Related papers: Most big mapping class groups fail the Tits Altern…
The famous Tits' alternative states that a linear group either contains a nonabelian free group or is soluble-by-(locally finite). We study in this paper similar alternatives in pseudofinite groups. We show for instance that an…
In this note we prove that the mapping class group of a compact topological manifold $M$ with boundary is of finite type, under assumptions on its dimension and connectivity.
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 Tits alternative states that a finitely generated matrix group either contains a nonabelian free subgroup $F_2$, or it is virtually solvable. This paper considers two decision problems in virtually solvable matrix groups: the Identity…
We study when the mapping class group of an infinite-type surface $S$ admits an action with unbounded orbits on a connected graph whose vertices are simple closed curves on $S$. We introduce a topological invariant for infinite-type…
We show that the pure mapping class group is uniformly perfect for a certain class of infinite type surfaces with noncompact boundary components. We then combine this result with recent work in the remaining cases to give a complete…
We prove an analog of the Tits alternative for rational functions. In particular, we show that if $S$ is a finitely generated semigroup of rational functions over the complex numbers, then either $S$ has polynomially bounded growth or $S$…
Let $X$ be a normal noetherian scheme and $Z \subseteq X$ a closed subset of codimension $\geq 2$. We consider here the local obstructions to the map $\hat{\pi}_{1}(X\backslash Z) \to \hat{\pi}_{1}(X)$ being an isomorphism. Assuming $X$ has…
Let k be a local field, and G a linear group over k. We prove that either G contains a relatively open solvable subgroup, or it contains a relatively dense free subgroup. This result has applications in dynamics, Riemannian foliations and…
The problem of enumeration of conjugacy classes of finite abelian subgroups of the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}_{\sigma}$ of a compact closed surface $X$ of genus $\sigma$ is considered. A complete method of enumeration is achieved for…
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…
A left orderable completely metrizable topological group is exhibited containing Artin's braid group on infinitely many strands. The group is the mapping class group (rel boundary) of the closed unit disk with a sequence of interior…
The girth of a finitely generated group G is the supremum of the girth of Cayley graphs for G over all finite generating sets. Let G be a finitely generated subgroup of the mapping class group Mod(S), where S is a compact orientable…
We investigate the problem of when big mapping class groups are generated by involutions. Restricting our attention to the class of self-similar surfaces, which are surfaces with self-similar ends space, as defined by Mann and Rafi, and…
We present an algorithm which, given any finite presentation of a group as input, will terminate with answer yes if and only if the group is large. We use this to prove that a mapping torus of a finitely generated free group automorphism is…
We give an infinite presentation for the mapping class group of a non-orientable surface with boundary components. The presentation is a generalization of the presentation given by the second author [15].
Let $X$ be a (smooth) compact complex surface. We show that the torsion subgroup of the biholomorphic automorphism group $\operatorname{Aut}(X)$ is virtually nilpotent. Moreover, we study the Tits alternative of $\operatorname{Aut}(X)$ and…
A companion result of the the Tits alternative for $Out(F_n)$ is proved: Every solvable subgroup of $Out(F_n)$ is finitely generated and virtually abelian.
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…
We study subgroups of fundamental groups of real analytic closed 4-manifolds with nonpositive sectional curvature. In particular, we are interested in the following question: if a subgroup of the fundamental group is not virtually free…