Related papers: On a question of Brendle and Benson

Given a finite set of $r$ points in a closed surface of genus $g$, we consider the torsion elements in the mapping class group of the surface leaving the finite set invariant. We show that the torsion elements generate the mapping class…

Let Mod_{g,b} denote the mapping class group of a surface of genus g with b punctures. Feng Luo asked in a recent preprint if there is a universal upper bound, independent of genus, for the number of torsion elements needed to generate…

We show that the mapping class group of a closed oriented surface of genus at least three is generated by 3 elements of order 3 and by 4 elements of order 4. Note that the mapping class group cannot be generated by finitely many torsion…

Let $G$ be a unique product group, i.e., for any two finite subsets $A$ and $B$ of $G$ there exists $x\in G$ which can be uniquely expressed as a product of an element of $A$ and an element of $B$. We prove that, if $C$ is a finite subset…

Let $A, B$ be finite subsets of a torsion-free group $G$. We prove that for every positive integer $k$ there is a $c(k)$ such that if $|B|\ge c(k)$ then the inequality $|AB|\ge |A|+|B|+k$ holds unless a left translate of $A$ is contained in…

For a smooth projective variety $X$ over a number field $k$ a conjecture of Bloch and Beilinson predicts that the kernel of the Albanese map of $X$ is a torsion group. In this article we consider a product $X=C_1\times\cdots\times C_d$ of…

Let $M$ be a closed surface. By $\Homeo(M)$ we denote the group of orientation preserving homeomorphisms of $M$ and let $\MC(M)$ denote the Mapping class group. In this paper we complete the proof of the conjecture of Thurston that says…

Let $S_g$ be the closed oriented surface of genus g and let $\text{Mod}(S_g)$ be the mapping class group. When the genus is at least 3, $\text{Mod}(S_g)$ can be generated by torsion elements. We prove the follow results. For $g \geq 4$,…

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…

We show that mapping class groups of surfaces of genus at least two contain elements of infinite order that are not conjugate to their inverses, but whose powers have bounded torsion lengths. In particular every homogeneous…

This note studies the Burnside problem for homeomorphism groups of compact connected manifolds. For surfaces, we prove that the identity component of the homeomorphism group is torsion-free precisely when the surface is not the sphere,…

We prove that the mapping class group $\mathcal{M}(N_g)$ of a closed nonorientable surface of genus $g$ different than 4 is generated by three torsion elements. Moreover, for every even integer $k\ge 12$ and $g$ of the form $g=pk+2q(k-1)$…

Let $\Sigma_{g,b}$ denote a closed orientable surface of genus $g$ with $b$ punctures and let $\rm Mod(\Sigma_{\textit{g,b}})$ denote its mapping class group. In [Luo] Luo proved that if the genus is at least 3, $\rm…

We prove that the mapping class group of a closed connected orientable surface of genus $g$ is generated by two elements of order $g$ for $g\geq 6$. Moreover, for $g\geq 7$ we found a generating set of two elements, of order $g$ and $g'$…

Let $S$ be a compact orientable surface, and $\Mod(S)$ its mapping class group. Then there exists a constant $M(S)$, which depends on $S$, with the following property. Suppose $a,b \in \Mod(S)$ are independent (i.e., $[a^n,b^m]\not=1$ for…

Let $E$ be an elliptic curve over a quartic field $K$. By the Mordell-Weil theorem, $E(K)$ is a finitely generated group. We determine all the possibilities for the torsion group $E(K)_{tor}$ where $K$ ranges over all quartic fields $K$ and…

A nontrivial element in a group is a generalized torsion element if some nonempty finite product of its conjugates is the identity. We prove that any generalized torsion element in a free product of torsion-free groups is conjugate to a…

It is known that a bi-orderable group has no generalized torsion element, but the converse does not hold in general. We conjecture that the converse holds for the fundamental groups of 3-manifolds, and verify the conjecture for…

Let $\Sigma_{g,b}$ denote a closed oriented surface genus $g$ with $b$ punctures and let $Mod_{g,b}$ denote its mapping class group. Luo proved that if the genus is at least 3, the group $Mod_{g,b}$ is generated by involutions. He also…

If $G$ is a finitely generated group with generators $\{g_1,..., g_s\}$, we say an infinite-order element $f \in G$ is a distortion element of $G$ provided that $\displaystyle \liminf_{n \to \infty} \frac{|f^n|}{n} = 0$, where $|f^n|$ is…