Related papers: Mapping class groups of $h$-cobordant manifolds

It is well known that the moduli space of flat connections on a trivial principal bundle MxG, where G is a connected Lie group, is isomorphic to the representation variety Hom(\pi_1(M), G)/G. For a tiling T, viewed as a marked copy of R^d,…

We construct a simple topological invariant of certain 3-manifolds, including quotients of the 3-sphere by finite groups, based on the fact that the tangent bundle of an orientable 3-manifold is trivialisable. This invariant is strong…

This survey provides an introduction to basic questions and techniques surrounding the topology of the moduli space of stable Higgs bundles on a Riemann surface. Through examples, we demonstrate how the structure of the cohomology ring of…

In this mostly expository article, we provide a new account of our proof with Minsky and Sisto that mapping class groups and Teichm\"uller spaces admit bicombings. More generally, we explain how the hierarchical hull of a pair of points in…

We use group cohomology and the de Rham complex on simplicial manifolds to give explicit differential forms representing generators of the cohomology rings of moduli spaces of representations of fundamental groups of 2-manifolds. These…

We study smooth higher symmetry groups and moduli $\infty$-stacks of generic higher geometric structures on manifolds. Symmetries are automorphisms which cover non-trivial diffeomorphisms of the base manifold. We construct the smooth higher…

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 give detailed descriptions of gluing pseudoholomorphic maps in symplectic geometry, especially in the presence of an obstruction bundle. The main motivation is to try to compare the symplectic and enumerative invariants of algebraic…

Generalizing work of Haydys and Hitchin, we prove the existence of a hyperholomorphic line bundle on certain hyperk\"ahler manifolds that do not necessarily admit an $S^1$ action. As examples, we consider the moduli space of (non-strongly)…

Homotopical localizations with respect to a set of maps are known to exist in cofibrantly generated model categories (satisfying additional assumptions). In this paper we expand the existing framework, so that it will apply to not…

Let $C$ be a smooth, projective, geometrically irreducible curve defined over $\mathbb{R}$ such that $C(\mathbb{R}) = \emptyset$. Let $r>0$ and $d$ be integers which are coprime. Let $L$ be a line bundle on $C$ which corresponds to an…

We investigate the mapping class groups of a class of non-Hausdorff topological spaces which includes finite spaces. We show that the mapping class group of a finite space is isomorphic to the homeomorphism group of its $T_0$ quotient. As a…

Let h be a Real bundle, in the sense of Atiyah, over a space X. This is a complex vector bundle together with an involution which is compatible with complex conjugation. We use the fact that BU is equipped with a structure of conjugation…

Higher bundles are homotopy coherent generalisations of classical fibre bundles. They appear in numerous contexts in geometry, topology and physics. In particular, higher principal bundles provide the geometric framework for higher-group…

The homology cobordism group of homology cylinders is a generalization of both the mapping class group of surfaces and the string link concordance group. We consider extensions of Johnson homomorphisms of a mapping class group, Milnor…

This paper concerns rigidity of the mapping class groups. We show that any homomorphism $\phi:{\rm Mod}_g\to {\rm Mod}_h$ between mapping class groups of closed orientable surfaces with distinct genera $g>h$ is trivial if $g\geq 3$ and has…

Let G be a compact, connected and simply connected Lie group, and {\Omega}G the space of the loops in G based at the identity. This note shows a way to compute the cohomology of the total space of a principal {\Omega}G-bundle over a…

For a semisimple real Lie group $G$, we study topological properties of moduli spaces of polystable parabolic $G$-Higgs bundles over a Riemann surface with a divisor of finitely many distinct points. For a split real form of a complex…

For any vector $r=(r_1,..., r_n)$, let $M_r$ denote the moduli space (under rigid motions) of polygons in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with $n$-sides whose lengths are $r_1,...,r_n$. We give an explicit characterization of the oriented $S^1$-cobordism…

This paper presents a number of problems about mapping class groups and moduli space. The paper will appear in the book "Problems on Mapping Class Groups and Related Topics", ed. by B. Farb, Proc. Symp. Pure Math. series, Amer. Math. Soc.