Related papers: Stable specific torsion length and periodic mappin…

It is shown that $N$ points on a real algebraic curve of degree $n$ in $\mathbb{R}^d$ always determine $\gtrsim_{n,d}N^{1+\frac{1}{4}}$ distinct distances, unless the curve is a straight line or the closed geodesic of a flat torus. In the…

We show that the action of the mapping class group on the space of closed curves of a closed surface effectively tracks the corresponding action on Teichm\"uller space in the following sense: for all but quantitatively few mapping classes,…

We construct several families of embeddings of braid groups into mapping class groups of orientable and non-orientable surfaces and prove that they induce the trivial map in stable homology in the orientable case, but not so in the…

Many compliant shell mechanisms are periodically corrugated or creased. Being thin, their preferred deformation modes are inextensional, i.e., isometric. Here, we report on a recent characterization of the isometric deformations of periodic…

Aiming at simulating elastic rods, we discretize a rod model based on a general theory of hyperelasticity for inextensible and unshearable rods. After reviewing this model and discussing topological effects of periodic rods, we prove…

We introduce and study asymptotically rigid mapping class groups of certain infinite graphs. We determine their finiteness properties and show that these depend on the number of ends of the underlying graph. In a special case where the…

Consider an element~$x$ of a Garside group which is rigid in the sense of Garside-theory. Let $SC(x)$ be the set of rigid conjugates of~$x$ -- this is a well-known characteristic subset of the conjugacy class of~$x$. We present…

We study piecewise injective, but not necessarily globally injective, contracting maps on a compact subset of \(\bR^d\). We prove that generically the attractor and the set of discontinuities of such a map are disjoint, and hence the…

By introducing an invariant of loops on a compact oriented surface with one boundary component, we give an explicit formula for the action of Dehn twists on the completed group ring of the fundamental group of the surface. This invariant…

We prove that a pair of continuous disjoint periodic curves in $\mathbb{C}$ inscribes an isosceles trapezoid with any similarity type. The case of smooth curves can be identified with a Lagrangian intersection problem for a pair of…

We give elementary applications of quasi-homomorphisms to growth problems in groups. A particular case concerns the number of torsion elements required to factorise a given element in the mapping class group of a surface.

Let $(X,d)$ be a nonempty metric space and let $n\in \mathbb N^+$. We shall say that $T\colon X\to X$ is a graphic contraction of order $n$ if there exists $\alpha\in (0,1)$ such that the inequality $$ d(T^n x,T^{2n}x) \leqslant \alpha…

We study the dynamics of a piecewise map defined on the set of three pairwise nonparallel, nonconcurrent lines in $\mathbb{R}^2$. The geometric map of study may be analogized to the billiard map with a different reflection rule so that each…

We define cusp-decomposable manifolds and prove smooth rigidity within this class of manifolds. These manifolds generally do not admit a nonpositively curved metric but can be decomposed into pieces that are diffeomorphic to finite volume,…

We prove that the homology of the mapping class groups of non-orientable surfaces stabilizes with the genus of the surface. Combining our result with recent work of Madsen and Weiss, we obtain that the classifying space of the stable…

Let $\text{Mod}(S_g)$ be the mapping class group of the closed orientable surface $S_g$ of genus $g \geq 1$. In this paper, we develop various methods for factoring periodic mapping classes into Dehn twists, up to conjugacy. As…

Let K(S) be the subgroup of the extended mapping class group, Mod(S), generated by Dehn twists about separating curves. In our earlier paper, we showed that Comm(K(S)) and Aut(K(S)) are both isomorphic to Mod(S) when S is a closed,…

We give bounds on the number of non-simple closed curves on a negatively curved surface, given upper bounds on both length and self-intersection number. In particular, it was previously known that the number of all closed curves of length…

We enumerate the singular algebraic curves in a complete linear system on a smooth projective surface. The system must be suitably ample in a rather precise sense. The curves may have up to eight nodes, or a triple point of a given type and…

Let $p$ be an odd prime. Denote a Sylow $p$-subgroup of $GL_2(\mathbb{Z}/p^n)$ and $SL_2(\mathbb{Z}/p^n)$ by $S_p(n,GL)$ and $S_p(n,SL)$ respectively. The theory of stable elements tells us that the mod-$p$ cohomology of a finite group is…