Related papers: Transitivity of normal subgroups of the mapping cl…

The mapping class group $\mathrm{Mod}_{g, 1}$ of a surface with one marked point can be identified with an index two subgroup of $\mathrm{Aut}(\pi_1 \Sigma_g)$. For a surface of genus $g \geq 2$, we show that any action of $\mathrm{Mod}_{g,…

We prove that infinite mapping class group orbits are dense in the character variety of Deroin-Tholozan representations. In other words, the action is minimal except for finite orbits. Our arguments rely on the symplectic structure of the…

In this article, we continue the study of the action of subgroups of the mapping class group on the $SU(2)$-character variety. We prove the existence of a mapping class subgroup on the surface of genus $2$, containing infinitely many…

We study the action of the mapping class group on the subspace of de Rham classes in the degree-two bounded cohomology of a hyperbolic surface. In particular, we show that the only fixed nontrivial finite-dimensional subspace is the one…

Let S be a compact orientable surface with genus g and n boundary components d_1,...,d_n. Let b = (b_1, ..., b_n) where b_n lies in [-2,2]. Then the mapping class group of S acts on the relative SU(2)-character variety X comprising…

If G is a complex semisimple algebraic group, we characterize the normality and the smoothness of its simple linear compactifications, namely those equivariant GxG-compactifications which possess a unique closed orbit and which arise in a…

Given a set equipped with a transitive action of a group, we define the notion of an almost invariant coloring of the set. We consider the mapping class group orbit of a multicurve on a compact surface, and prove that in the case of genus…

Let $\Gamma$ denote the mapping class group of the plane minus a Cantor set. We show that every action of $\Gamma$ on the circle is either trivial or semi-conjugate to a unique minimal action on the so-called simple circle.

We study finite transitive permutation groups $G\leqslant\operatorname{Sym}(\Omega)$ such that all orbits of the conjugation action on $G$ of the normaliser of $G$ in $\operatorname{Sym}(\Omega)$ have size bounded by some constant. Our…

Recently, John Franks and Michael Handel proved that, for $g\geq 3$ and $n\leq 2g-4$, every homomorphism from the mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus $g$ to $\GL (n,\C)$ is trivial. We extend this result to $n\leq 2g-1$,…

We show the triviality of representations of the mapping class group of a genus $g$ surface in $GL(n,C), Diff(S^2)$ and $Homeo(T^2)$ when appropriate restrictions on the genus $g$ and the size of $n$ hold. For example, if $S_g$ is a surface…

We describe the mapping class group action on the cohomology of the twisted $\mathrm{SL}_n$-character variety of a surface $\Sigma_g$ of genus $g$. Our main tool is a relative version of the endoscopic decomposition of Maulik-Shen; this…

We study the groups of automorphisms of rational algebraic surfaces that admit a relatively minimal pencil of curves of arithmetic genus one over an algebraically closed field of arbitrary characteristic. In particular, we classify such…

An action of a group $G$ on a set $X$ is said to be quasi-n-transitive if the diagonal action of $G$ on $X^n$ has only finitely many orbits. We show that branch groups, a special class of groups of automorphisms of rooted trees, cannot act…

We study the action of the mapping class group Mod(S) on the boundary dQ of quasifuchsian space Q. Among other results, Mod(S) is shown to be topologically transitive on the subset C in dQ of manifolds without a conformally compact end. We…

We prove that the smallest non-trivial quotient of the mapping class group of a connected orientable surface of genus at least 3 without punctures is $\mathrm{Sp}_{2g}(2)$, thus confirming a conjecture of Zimmermann. In the process, we…

It is known that if the special automorphism group $\text{SAut}(X)$ of a quasiaffine variety $X$ of dimension at least $2$ acts transitively on $X$, then this action is infinitely transitive. In this paper we address the question whether…

Let $V$ be a finite-dimensional vector space over a finite field, and suppose $G \leq \Gamma \mathrm{L}(V)$ is a group with a unique subnormal quasisimple subgroup $E(G)$ that is absolutely irreducible on $V$. A base for $G$ is a set of…

Let $\Sigma$ be a compact orientable surface of genus $g=1$ with $n=1$ boundary component. The mapping class group $\Gamma$ of $\Sigma$ acts on the SU(3)-character variety of $\Sigma$. We show that the action is ergodic with respect to the…

We prove that the minimal nontrivial finite quotient group of the mapping class group M_g of a closed orientable surface of genus g is the symplectic group PSp(2g,Z_2), for g = 3 and 4 (this might remain true, however, for arbitrary genus g…