Related papers: Braid groups, mapping class groups and their homol…

We consider the universal family $E_n^d$ of superelliptic curves: each curve $\Sigma_n^d$ in the family is a $d$-fold covering of the unit disk, totally ramified over a set $P$ of $n$ distinct points; $\Sigma_n^d\hookrightarrow E_n^d\to…

We study quasimorphisms and bounded cohomology of a variety of braided versions of Thompson groups. Our first main result is that the Brin--Dehornoy braided Thompson group $bV$ has an infinite-dimensional space of quasimorphisms and thus…

Twenty years ago, Mumford initiated the systematic study of the cohomology ring of moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. Around the same time, Harer proved that the homology of the mapping class groups of oriented surfaces is independent of…

We consider an area-preserving diffeomorphism of a compact surface, which is assumed to be an irrational rotation near each boundary component. A finite set of periodic orbits of the diffeomorphism gives rise to a braid in the mapping…

A finite simple graph $\Gamma$ determines a quotient $P_\Gamma$ of the pure braid group, called a graphic arrangement group. We analyze homomorphisms of these groups defined by deletion of sets of vertices, using methods developed in prior…

We show that the morphisms from the braid group with n strands in the mapping class group of a surface with a possible non empty boundary, assuming that its genus is smaller or equal to n/2 are either cyclic morphisms (their images are…

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…

For any smooth compact manifold $W$ of dimension at least two we prove that the classifying spaces of its group of diffeomorphisms which fix a set of $k$ points or $k$ embedded disks (up to permutation) satisfy homology stability. The same…

We calculate the representation-graded Bredon homology rings of all elementary abelian 2-groups with coefficients in the constant mod-2 Mackey functor. We exhibit minimal presentations for these rings as quotients of the polynomial algebra…

We provide algorithms for computing the Rochlin invariants of mod 2 homology spheres and mapping tori. This provides a unified framework for studying two families of maps: the Birman-Craggs maps of the Torelli group, and Sato's maps of the…

Simplicial homology manifolds are proposed as an interesting class of geometric objects, more general than topological manifolds but still quite tractable, in which questions about the microstructure of space-time can be naturally…

The twisted Alexander polynomials of a space, associated to a linear representation $\sigma$ of the fundamental group, are non-abelian refinements of the classical Alexander polynomial from knot theory. In this paper, we show that they…

Let $PB_n(S_{g,p})$ be the pure braid group of a genus $g>1$ surface with $p$ punctures. In this paper we prove that any surjective homomorphism $PB_n(S_{g,p})\to PB_m(S_{g,p})$ factors through one of the forgetful homomorphisms. We then…

We make a detailed study of the Heegaard Floer homology of the product of a closed surface Sigma_g of genus g with S^1. We determine HF^+ for this 3-manifold completely for the spin^c structure having trivial first Chern class, which for…

We consider the topological complexity of subgroups of Artin's braid group consisting of braids whose associated permutations lie in some specified subgroup of the symmetric group. We give upper and lower bounds for the topological…

E. Artin described all irreducible representations of the braid group B_k to the symmetric group S(k). We strengthen some of his results and, moreover, exhibit a complete picture of homomorphisms of B_k to S(n) for n<2k+1. We show that the…

We classify homomorphisms from mapping class groups by using finite subgroups. First, we give a new proof of a result of Aramayona--Souto that homomorphisms between mapping class groups of closed surfaces are trivial for a range of genera.…

We show that any twisted Dijkgraaf-Witten representation of a mapping class group of an orientable, compact surface with boundary has finite image. This generalizes work of Etingof, Rowell and Witherspoon showing that the braid group images…

This note has two related but independent parts. Firstly, we prove a generalisation of a recent result of Gay on the smooth mapping class group of $S^4$. Secondly, we give an alternative proof of a consequence of work of Saeki, namely that…

The braided Ptolemy-Thompson group $T^*$ is an extension of the Thompson group $T$ by the full braid group $B_{\infty}$ on infinitely many strands. This group is a simplified version of the acyclic extension considered by Greenberg and…