English

Factoring in the hyperelliptic Torelli group

Geometric Topology 2015-08-05 v2 Algebraic Geometry

Abstract

The hyperelliptic Torelli group is the subgroup of the mapping class group consisting of elements that act trivially on the homology of the surface and that also commute with some fixed hyperelliptic involution. The authors and Putman proved that this group is generated by Dehn twists about separating curves fixed by the hyperelliptic involution. In this paper, we introduce an algorithmic approach to factoring a wide class of elements of the hyperelliptic Torelli group into such Dehn twists, and apply our methods to several basic elements.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1202.2365,
  title  = {Factoring in the hyperelliptic Torelli group},
  author = {Tara E. Brendle and Dan Margalit},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1202.2365},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

9 pages, 7 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-21T20:17:53.119Z