Related papers: The mapping class group of a genus two surface is …

We define a family of representations $\{\rho_n\}_{n\geq 0}$ of a pure braid group $P_{2k}$. These representations are obtained from an action of $P_{2k}$ on a certain type of $A_2$ web space with color $n$. The $A_2$ web space is a…

We show that the Lawrence-Krammer representation based on two parameters that was used by Bigelow and independently Krammer to show the linearity of the braid group is generically irreducible, but that when its parameters are specialized to…

We show that certain classes of graphs of free groups contain surface subgroups, including groups with positive $b_2$ obtained by doubling free groups along collections of subgroups, and groups obtained by "random" ascending HNN extensions…

Under the natural action of the pure mapping class group of a surface of genus at least three, we show that any global fixed point in the low-dimensional deformation space of the surface group corresponds to the trivial representation. A…

We construct finite-dimensional projective representations of the mapping class groups of compact connected oriented surfaces having one boundary component using stated skein algebras.

Pure braid groups and pure mapping class groups of a punctured sphere have many features in common. In the paper the graded Lie algebra of the descending central series of the pure mapping class of a sphere is studied. A simple presentation…

By considering appropriate finite covering spaces of closed non-orientable surfaces, we construct linear representations of their mapping class group which have finite index image in certain big arithmetic groups.

In a previous work [11], the author considered a representation of the braid group \rho: B_n\to GL_m(\Bbb Z[q^{\pm 1},t^{\pm 1}]) (m=n(n-1)/2), and proved it to be faithful for n=4. Bigelow [3] then proved the same representation to be…

The Jones-Witten theory gives rise to representations of the (extended) mapping class group of any closed surface Y indexed by a semi-simple Lie group G and a level k. In the case G=SU(2) these representations (denoted V_A(Y)) have a…

Let $\Sigma_{g,n}$ be an orientable surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. We study actions of the mapping class group of $\Sigma_{g,n}$ via Hodge-theoretic and arithmetic techniques. We show that if $$\rho: \pi_1(\Sigma_{g,n})\to…

For groups of a topological origin, such as braid groups and mapping class groups, an important source of interesting and highly non-trivial representations is given by their actions on the twisted homology of associated spaces; these are…

Let $d \geq 2$ and $n\geq 3$ be two natural numbers. Given any sequence $\kappa=(k_1,\dots,k_n) \in \mathbb{Z}^n$ such that $\gcd(k_1,\dots,k_n,d)=1$, we consider the family of Riemann surfaces obtained from the plane curves defined by…

We exhibit the traceless $SU(2)$ character variety of a 6-punctured 2-sphere as a 2-fold branched cover of ${\mathbb{C}}P^3$, branched over the singular Kummer surface, with the branch locus in $R(S^2,6)$ corresponding to the binary…

Let $S$ and $X$ be two connected topological surfaces without boundary, and assume that $S$ is either of infinite type or has negative Euler characteristic. In this paper, we prove that if $p:S\rightarrow X$ is a fully ramified branched…

We prove that the hyperelliptic mapping class group of a nonorientable surface of genus $g\geq 4$ has a faithful linear representation of dimension $g^2-1$ over $\mathbb{R}$.

The braided Thompson group $\mathcal B$ is an asymptotic mapping class group of a sphere punctured along the standard Cantor set, endowed with a rigid structure. Inspired from the case of finite type surfaces we consider a Hatcher-Thurston…

We study the problem of determining the isomorphism classes of the virtually cyclic subgroups of the n-string braid groups B_n(S^2) of the 2-sphere S^2. If n is odd, or if n is even and sufficiently large, we obtain the complete…

Let $\Gamma_{g,1}^m$ be the mapping class group of the orientable surface $\Sigma_{g,1}^m$ of genus $g$ with one parametrised boundary curve and $m$ permutable punctures; when $m=0$ we omit it from the notation. Let…

We study the kernels of representations of mapping class groups of surfaces on twisted homologies of configuration spaces. We relate them with the kernel of a natural twisted intersection pairing: if the latter kernel is trivial then the…

Given a representation $\varphi \colon B_n \to G_n$ of the braid group $B_n$, $n \geq 2$ into a group $G_n$, we are considering the problem of whether it is possible to extend this representation to a representation $\Phi \colon SM_n \to…