Related papers: An elementary approach to the mapping class group …

We introduce the polygonalisation complex of a surface, a cube complex whose vertices correspond to polygonalisations. This is a geometric model for the mapping class group and it is motivated by works of Harer, Mosher and Penner. Using…

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.

A family of interpolating graphs $\calC (S, \xi)$ of complexity $\xi$ is constructed for a surface $S$ and $-2 \leq \xi \leq \xi (S)$. For $\xi = -2, -1, \xi (S) -1$ these specialise to graphs quasi-isometric to the marking graph, the pants…

We define the notion of a hierarchically cocompact classifying space for a family of subgroups of a group. Our main application is to show that the mapping class group $\mbox{Mod}(S)$ of any connected oriented compact surface $S$, possibly…

This article first answers to questions about connectedness of a new family of graphs on unicellular maps. Answering these questions goes through a description of the mapping class group as surgeries on unicellular maps. We also show how…

Let $X$ be a compact K\"ahler manifold. The set $\cha(X)$ of one-dimensional complex valued characters of the fundamental group of $X$ forms an algebraic group. Consider the subset of $\cha(X)$ consisting of those characters for which the…

The mapping class group of an orientable surface, which records its symmetries up to isotopy, plays a central role in low-dimensional topology. This chapter explores the foundational problem of determining minimal generating sets for these…

First, we apply Thurston's construction of pseudo-Anosov homeomorphisms to grid graphs and obtain translation surfaces whose Veech groups are commensurable to $(m,n,\infty)$ triangle groups. These surfaces were first discovered by Bouw and…

We classify pairs $(M,G)$ where $M$ is a $3$--dimensional simply connected smooth manifold and $G$ a Lie group acting on $M$ transitively, effectively with compact isotropy group.

Using the Birmanexact sequence for pure mapping class groups, we construct a universal Cannon--Thurston map onto the boundary of a curve complex for a surface with punctures we call surviving curve complex. Along the way we prove…

Examples of aspherical closed symplectic 4-manifolds are presented whose Sullivan minimal models are (1,n)-formal for any n, without being formal. They have as cohomology algebra, signature, canonical class, those of a product of a closed…

We prove that the mapping class group of the one-holed Cantor tree surface is acyclic. This in turn determines the homology of the mapping class group of the once-punctured Cantor tree surface (i.e. the plane minus a Cantor set), in…

Various curve complexes with vertices representing multicurves on a surface $S$ have been defined, for example [3], [4] and [8]. The homology curve complex $\mathcal{HC}(S,\alpha)$ defined in [7] is one such complex, with vertices…

We study in this paper the cluster category C(S,M) of a marked surface (S,M). We explicitly describe the objects in C(S,M) as direct sums of homotopy classes of curves in (S,M) and one-parameter families related to closed curves in (S,M).…

We present examples of prequantizations over integral symplectic manifolds which admit infinitely many smoothly trivial contact mapping classes. These classes are given by the connected components of the strict contactomorphism group which…

We give a new proof of the theorem of Birman-Powell that the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus at least 3 is generated by simple homeomorphisms known as bounding pair maps. The key…

Let X be a closed surface of genus two embedded in the 3-sphere. Then X inherits a metric and an orientation, which give an almost complex structure, which automatically integrates to a genuine complex structure, making X a Riemann surface.…

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 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…

The mapping class group $M(X)$ of a smooth manifold $X$ is the group of smooth isotopy classes of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of $X$. We prove a number of results about the mapping class groups of compact, simply-connected,…