Related papers: From braid groups to mapping class groups

We study the representations of the commutator subgroup of the braid group with n strands in the symmetric group of degree r. Motivated by some experimental results, we conjecture that for n>r, every such representation is trivial.

We classify representations of the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$ (with at most one puncture or boundary component) up to dimension $3g-3$. Any such representation is the direct sum of a representation in dimension $2g$ or…

This paper is a survey of some properties of the braid groups and related groups that lead to questions on mapping class groups.

In this article, we introduce a new family of groups, called Chambord groups and constructed from braided strand diagrams associated to specific semigroup presentations. It includes the asymptotically rigid mapping class groups previously…

By analyzing known presentations of the pure mapping groups of orientable surfaces of genus $g$ with $b$ boundary components and $n$ punctures, we show that these groups are isomorphic to some groups related to the braid groups and the…

In this paper, we prove that each automorphism of a surface braid group is induced by a homeomorphism of the underlying surface, provided that this surface is a closed, connected, orientable surface of genus at least 2, and the number of…

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 construct a homomorphism $f$ from the braid group $B_{2n+2}$ on $2n+2$ strands to the Steinberg group associated with the Lie type $C_n$ and with integer coefficients. This homomorphism lifts the well-known symplectic representation of…

We investigate representations of mapping class groups of surfaces that arise from the untwisted Drinfeld double of a finite group G, focusing on surfaces without marked points or with one marked point. We obtain concrete descriptions of…

We prove that the mapping class group of the one-holed Cantor tree surface is acyclic. This in turn determines the homology of the mapping class group of the once-punctured Cantor tree surface (i.e. the plane minus a Cantor set), in…

Given an oriented surface of positive genus with finitely many punctures, we classify the finite orbits of the mapping class group action on the moduli space of semisimple complex special linear two dimensional representations of the…

We prove several positive results regarding representation of homotopy classes of spheres and algebraic groups by regular mappings. Most importantly we show that every mapping from a sphere to an orthogonal or a unitary group is homotopic…

Any nontrivial homomorphism from the mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus $g\geq 3$ to $\GL(2g,\C)$ is conjugate to the standard symplectic representation. It is also shown that the mapping class group has no faithful…

We consider the braid groups $\mathbf{B}_n(X)$ on finite simplicial complexes $X$, which are generalizations of those on both manifolds and graphs that have been studied already by many authors. We figure out the relationships between…

Let G be the fundamental group of the complement of a K(G,1) hyperplane arrangement (such as Artin's pure braid group) or more generally a homologically toroidal group (as defined in the paper). The subgroup of elements in the complex…

Making use of the extended flux homomorphism on the group of symplectomorphisms of a closed oriented surface of genus at least 2, we introduce new characteristic classes of foliated surface bundles with symplectic, equivalently…

The mapping class group of a surface with one boundary component admits numerous interesting representations including as a group of automorphisms of a free group and as a group of symplectic transformations. Insofar as the mapping class…

Let $S$ and $X$ be two connected topological surfaces without boundary, and assume that $S$ is either of infinite type or has negative Euler characteristic. In this paper, we prove that if $p:S\rightarrow X$ is a fully ramified branched…

In this paper we show that for m>n the set of cobordism classes of maps from m-sphere to n-sphere is trivial. The determination of the cobordism homotopy groups of spheres admits applications to the covers for spheres.

Every surface bundle with genus $g$ fiber has a canonical Heegaard splitting of genus $2g+1$. We classify the mapping class groups of such Heegaard splittings in the case when the surface bundle has a sufficiently complicated monodromy map.