Related papers: Small Torsion Topological Generators for Big Mappi…

For any surface $\Sigma$ of infinite topological type, we study the Torelli subgroup ${\mathcal I}(\Sigma)$ of the mapping class group ${\rm MCG}(\Sigma)$, whose elements are those mapping classes that act trivially on the homology of…

Let $G$ be a group. Then $S\subseteq G$ is an invariable generating set of $G$ if every subset $S'$ obtained from $S$ by replacing each element with a conjugate is also a generating set of $G$. We investigate invariable generation among key…

We prove that, for any infinite-type surface $S$, the integral homology of the closure of the compactly-supported mapping class group $\overline{\mathrm{PMap}_c(S)}$ and of the Torelli group $\mathcal{T}(S)$ is uncountable in every positive…

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…

For a compact surface $S$, let $\mathcal{I}(S)$ denote the Torelli group of $S$. For a compact orientable surface $\Sigma$, $\mathcal{I}(\Sigma)$ is generated by BSCC maps and BP maps. For a non-orientable closed surface $N$,…

Given a finite subgroup G of the mapping class group of a surface S, the Nielsen realization problem asks whether G can be realized as a finite group of homeomorphisms of S. In 1983, Kerckhoff showed that for S a finite-type surface, any…

Let N_{g,s} denote the nonorientable surface of genus g with s boundary components. Recently Paris and Szepietowski obtained an explicit finite presentation for the mapping class group M(N_{g,s}) of the surface N_{g,s}, where s\in{0,1} and…

We show that the mapping class group of any closed connected orientable surface of genus at least five is generated by only two commutators, and if the genus is three or four, by three commutators.

Let $N_g$ be a closed, connected, nonorientable surface of genus $g$. We prove that for $g \ge 13$, the mapping class group $\text{Mod}(N_g)$ can be generated by exactly two elements. This improves the previously known bound of $g \ge 19$.

Let $S$ be an infinite-type surface and $p\in S$. We show that the Thurston-Veech construction for pseudo-Anosov elements, adapted for infinite-type surfaces, produces infinitely many loxodromic elements for the action of $Mod(S;p)$ on the…

Let S be a smooth cubic surface defined over a field K. As observed by Segre and Manin, there is a secant and tangent process on S that generates new K-rational points from old. It is natural to ask for the size of a minimal generating set…

The balanced superelliptic handlebody group is the normalizer of the transformation group of the balanced superelliptic covering space in the handlebody group of the total space. We prove that the balanced superelliptic mapping class group…

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…

We construct finitely generated simple torsion-free groups with strong homological control. Our main result is that every subset of $\mathbb{N} \cup \{\infty\}$, with some obvious exceptions, can be realized as the set of dimensions of…

We give an infinite presentation for the mapping class group of a non-orientable surface. The generating set consists of all Dehn twists and all crosscap pushing maps along simple loops.

Let $N_{g,s}$ denote the nonorientable surface of genus g with s boundary components. Recently Paris and Szepietowski obtained an explicit finite presentation for the mapping class group $M(N_{g,s})$ of the surface $N_{g,s}$, where…

Let T(N) be the subgroup of the mapping class group of a nonorientable surface N (possibly with punctures and/or boundary components) generated by twists about two-sided circles. We obtain a simple generating set for T(N). As an application…

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 $g\ge4$.

Finding the number of maximal subgroups of infinite index of a finitely generated group is a natural problem that has been solved for several classes of `geometric' groups (linear groups, hyperbolic groups, mapping class groups, etc). Here…

We obtain simple generating sets for various mapping class groups of a nonorientable surface with punctures and/or boundary. We also compute the abelianizations of these mapping class groups.