Related papers: Pure braids, a new subgroup of the mapping class g…
We give a survey of the theory of surface braid groups and the lower algebraic K-theory of their group rings. We recall several definitions and describe various properties of surface braid groups, such as the existence of torsion,…
Using the recently developed theory of finite type invariants of integral homology 3-spheres we study the structure of the Torelli group of a closed surface. Explicitly, we construct (a) natural cocycles of the Torelli group (with…
In a recent paper we defined a new filtration of the mapping class group--the "Lagrangian" filtration. We here determine the successive quotients of this filtration, up to finite index. As an application we show that, for any additive…
We apply the theory of finite-type invariants of homology 3-spheres to investigate the structure of the Torelli group. We construct natural cocycles in the Torelli group and show that the lower central series quotients of the Torelli group…
This article is an exposition of certain connections between the braid groups, classical homotopy groups of the 2-sphere, as well as Lie algebras attached to the descending central series of pure braid groups arising as Vassiliev invariants…
We focus on two kinds of infinite index subgroups of the mapping class group of a surface associated with a Lagrangian submodule of the first homology of a surface. These subgroups, called Lagrangian mapping class groups, are known to play…
Combinatorial aspects of the Torelli-Johnson-Morita theory of surface automorphisms are extended to certain subgroups of the mapping class groups. These subgroups are defined relative to a specified homomorphism from the fundamental group…
We describe the lower algebraic $K$-theory of the integral group ring of both the pure and full braid groups of the real projective plane $\mathbb{R}P^2$ with $3$ strings, as well as that of the integral group ring of the mapping class…
In this paper we first show that many braid groups of low genus surfaces have their centers as direct factors. We then give a description of centralizers and normalizers of prime order elements in pure mapping class groups of surfaces with…
In this paper, we survey recent works on the structure of the mapping class groups of surfaces mainly from the point of view of topology. We then discuss several possible directions for future research. These include the relation between…
We define new bordism and spin bordism invariants of certain subgroups of the mapping class group of a surface. In particular, they are invariants of the Johnson filtration of the mapping class group. The second and third terms of this…
Let S be a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component, and let P be the fundamental group of S. The Johnson filtration is a decreasing sequence of subgroups of the Torelli group of S, whose k-th term consists of the…
Let G be the fundamental group of the complement of a K(G,1) hyperplane arrangement (such as Artin's pure braid group) or more generally a homologically toroidal group (as defined in the paper). The subgroup of elements in the complex…
The main result of this article is that pure orbifold braid groups fit into an exact sequence $1\rightarrow…
We study the algebraic property of the representation of the mapping class group of a closed oriented surface of genus 2 constructed by VFR Jones [Annals of Math. 126 (1987) 335-388]. It arises from the Iwahori-Hecke algebra representations…
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…
Various properties of a class of braid matrices, presented before, are studied considering $N^2 \times N^2 (N=3,4,...)$ vector representations for two subclasses. For $q=1$ the matrices are nontrivial. Triangularity $(\hat R^2 =I)$…
This paper has 3 principal goals: (1) to survey what is know about mapping class and Torelli groups of simply connected compact Kaehler manifolds, (2) supplement these results, and (3) present a list of questions and open problems to…
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 study a wide range of homologically-defined representations of surface braid groups and of mapping class groups of surfaces, including the Lawrence-Bigelow representations of the classical braid groups. These representations naturally…