Related papers: The surface category and tropical curves
We study the symmetric monoidal 2-category of finite semisimple module categories over a symmetric fusion category. In particular, we study $E_n$-algebras in this 2-category and compute their $E_n$-centers for $n=0,1,2$. We also compute the…
For a closed oriented surface $ \Sigma $ we define its degenerations into singular surfaces that are locally homeomorphic to wedges of disks. Let $X_{\Sigma,n}$ be the set of isomorphism classes of orientation preserving $n$-fold branched…
This is a "software upgrade" to a paper originally published in 1976, with cleaner statements and improved proofs. The main result is that, in a Haken 3-manifold, the space of all incompressible surfaces in a single isotopy class is…
In this paper we construct various non-trivial and non-tautological cohomology classes on compactified and uncompactified strata of curves with a differential, by using the geometry of the boundary stratification of the moduli space of…
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…
We classify homomorphisms from mapping class groups by using finite subgroups. First, we give a new proof of a result of Aramayona--Souto that homomorphisms between mapping class groups of closed surfaces are trivial for a range of genera.…
We classify 'primitive normal compactifications' of C^2 (i.e. normal analytic surfaces containing C^2 for which the curve at infinity is irreducible), compute the moduli space of these surfaces and their groups of auomorphisms. In…
The closure of a braid in a closed orientable surface $\Sigma$ is a link in $\Sigma\times S^1$. We classify such closed surface braids up to isotopy and homeomorphism (with a small indeterminacy for isotopy of closed sphere braids),…
Rooted in group field theory and matrix models, random tensor models are a recent background-invariant approach to quantum gravity in arbitrary dimensions. Colored tensor models (CTM) generate random triangulated orientable…
We show that two properly embedded compact surfaces in an orientable 4-manifold are cobordant if and only if they are $\mathbb{Z}/2$-homologous and either the 4-manifold has boundary or the surfaces have the same normal Euler number. If the…
For a genus g handlebody H a simplicial complex, with vertices being isotopy classes of certain incompressible surfaces in H, is constructed and several properties are established. In particular, this complex naturally contains, as a…
Just as a symmetric surface with separating fixed locus halves into two oriented bordered surfaces, an arbitrary symmetric surface halves into two oriented symmetric half-surfaces, i.e. surfaces with crosscaps. Motivated in part by the…
Let $S$ be a closed orientable surface of genus at least two. We introduce a bordification of the moduli space $\mathcal{PT}(S)$ of complex projective structures, with a boundary consisting of projective classes of half-translation…
This paper studies the homotopy and homeomorphism classifications of $4$-manifolds with boundary. Given $4$-manifolds $X_0$ and $X_1$ with fundamental group $\pi$, we consider the problem of extending a homotopy equivalence $h \colon…
Tangent categories provide an axiomatic framework for understanding various tangent bundles and differential operations that occur in differential geometry, algebraic geometry, abstract homotopy theory, and computer science. Previous work…
We show the following result: Let $(M,g_0)$ be a compact manifold of dimension $n\geq 12$ with positive isotropic curvature. Then $M$ is diffeomorphic to a spherical space form, or a quotient manifold of $\mathbb{S}^{n-1}\times \mathbb{R}$…
We propose a generalization of Sullivan's de Rham homotopy theory to non-simply connected spaces. The formulation is such that the real homotopy type of a manifold should be the closed tensor dg-category of flat bundles on it much the same…
We study a variation of Turaev's homotopy quantum field theories using 2-categories of surfaces. We define the homotopy surface 2-category of a space $X$ and define an $\cS_X$-structure to be a monoidal 2-functor from this to the 2-category…
We study a space of genus $g$ stable, $n$-marked tropical curves with total edge length $1$. Its rational homology is identified both with top-weight cohomology of the complex moduli space $M_{g,n}$ and with the homology of a marked version…
We give a geometric interpretation of sheaf cohomology for higher degrees n in terms of torsors on the member of degree d=n-1 in hypercoverings of type r=n-2, endowed with an additional data, the so-called rigidification. This generalizes…