Mapping class groups of covers with boundary and braid group embeddings

We prove that, aside from the obvious exceptions, the mapping class group of a compact orientable surface is not abstractly commensurable with any right-angled Artin group. Our argument applies to various sub- groups of the mapping class group—the subgroups generated by powers of Dehn twists and the terms of the Johnson filtration—and additionally to the outer automorphism group of a free group and to certain linear groups. There are many analogies and interconnections between the theories of right- angled Artin groups on one hand and mapping class groups on the other hand. For instance, by the work of Crisp and Wiest (13), the work of Koberda (27), and the work of the first two authors with Mangahas (12), there is an abundance of injective homomorphisms from right-angled Artin groups to mapping class groups. Also, the last two authors proved (30) that any two elements of the pure braid group either generate a free group or a free abelian group—a property shared by all right-angled Artin groups (4, Theorem 1.2). We are thus led to ask to what extent mapping class groups are the same as right-angled Artin groups. It is straightforward to see that most mapping class groups are not isomorphic to right-angled Artin groups, for instance because right-angled Artin groups are torsion free. On the other hand, mapping class groups have finite-index sub- groups that are torsion free, and so this leaves open the possibility that mapping class groups are abstractly commensurable to right-angled Artin groups, that is, that they have isomorphic finite-index subgroups. We prove that, aside from a small number of exceptions, this is not the case. We also extend this result to several classes of groups related to mapping class groups. We start by recalling some definitions. To a finite graph , we can associate a right-angled Artin grou p: this is the group with one generator for each vertex of , and one defin ing relator for each edge, namely, the commutator of the two generators corresponding to the endpoints. Let Sg,n denote a closed, connected, orientable surface of genus g with n marked points. The mapping class group Mod(Sg,n) is the group of homotopy classes of orientation-preserving homeomorphisms of Sg,n preserving the set of marked points. As discussed in Koberda's paper (27, Theorem 1.5), no finite-index subgroup of Mod(Sg,n) injects into a right-angled Artin group if g ≥ 2 and (g,n) 6 (2,0); see

The study of the mapping class group Mod( S ) is a classical topic that is experiencing a renaissance. It lies at the juncture of geometry, topology, and group theory. This book explains as many important theorems, examples, and techniques as possible, quickly and directly, while at the same time giving full details and keeping the text nearly self-contained. The book is suitable for graduate students. A Primer on Mapping Class Groups begins by explaining the main group-theoretical properties of Mod( S ), from finite generation by Dehn twists and low-dimensional homology to the Dehn-Nielsen-Baer theorem. Along the way, central objects and tools are introduced, such as the Birman exact sequence, the complex of curves, the braid group, the symplectic representation, and the Torelli group. The book then introduces Teichmüller space and its geometry, and uses the action of Mod( S ) on it to prove the Nielsen-Thurston classification of surface homeomorphisms. Topics include the topology of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces, the connection with surface bundles, pseudo-Anosov theory, and Thurston's approach to the classification.

In the 1970s, Joan Birman and Hugh Hilden wrote several papers on the problem of relating the mapping class group of a surface to that of a covering space. Their results provide a bridge between the theories of mapping class groups and braid groups. We survey the work of Birman and Hilden, give an overview of the subsequent developments, and discuss open questions and new directions.

Let Mod(Sg) be the mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus g, Sg. The action of Mod(Sg) on the homology of Sg induces the well-known symplectic representation: Mod(Sg) ---> Sp(2g, Z). The kernel of this representation is called the Torelli group, I(Sg). We will study two subgroups of I(Sg). First we will look at the subgroup generated by all SIP-maps, SIP(Sg). We will show SIP(Sg) is not I(Sg) and is in fact an infinite index subgroup of I(Sg). We will also classify which SIP-maps are in the kernel of the Johnson homomorphism and Birman-Craggs-Johnson homomorphism. Then we will look at the symmetric Torelli group, SI(Sg). More specifically, we will investigate the group generated by Dehn twists about symmetric separating curves denoted H(Sg). We will show the well-known Birman-Craggs-Johnson homomorphism is not able to distinguish among SI(Sg), H(Sg), or K(Sg), where K(Sg) is the subgroup generated by Dehn twists about separating curves. Elements of H(Sg) act naturally on the symmetric separating curve complex, CH(S). We will show that when g > 4 Aut(CH(Sg)) = SMod^{+/-}(Sg) / < i > where SMod(Sg) is the symmetric mapping class group and i is a fixed hyperelliptic involution. Lastly we will give an algebraic characterization of Dehn twists about symmetric separating curves.

We show that any pivotal Hopf monoid H in a symmetric monoidal category \mathcal{C} gives rise to actions of mapping class groups of oriented surfaces of genus g\geq 1 with n\geq 1 boundary components. These mapping class group actions are given by group homomorphisms into the group of automorphisms of certain Yetter–Drinfeld modules over H . They are associated with edge slides in embedded ribbon graphs that generalise chord slides in chord diagrams. We give a concrete description of these mapping class group actions in terms of generating Dehn twists and defining relations. For the case where \mathcal{C} is finitely complete and cocomplete, we also obtain actions of mapping class groups of closed surfaces by imposing invariance and coinvariance under the Yetter–Drinfeld module structure.

