Related papers: Most big mapping class groups fail the Tits Altern…

The Torelli group $\mathcal T(X)$ of a closed smooth manifold $X$ is the subgroup of the mapping class group $\pi_0(\mathrm{Diff}^+(X))$ consisting of elements which act trivially on the integral cohomology of $X$. In this note we give…

We show that the automorphism group of a one-dimensional full shift (the group of reversible cellular automata) does not satisfy the Tits alternative. That is, we construct a finitely-generated subgroup which is not virtually solvable yet…

A well-known conjecture asserts that the mapping class group of a surface (possibly with punctures/boundary) does not virtually surject onto $\Z$ if the genus of the surface is large. We prove that if this conjecture holds for some genus,…

Given a 2-manifold, a fundamental question to ask is which groups can be realized as the isometry group of a Riemannan metric of constant curvature on the manifold. In this paper, we give a nearly complete classification of such groups for…

Let $X$ be a non-positively curved cube complex with hyperbolic fundamental group. We prove that $\pi_1(X)$ has a non-free subgroup of infinite index unless $\pi_1(X)$ is either free or a surface group, answering questions of Gromov and…

Let $X$ be a complex projective variety. Suppose that the group of birational automorphisms of $X$ contains finite subgroups isomorphic to $(\mathbb{Z}/N\mathbb{Z})^r$ for $r$ fixed and $N$ arbitrarily large. We show that $r$ does not…

The proof of the Tits alternative for $Out(F_n)$ is completed. The main tool is a Kolchin type theorem, proved in this paper. It states that a finitely generated subgroup of $Out(F_n)$ consisting of unipotent automorphisms can be conjugated…

We prove the Tits alternative for an almost coherent $PD(3)$ group which is not virtually properly locally cyclic. In particular, we show that an almost coherent $PD(3)$ group which cannot be generated by fewer than four elements always…

For an element $x$ of a finite group $T$, the $\mathrm{Aut}(T)$-class of $x$ is the set $\{ x^\sigma\mid \sigma\in \mathrm{Aut}(T)\}$. We prove that the order $|T|$ of a finite nonabelian simple group $T$ is bounded above by a function of…

It is proved that the mapping class group of any closed surface with finitely many marked points is quasiisometric to a CAT(0) cube complex. We provide two distinct proofs, one tailored to mapping class groups, and one applying to a larger…

A self-similar group of finite type is the profinite group of all automorphisms of a regular rooted tree that locally around every vertex act as elements of a given finite group of allowed actions. We provide criteria for determining when a…

For any infinite-type surface $S$, a natural question is whether the homology of its mapping class group contains any non-trivial classes that are supported on (i) a compact subsurface or (ii) a finite-type subsurface. Our purpose here is…

The Isbell, compact-open and point-open topologies on the set $C(X,\mathbb{R})$ of continuous real-valued maps can be represented as the dual topologies with respect to some collections $\alpha(X)$ of compact families of open subsets of a…

We say that a subgroup $H$ of an infinite compact Abelian group $X$ is {\it $T$-characterized} if there is a $T$-sequence $\mathbf{u} =\{u_n \}$ in the dual group of $X$ such that $H=\{x\in X: \; (u_n, x)\to 1 \}$. We show that a closed…

Let $X$ be an algebraic surface with $\mathcal{L}$ an ample line bundle on $X$. Let $\Gamma(X, \mathcal{L})$ be the \emph{geometric monodromy} group associated to family of nonsingular curves in $X$ that are zero loci of sections of…

We study subgroups and quotients of outer automorphism groups of right-angled Artin groups (RAAGs). We prove that for all RAAGS, the outer automorphism group is residually finite and, for a large class of RAAGs, it satisfies the Tits…

We discuss dense embeddings of surface groups and fully residually free groups in topological groups. We show that a compact topological group contains a nonabelian dense free group of finite rank if and only if it contains a dense surface…

For an infinite type surface $\Sigma$, we consider the space of (marked) convex hyperbolic structures on $\Sigma$, denoted $H(\Sigma)$, with the Fenchel-Nielsen topology. The (big) mapping class group acts faithfully on this space allowing…

Let $\mathcal X$ be a regular variety, flat and proper over a complete regular curve over a finite field, such that the generic fiber $X$ is smooth and geometrically connected. We prove that the Brauer group of $\mathcal X$ is finite if and…

We show that for any finitely generated group of matrices that is not virtually solvable, there is an integer m such that, given an arbitrary finite generating set for the group, one may find two elements a and b that are both products of…