Related papers: Normal all pseudo-Anosov subgroups of mapping clas…

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…

We prove that the first integral cohomology of pure mapping class groups of infinite type genus one surfaces is trivial. For genus zero surfaces we prove that not every homomorphism to $\mathbb{Z}$ factors through a sphere with finitely…

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…

For a given branched covering between closed connected surfaces, there are several easy relations one can establish between the Euler characteristics of the surfaces, their orientability, the total degree, and the local degrees at the…

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…

Let $S$ be a Riemann surface of type $(p,n)$ with $3p+n>4$ and $n\geq 1$. Let $\alpha_1,\alpha_2\subset S$ be two simple closed geodesics such that $\{\alpha_1, \alpha_2\}$ fills $S$. It was shown by Thurston that most maps obtained through…

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 consider the pseudo-Anosov elements of the mapping class group of a surface of genus g that fix a rank k subgroup of the first homology of the surface. We show that the smallest entropy among these is comparable to (k+1)/g. This…

Let $S_n$ be a punctured Riemann spheres $\mathbf{S}^2\backslash \{x_1,..., x_n\}$. In this paper, we investigate pseudo-Anosov maps on $S_n$ that are isotopic to the identity on $S_n\cup \{x_n\}$ and have the smallest possible dilatations.…

In this short note, we construct a minimally intersecting pair of simple closed curves that fill a genus 2 surface with an odd, greater than 3, number of punctures. This finishes the determination of minimally intersecting filling pairs for…

We consider the (pure) braid groups B_{n}(M) and P_{n}(M), where M is the 2-sphere S^2 or the real projective plane RP^2. We determine the minimal cardinality of (normal) generating sets X of these groups, first when there is no restriction…

We prove that pseudo-Anosov mapping classes are generic with respect to certain notions of genericity reflecting that we are dealing with mapping classes.

We quantify the generation of free subgroups of surface mapping class groups by pseudo-Anosov mapping classes in terms of their translation distance and the distance between their axes. Our methods make reference to \teichmuller space only.

Braid groups and mapping class groups have many features in common. Similarly to the notion of inverse braid monoid inverse mapping class monoid is defined. It concerns surfaces with punctures, but among given $n$ punctures several can be…

This note gives a brief survey of the minimum dilatation problem for pseudo-Anosov mapping classes, and the first explicit train track description of an infinite family of pseudo-Anosov mapping classes with orientable stable foliations and…

We show that there exist flat surface bundles with closed leaves having non-trivial normal bundles. This leads us to compute the Abelianisation of surface diffeomorphism groups with marked points. We also extend a formula of Tsuboi that…

We show that finitely generated and purely pseudo-Anosov subgroups of fibered 3-manifolds with reducible monodromy are convex cocompact as subgroups of the mapping class group via the Birman exact sequence. Combined with results of…

In this article, we continue the study of the action of subgroups of the mapping class group on the $SU(2)$-character variety. We prove the existence of a mapping class subgroup on the surface of genus $2$, containing infinitely many…

Consider the problem of estimating the minimum entropy of pseudo-Anosov maps on a surface of genus $g$ with $n$ punctures. We determine the behaviour of this minimum number for a certain large subset of the $(g,n)$ plane, up to a…

We give a characterization of generic pseudo-Anosov mapping classes purely in terms of their expressions in the shear coordinates, thus giving an answer to a problem raised by Papadopoulos--Penner [PP93]. This characterization has a cluster…