Related papers: A new construction of subgroups of big mapping cla…

We exhibit a finitely generated group $\M$ whose rational homology is isomorphic to the rational stable homology of the mapping class group. It is defined as a mapping class group associated to a surface $\su$ of infinite genus, and…

For every $n\ge 2$, the {\em surface Houghton group} $\mathcal B_n$ is defined as the asymptotically rigid mapping class group of a surface with exactly $n$ ends, all of them non-planar. The groups $\mathcal B_n$ are analogous to, and in…

For several instances of metric largeness like enlargeability or having hyperspherical universal covers, we construct non-large vector subspaces in the rational homology of finitely generated groups. The functorial properties of this…

Given any countable group $G$, we construct uncountably many quasi-isometry classes of proper geodesic metric spaces with quasi-isometry group isomorphic to $G$. Moreover, if the group $G$ is a hyperbolic group, the spaces we construct are…

Let $\mathcal{X}_S$ denote the class of spaces homeomorphic to two closed orientable surfaces of genus greater than one identified to each other along an essential simple closed curve in each surface. Let $\mathcal{C}_S$ denote the set of…

The purpose of this note is to prove that the symplectic mapping class groups of many K3 surfaces are infinitely generated. Our proof makes no use of any Floer-theoretic machinery but instead follows the approach of Kronheimer and uses…

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…

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…

Hierarchically hyperbolic spaces provide a common framework for studying mapping class groups of finite type surfaces, Teichm\"uller space, right-angled Artin groups, and many other cubical groups. Given such a space $\mathcal X$, we build…

We study the geometry of nonrelatively hyperbolic groups. Generalizing a result of Schwartz, any quasi-isometric image of a non-relatively hyperbolic space in a relatively hyperbolic space is contained in a bounded neighborhood of a single…

Let $S$ be an infinite-type surface and $p\in S$. We show that the Thurston-Veech construction for pseudo-Anosov elements, adapted for infinite-type surfaces, produces infinitely many loxodromic elements for the action of $Mod(S;p)$ on the…

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 $G$ be a connected semisimple group over ${\Bbb Q}$. Given a maximal compact subgroup and a convenient arithmetic subgroup $\Gamma\subset G({\Bbb Q})$, one constructs an arithmetic manifold $S=S(\Gamma)=\Gamma\backslash X$. If $H\subset…

We investigate closed subsets (subsemigroups, resp.) of compact-like topological spaces (semigroups, resp.). We prove that each Hausdorff topological space can be embedded as a closed subspace into an H-closed topological space. However,…

By considering appropriate finite covering spaces of closed non-orientable surfaces, we construct linear representations of their mapping class group which have finite index image in certain big arithmetic groups.

We construct infinite rank summands isomorphic to $\mathbb{Z}^\infty$ in the higher homotopy and homology groups of the diffeomorphism groups of certain $4$-manifolds. These spherical families become trivial in the homotopy and homology…

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 study injective homomorphisms between big mapping class groups of infinite-type surfaces. First, we construct (uncountably many) examples of surfaces without boundary whose (pure) mapping class groups are not co-Hopfian; these are the…

We provide a complete classification of groups that can be realized as isometry groups of a translation surface $M$ with non-finitely generated fundamental group and no planar ends. Furthermore, we demonstrate that if $S$ has no…

Let $S$ be an orientable, connected surface with infinitely-generated fundamental group. The main theorem states that if the genus of $S$ is finite and at least 4, then the isomorphism type of the pure mapping class group associated to $S$,…