Related papers: Geodesics in the mapping class group
We show that a finite volume deformation retract $\mathcal{T}_{\varepsilon_t}^{-}(\mathcal{N}_g)/\mathrm{MCG}(\mathcal{N}_g)$ of the moduli space $\mathcal{M}(\mathcal{N}_g)$ of non-orientable surfaces $\mathcal{N}_g$ behaves like the…
This paper continues a geometric study of Harvey's Complex of Curves, whose ultimate goal is to apply the theory of hyperbolic spaces and groups to algorithmic questions for the Mapping Class Group and geometric properties of Kleinian…
We characterize convex cocompact subgroups of mapping class groups that arise as subgroups of specially embedded right-angled Artin groups. That is, if the right-angled Artin group G in Mod(S) satisfies certain conditions that imply G is…
We introduce a construction of pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms on n-times punctured spheres and surfaces with higher genus using only sufficiently many positive half-twists. These constructions can produce explicit examples of pseudo-Anosov…
Given a finite generating set $S$, let us endow the mapping class group of a closed hyperbolic surface with the word metric for $S$. We discuss the following question: does the proportion of non-pseudo-Anosov mapping classes in the ball of…
Quasigeodesic behavior of flow lines is a very useful property in the study of Anosov flows. Not every Anosov flow in dimension three is quasigeodesic. In fact up to orbit equivalence, the only previously known examples of quasigeodesic…
Let $M$ be a closed hyperbolic $3$-manifold. A homotopy class $[S]$ of surfaces in $M$ is filling if any representative cuts $M$ into components contractible in $M$. We prove that there exist $\epsilon_0, g_0>0$ such that every homotopy…
In this article we obtain a simple topological and dynamical systems condition which is necessary and sufficient for an arbitrary pseudo-Anosov flow in a closed, hyperbolic three manifold to be quasigeodesic. Quasigeodesic means that orbits…
By a geodesic subspace of a metric space $X$ we mean a subset $A$ of $X$ such that any two points in $A$ can be connected by a geodesic in $A$. It is easy to check that a geodesic metric space $X$ is an $\mathbb{R}$-tree (that is, a…
We study the large scale geometry of mapping class groups MCG(S), using hyperbolicity properties of curve complexes. We show that any self quasi-isometry of MCG(S) (outside a few sporadic cases) is a bounded distance away from a…
Given any generating set of any pseudo-Anosov-containing subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface, we construct a pseudo-Anosov with word length bounded by a constant depending only on the surface. More generally, in any subgroup G…
Divergence functions of a metric space estimate the length of a path connecting two points $A$, $B$ at distance $\le n$ avoiding a large enough ball around a third point $C$. We characterize groups with non-linear divergence functions as…
In 1990, Hitchin's proved a component of the space of representations of a surface group in SL(n,R) is homeomorphic to a ball. For n=2,3 this component has been identified with the holonomies of geometric structures (hyperbolic for n=2, or…
We introduce the polygonalisation complex of a surface, a cube complex whose vertices correspond to polygonalisations. This is a geometric model for the mapping class group and it is motivated by works of Harer, Mosher and Penner. Using…
The 'contracting boundary' of a proper geodesic metric space consists of equivalence classes of geodesic rays that behave like rays in a hyperbolic space. We introduce a geometrically relevant, quasi-isometry invariant topology on the…
We construct a category of examples of partially hyperbolic geodesic flows which are not Anosov, deforming the metric of a compact locally symmetric space of nonconstant negative curvature. Candidates for such example as the product metric…
In this paper, we prove that for subgroups acting on admissible multiarc and curve graphs and for the handlebody group acting on the disk graph, the loxodromic elements are exactly those for which some pure power is a pseudo-Anosov on a…
We characterise hyperbolic groups in terms of quasigeodesics in the Cayley graph forming regular languages. We also obtain a quantitative characterisation of hyperbolicity of geodesic metric spaces by the non-existence of certain local…
Given any countable group $G$, we construct uncountably many quasi-isometry classes of proper geodesic metric spaces with quasi-isometry group isomorphic to $G$. Moreover, if the group $G$ is a hyperbolic group, the spaces we construct are…
We prove that pseudo-Anosov mapping classes are generic with respect to certain notions of genericity reflecting that we are dealing with mapping classes.