Related papers: Geometric representations of the braid group on a …
We study homological representations of mapping class groups, including the braid groups. These arise from the twisted homology of certain configuration spaces, and come in many different flavours. Our goal is to give a unified general…
S. Bigelow proved that the braid groups are linear. That is, there is a faithful representation of the braid group into the general linear group of some field. Using this, we deduce from previously known results that the mapping class group…
We classify representations of the mapping class group of a surface of genus $g$ (with at most one puncture or boundary component) up to dimension $3g-3$. Any such representation is the direct sum of a representation in dimension $2g$ or…
We identify natural symmetries of each rigid higher braided category. Specifically, we construct a functorial action by the continuous group $\Omega \mathsf{O}(n)$ on each $\mathcal{E}_{n-1}$-monoidal $(g,d)$-category $\mathcal{R}$ in which…
Given a graph embedded in an orientable surface, a process consisting of random excitations and random node and face balancing is constructed and analyzed. It is shown that given a priori bounds g' on the genus and n' on the number of…
A near-group category is an additively semisimple category with a product such that all but one of the simple objects is invertible. We classify braided structures on near-group categories, and give explicit numerical formulas for their…
The n-strand braid group can be defined as the fundamental group of the configuration space of n unlabeled points in a closed disk based at a configuration where all n points lie in the boundary of the disk. Using this definition, the…
We give an exact formula for the dimension of the variety of homomorphisms from $S_g$ to $\mathit{any}$ semisimple real algebraic group, where $S_g$ is a surface group of genus $g \geq 2$.
According to seminal work of Kontsevich, the unstable homology of the mapping class group of a surface can be computed via the homology of a certain lie algebra. In a recent paper, S. Morita analyzed the abelianization of this lie algebra,…
We show that the normal closure of any periodic element of the mapping class group of a non-orientable surface whose order is greater than 2 contains the commutator subgroup, which for $g\geq 7$ is equal to the twist subgroup, and provide…
When $\pi:\widetilde{\Sigma}\rightarrow D^2$ is a cover of the disc branched over $n$ marked points, the braid group $B_n$ acts on the disc by homeomorphisms fixing the marked points setwise. A braid $\beta$ \textit{lifts} if there is a…
In this paper, we introduce a broad family of group homomorphisms that we name the Gauss-Epple homomorphisms. In the setting of braid groups, the Gauss-Epple invariant was originally defined by Epple based on a note of Gauss as an action of…
A planar pure braid consists of $n$ descending smooth arcs, each connecting a point on one horizontal line $\ell_{1}$ to a point on a horizontal line $\ell_{2}$, which is required to be directly below the first point. Two arcs are allowed…
We first develop a general theory of Johnson filtrations and Johnson homomorphisms for a group $G$ acting on another group $K$ equipped with a filtration indexed by a "good" ordered commutative monoid. Then, specializing it to the case…
We give Dehn twist--crosscap slide presentations for involutions on non-orientable surfaces of genera up to 5.
We study homomorphism problems of signed graphs. A signed graph is an undirected graph where each edge is given a sign, positive or negative. An important concept for signed graphs is the operation of switching at a vertex, which is to…
Let $G$ be a group. The directed endomorphism graph, $\dend(G)$ of $G$ is a directed graph with vertex set $G$ and there is a directed edge from the vertex $a$ to the vertex $b$ if $a \neq b$ and there exists an endomorphism on $G$ mapping…
We argue that for a smooth surface S, considered as a ramified cover over the projective plane branched over a nodal-cuspidal curve B one could use the structure of the fundamental group of the complement of the branch curve to understand…
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…
On each nonorientable surface of odd genus $g \geq 5$, we give a mapping class whose dilatation on an invariant subsurface is the golden ratio.