isometries in pseudofunction algebras associated with the groupoid. Moreover, if the…
This article studies automorphism groups of graph products of arbitrary groups. We completely characterise automorphisms that preserve the set of conjugacy classes of vertex groups as those automorphisms that can be decomposed as a product…
Some generalizations and variations of the Fintushel-Stern rim surgery are known to produce smoothly knotted surfaces. We show that if the fundamental groups of their complements are cyclic, then these surfaces are topologically unknotted.…
Given a 2-manifold, a fundamental question to ask is which groups can be realized as the isometry group of a Riemannan metric of constant curvature on the manifold. In this paper, we give a nearly complete classification of such groups for…
Consider a one-ended word-hyperbolic group. If it is the fundamental group of a graph of free groups with cyclic edge groups then either it is the fundamental group of a surface or it contains a finitely generated one-ended subgroup of…
Clean markings on surfaces were a key component in Masur and Minsky's hierarchy machinery, which proved to be a powerful tool in the study of mapping class groups. We construct a marking graph for irreducible finite-type Artin groups which…
Let $\Sigma$ be a complete finite-area orientable hyperbolic surface with one cusp, and let $\mathcal{R}$ be the space of complete geodesic rays in $\Sigma$ emanating from the puncture. Then there is a natural action of the mapping class…
Let M be a graph manifold. We prove that fundamental groups of embedded incompressible surfaces in M are separable in the fundamental group of M, and that the double cosets for crossing surfaces are also separable. We deduce that if there…
We study the map associating the cohomology class of an admissible normal function on the product of punctured disks, and give some sufficient conditions for the surjectivity of the map. We also construct some examples such that the map is…
Hierarchically hyperbolic spaces provide a common framework for studying mapping class groups of finite type surfaces, Teichm\"uller space, right-angled Artin groups, and many other cubical groups. Given such a space $\mathcal X$, we build…
It has been known since the time of Nielsen that the mapping class group $\text{Mod}_{g,1}$ of a surface of genus $g$ and one puncture acts faithfully by homeomorphisms on the circle. In this note, we show that this standard representation…
The minimal degree of a permutation group $G$ is the minimum number of points not fixed by non-identity elements of $G$. Lower bounds on the minimal degree have strong structural consequences on $G$. In 2014 Babai proved that the…