Let Σ be an orientable surface of finite type and let Mod(Σ) be its mapping class group. We consider actions of Mod(Σ) by semisimple isometries on complete CAT(0) spaces. If the genus of Σ is at least 3, then in any such action all Dehn twists act as elliptic isometries. The action of Mod(Σ) on the completion of Teichmüller space with the Weil-Petersson metric shows that there are interesting actions of this type. Whenever the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus g acts by semisimple isometries on a complete CAT(0) space of dimension less than g it must fix a point. The mapping class group of a closed surface of genus 2 acts properly by semisimple isometries on a complete CAT(0) space of dimension 18.

In this paper, we classify homomorphisms from the braid group on n strands to the mapping class group of a genus g surface. In particular, we show that when \(g<n-2\), all representations are either cyclic or standard. Our result is sharp in the sense that when \(g=n-2\), a generalization of the hyperelliptic representation appears, which is not cyclic or standard. This gives a classification of surface bundles over the configuration space of the complex plane. As a corollary, we partially recover the result of Aramayona–Souto (Geom Topol 16(4):2285–2341, 2012), which classifies homomorphisms between mapping class groups, with a slight improvement.

A palindrome in a free group F_n is a word on some fixed free basis of F_n that reads the same backwards as forwards. The palindromic automorphism group \Pi A_n of the free group F_n consists of automorphisms that take each member of some fixed free basis of F_n to a palindrome; the group \Pi A_n has close connections with hyperelliptic mapping class groups, braid groups, congruence subgroups of GL(n,Z), and symmetric automorphisms of free groups. We obtain a generating set for the subgroup of \Pi A_n consisting of those elements acting trivially on the abelianisation of F_n, the palindromic Torelli group PI_n. The group PI_n is a free group analogue of the hyperelliptic Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group of an oriented surface. We obtain our generating set by constructing a simplicial complex on which PI_n acts in a nice manner, adapting a proof of Day-Putman. The generating set leads to a finite presentation of the principal level 2 congruence subgroup of GL(n,Z).

Let $\Gamma_{g,1}^m$ be the mapping class group of the orientable surface $\Sigma_{g,1}^m$ of genus $g$ with one parametrised boundary curve and $m$ permutable punctures; when $m=0$ we omit it from the notation. Let $\beta_{m}(\Sigma_{g,1})$ be the braid group on $m$ strands of the surface $\Sigma_{g,1}$. We prove that $H_*(\Gamma_{g,1}^m;\mathbb{Z}_2)\cong H_*(\Gamma_{g,1};H_*(\beta_{m}(\Sigma_{g,1});\mathbb{Z}_2))$. The main ingredient is the computation of $H_*(\beta_{m}(\Sigma_{g,1});\mathbb{Z}_2)$ as a symplectic representation of $\Gamma_{g,1}$.

Automorphisms of symmetric groups are toy examples for mapping class groups

Set-theoretic solutions of the Yang–Baxter equation, braces and symmetric groups

Sofic groups were defined implicitly by Gromov and explicitly by Weiss. All residually finite groups (and hence all linear groups) are sofic. The purpose of this paper is to introduce, for every countable sofic group G G , a family of measure-conjugacy invariants for measure-preserving G G -actions on probability spaces. These invariants generalize Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy for actions of amenable groups. They are computed exactly for Bernoulli shifts over G G , leading to a complete classification of Bernoulli systems up to measure-conjugacy for many groups, including all countable linear groups. Recent rigidity results of Y. Kida and S. Popa are utilized to classify Bernoulli shifts over mapping class groups and property (T) groups up to orbit equivalence and von Neumann equivalence, respectively.

This chapter deals with Dehn twists, the simplest infinite-order elements of Mod(S). It first defines Dehn twists and proves that they are nontrivial elements of the mapping class group. In particular, it considers the action of Dehn twists on simple closed curves. As one application of this study, the chapter proves that if two simple closed curves in Sɡ have geometric intersection number greater than 1, then the associated Dehn twists generate a free group of rank 2 in Mod(S). It also proves some fundamental facts about Dehn twists and describes the center of the mapping class group, along with algebraic relations that can occur between two Dehn twists. Finally, it explores three geometric operations on a surface that each induces an algebraic operation on the corresponding mapping class group: the inclusion homomorphism, the capping homomorphism, and the cutting homomorphism.

Let S be a connected orientable surface with finitely many punctures, finitely many boundary components, and genus at least 6. Then any C^1 action of the mapping class group of S on the circle is trivial. The techniques used in the proof of this result permit us to show that products of Kazhdan groups and certain lattices cannot have C^1 faithful actions on the circle. We also prove that for n > 5, any C^1 action of Aut(F_n) or Out(F_n) on the circle factors through an action of Z/2Z.

This self-contained paper is part of a series [FF2, FF3] on actions by diffeomorphisms of infinite groups on compact manifolds.The two main results presented here are:1. Any homomorphism of (almost any) mapping class group or automorphism group of a free group into Diff r + (S 1 ), r ≥ 2 is trivial.For r = 0 Nielsen showed that in many cases nontrivial (even faithful) representations exist.Somewhat weaker results are proven for finite index subgroups.2. We construct a finitely-presented group of real-analytic diffeomorphisms of R which is not residually finite.