Related papers: Linearity of some low-complexity mapping class gro…

We compute the topological mapping class group of every compact, simply connected, topological 4-manifold. This was previously only known in the closed case. If the 4-manifold is smooth, we deduce an analogous description of the stable…

We solve the isomorphism problem for braid groups on trees with $n = 4$ or 5 strands. We do so in three main steps, each of which is interesting in its own right. First, we establish some tools and terminology for dealing with computations…

We construct finite-dimensional projective representations of the mapping class groups of compact connected oriented surfaces having one boundary component using stated skein algebras.

The n-string braid group of a graph X is defined as the fundamental group of the n-point configuration space of the space X. This configuration space is a finite dimensional aspherical space. A. Abrams and R. Ghrist have conjectured that…

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…

Whenever the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus g acts by semisimple isometries on a complete CAT(0) space of dimension less than g it fixes a point.

We classify the regular maps $\mathcal M$ which have automorphism groups $G$ acting faithfully and primitively on their vertices. As a permutation group $G$ must be of almost simple or affine type, with dihedral point stabilisers. We show…

We prove that the first integral cohomology of pure mapping class groups of infinite type genus one surfaces is trivial. For genus zero surfaces we prove that not every homomorphism to $\mathbb{Z}$ factors through a sphere with finitely…

We show that given a collection $X=\{f_1$, \ldots , $f_m\}$ of pure mapping classes on a surface $S$, there is an explicit constant N, depending only on $X$, such that their Nth powers $\{f_1^N$, \ldots , $f_m^N\}$ generate the expected…

We study several natural decision problems in braid groups and Artin groups. We classify the Artin groups with decidable submonoid membership problem in terms of the non-existence of certain forbidden induced subgraphs of the defining…

We define the intersection complex for the universal cover of a compact weakly special square complex and show that it is a quasi-isometry invariant. By using this quasi-isometry invariant, we study the quasi-isometric classification of…

We show that the configuration space of four unordered points in $\mathbb{C}$ with barycenter 0 is isomorphic to the space of triples $(E,Q,\omega)$, where $E$ is an elliptic curve, $Q\in E^\circ$ a nonzero point, and $\omega$ a nonzero…

In this paper, we give presentations of the mapping class groups of marked surfaces stabilizing boundaries for any genus. Note that in the existing works, the mapping class groups of marked surfaces were the isotopy classes of…

We give another proof for a result of Brick stating that the simple connectivity at infinity is a geometric property of finitely presented groups. This allows us to define the rate of vanishing of $\p1i$ for those groups which are simply…

We classify all the surfaces with p_g = q = 0 which admit an unramified covering which is isomorphic to a product of curves. Beyond the trivial case \PP^1 x \PP^1 we find 17 families which we explicitly describe. We reduce the problem to a…

We show that the pure mapping class group $\mathcal{N}_{g}^{k}$ of a non-orientable closed surface of genus $g\geqslant 2$ with $k\geqslant 1$ marked points has $p$-periodic cohomology for each odd prime $p$ for which $\mathcal{N}_{g}^{k}$…

We observe that, for each positive integer n > 2, each of the Artin groups of finite type A_n, B_n=C_n, and affine type \tilde A_{n-1} and \tilde C_{n-1} is a central extension of a finite index subgroup of the mapping class group of the…

Let $\mathfrak B_g$ denote the moduli space of primitively polarized $K3$ surfaces $(S,H)$ of genus $g$ over $\mathbb C$. It is well-known that $\mathfrak B_g$ is irreducible and that there are only finitely many rational curves in $|H|$…

In this paper we introduce the framed pure braid group on $n$ strands of an oriented surface, a topological generalisation of the pure braid group $P_n$. We give different equivalents definitions for framed pure braid groups and we study…

We will define and study some generalisations of pure $\mathfrak{g}$-braid groups that occur in the theory of connections on curves, for any complex reductive Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}$. They make up local pieces of the wild mapping class…