Related papers: Mapping classes are almost determined by their fin…

We define two classes of topological infinite degree covering maps modeled on two families of transcendental holomorphic maps. The first, which we call exponential maps of type $(p,q)$, are branched covers and is modeled on transcendental…

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…

Let $\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$ be the mapping class group of the closed orientable surface $S_g$ of genus $g\geq 2$. In this paper, we derive necessary and sufficient conditions under which two torsion elements in $\mathrm{Mod}(S_g)$ will have…

Given a hypersurface in a complex projective space, we prove that the multidegrees of its toric polar map agree, up to sign, with the coefficients of the Chern-Schwartz-MacPherson class of a distinguished open set, namely the complement of…

We show that the mapping class group of a closed oriented surface of genus at least three is generated by 3 elements of order 3 and by 4 elements of order 4. Note that the mapping class group cannot be generated by finitely many torsion…

We show that there is a type-preserving homomorphism from the fundamental group of the figure-eight knot complement to the mapping class group of the thrice-punctured torus. As a corollary, we obtain infinitely many commensurability classes…

Let $N$ be a connected nonorientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. Suppose that $g$ is odd and $g+n \geqslant 6$. We prove that the automorphism group of the complex of curves of $N$ is isomorphic to the mapping class group…

Big mapping class groups are the mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces, that is, surfaces whose fundamental groups are not finitely generated. While mapping class groups of finite-type surfaces have been extensively studied, the…

The main result of this article is that if a $3$-manifold $M$ supports an Anosov flow, then the number of conjugacy classes in the fundamental group of $M$ grows exponentially fast with the length of the shortest orbit representative,…

We establish a criterion that ensures a bounded almost complex curve in a bounded almost complex 4-manifold minimizes genus amongst all smooth surfaces that share its homology class and the transverse link on its boundary. An immediate…

Let $S$ be a closed oriented surface and $G$ a finite group of orientation preserving automorphisms of $S$ whose orbit space has genus at least $2$. There is a natural group homomorphism from the $G$-centralizer in $Diff^+(S)$ to the…

The intersection matrix of a finite simplicial complex has as each of its entries the rank of the intersection of its respective simplices. We prove that such matrix defines the triangulation of a closed connected surface up to isomorphism.

Let $N$ be a compact, connected, non-orientable surface of genus $\rho$ with $n$ boundary components, with $\rho \ge 5$ and $n \ge 0$, and let $\mathcal{M} (N)$ be the mapping class group of $N$. We show that, if $\mathcal{G}$ is a finite…

Let $g, n \geq 0$ and $\Sigma = \Sigma_{g, n}$ be a connected oriented surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. The $\mathrm{SL}_2$-character variety of $\Sigma$ has a rigid relative automorphism group, whose elements fix each monodromies…

We consider the pseudo-Anosov elements of the mapping class group of a surface of genus g that fix a rank k subgroup of the first homology of the surface. We show that the smallest entropy among these is comparable to (k+1)/g. This…

Finite-sheeted covering mappings onto compact connected groups are studied. It is shown that a finite-sheeted covering mapping from a connected Hausdorff topological space onto a compact connected abelian group G must be a homeomorphism…

Let $\Sigma_{g,n}$ be an orientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. We study actions of the mapping class group of $\Sigma_{g,n}$ via Hodge-theoretic and arithmetic techniques. We show that if $$\rho: \pi_1(\Sigma_{g,n})\to…

This paper has 3 principal goals: (1) to survey what is know about mapping class and Torelli groups of simply connected compact Kaehler manifolds, (2) supplement these results, and (3) present a list of questions and open problems to…

In response to a question raised by Belolipetsky and the first author, we prove that for every finite group $G$ there are infinitely many isomorphism classes of compact complex hyperbolic $2$-manifolds with automorphism group isomorphic to…

Let S be a compact orientable surface with genus g and n boundary components d_1,...,d_n. Let b = (b_1, ..., b_n) where b_n lies in [-2,2]. Then the mapping class group of S acts on the relative SU(2)-character variety X comprising…