Related papers: A small generating set for the balanced superellip…
We show that the mapping class group of a handlebody is a virtual duality group, in the sense of Bieri and Eckmann. In positive genus we give a description of the dualising module of any torsion-free, finite-index subgroup of the handlebody…
We construct a minimal generating set of the level 2 mapping class group of a nonorientable surface of genus $g$, and determine its abelianization for $g\ge4$.
We show that for any $k$ at least $6$ and $g$ sufficiently large, the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$ can be generated by three elements of order $k$. We also show that this can be done with four elements of order $5$. We…
The hyperelliptic Torelli group is the subgroup of the mapping class group consisting of elements that act trivially on the homology of the surface and that also commute with some fixed hyperelliptic involution. The authors and Putman…
We give a small generating set for the twist subgroup of the mapping class group of a non-orientable surface by Dehn twists. The difference between the number of the generators and a lower bound of numbers of generators for the twist…
A group in which every element commutes with its endomorphic images is called an $E$-group. Our main result is that all 3-generator $E$-groups are abelian. It follows that the minimal number of generators of a finitely generated non-abelian…
To a set $\mathcal{B}$ of 4-subsets of a set $\Omega$ of size $n$ we introduce an invariant called the `hole stabilizer' which generalises a construction of Conway, Elkies and Martin of the Mathieu group $M_{12}$ based on Loyd's…
This chapter provides a comprehensive survey of foundational results and recent advances concerning minimal generating sets for the mapping class group of a nonorientable surface, $\mathrm{Mod}(N_{g})$, and its index-two twist subgroup,…
This paper introduces the concept of a generating set for stochastic matrices -- a subset of matrices whose repeated composition generates the entire set. Understanding such generating sets requires specifying the "indivisible elements" and…
The mixed braid groups are the subgroups of Artin braid groups whose elements preserve a given partition of the base points. We prove that the centralizer of any braid can be expressed in terms of semidirect and direct products of mixed…
We consider the (pure) braid groups B_{n}(M) and P_{n}(M), where M is the 2-sphere S^2 or the real projective plane RP^2. We determine the minimal cardinality of (normal) generating sets X of these groups, first when there is no restriction…
Let $S_{g,n}$ be a closed oriented hyperbolic surface of genus $g$ with $n$ marked points, with the understanding that $S_{g,0}=S_g$. Let $\mathrm{Mod}(S_{h,n})$ be the mapping class group of $S_{h,n}$ and $\mathrm{LMod}_p(S_{h,n})$ be the…
In this article, we study the normal generation of the mapping class group. We first show that a mapping class is a normal generator if its restriction on the invariant subsurface normally generates the (pure) mapping class group of the…
Let $S \subset \mathbb{Z}^{d}$ be a finitely generated subsemigroup. Let $E$ be a product system over $S$. We show that there exists an infinite dimensional separable Hilbert space $\mathcal{H}$ and a semigroup $\alpha:=\{\alpha_x\}_{x \in…
For $n$ at least 7 and $n$ equal to 5, we give generating sets of size 2 for the commutator subgroup of the braid group on $n$ strands. These generating sets are of the smallest possible cardinality. For $n$ equal to 4 or 6, we give…
Given an algebra $F[H]^G$ of polynomial invariants of an action of the group $G$ over the vector space $H$, a subset $S$ of $F[H]^G$ is called separating if $S$ separates all orbits that can be separated by $F[H]^G$. A minimal separating…
We explore transversals of finite index subgroups of finitely generated groups. We show that when $H$ is a subgroup of a rank $n$ group $G$ and $H$ has index at least $n$ in $G$ then we can construct a left transversal for $H$ which…
A complex of incompressible surfaces in a handlebody is constructed so that it contains, as a subcomplex, the complex of curves of the boundary of the handlebody. For genus 2 handlebodies, the group of automorphisms of this complex is used…
Polyak proved that all oriented versions of Reidemeister moves for knot and link diagrams can be generated by a set of just four oriented Reidemeister moves, and that no fewer than four oriented Reidemeister moves generate them all. We…
For a closed surface $S$, its Torelli group $\mathcal{I}(S)$ is the subgroup of the mapping class group of $S$ consisting of elements acting trivially on $H_1(S;\mathbb{Z})$. When $S$ is orientable, a generating set for $\mathcal{I}(S)$ is…