On fundamental groups of symplectically aspherical manifolds II: Abelian groups

We describe all abelian groups which can appear as the fundamental groups of closed symplectically aspherical manifolds. The proofs use the theory of symplectic Lefschetz fibrations.      

Minimal number of singular fibers in a Lefschetz fibration

There exists a (relatively minimal) genus Lefschetz fibration with only one singular fiber over a closed (Riemann) surface of genus iff and . The singular fiber can be chosen to be reducible or irreducible. Other results are that every Dehn twist on a closed surface of genus at least three is a product of two commutators and no Dehn twist on any closed surface is equal to a single commutator.

     

On upper bounds on stable commutator lengths in mapping class groups

We give new upper bounds on the stable commutator lengths of Dehn twists in mapping class groups and new lower bounds on the stable commutator lengths of Dehn twists in hyperelliptic mapping class groups. In particular, we show that the stable commutator lengths of Dehn twists about a nonseparating and a separating curve on an oriented closed surface of genus 2 are not equal to each other.     

On the Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev representations of mapping class groups

We consider a central extension of the mapping class group of a surface with a collection of framed colored points. The Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev TQFTs associated to and induce linear representations of this group. We show that the denominators of matrices which describe these representations over a cyclotomic field can be restricted in many cases. In this way, we give a proof of the known result that if the surface is a torus with no colored points, the representations have finite image.

     

Surfaces in 4-manifolds and their mapping class groups

A surface in a smooth 4-manifold is called flexible if, for any diffeomorphism ? on the surface, there is a diffeomorphism on the 4-manifold whose restriction on the surface is ? and which is isotopic to the identity. We investigate a sufficient condition for a smooth 4-manifold M to include flexible knotted surfaces, and introduce a local operation in simply connected 4-manifolds for obtaining a flexible knotted surface from any knotted surface.     

Algebraic entropy and the action of mapping class groups on character varieties

We extend the definition of algebraic entropy to endomorphisms of affine varieties. We then calculate the algebraic entropy of the action of elements of mapping class groups on various character varieties, and show that it is equal to a quantity we call the spectral radius, a generalization of the dilatation of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class. Our calculations are compatible with all known calculations of the topological entropy of this action.     

A combination theorem for Veech subgroups of the mapping class group

In this paper we prove a combination theorem for Veech subgroups of the mapping class group analogous to the first Klein–Maskit combination theorem for Kleinian groups in which two Fuchsian subgroups are amalgamated along a parabolic subgroup. As a corollary, we construct subgroups of the mapping class group (for all genera at least 2), which are isomorphic to non-abelian closed surface groups in which all but one conjugacy class (up to powers) is pseudo-Anosov. Received: October 2004 Revision: April 2005 Accepted: April 2005 C.J.L.’s work was partially supported by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship. A.W.R’s work was partially supported by an NSF grant.     

Some computations of stable twisted homology for mapping class groups

Abstract

In this paper, we deal with stable homology computations with twisted coefficients for mapping class groups of surfaces and of 3-manifolds, automorphism groups of free groups with boundaries and automorphism groups of certain right-angled Artin groups. On the one hand, the computations are led using semidirect product structures arising naturally from these groups. On the other hand, we compute the stable homology with twisted coefficients by FI-modules. This notably uses a decomposition result of the stable homology with twisted coefficients for pre-braided monoidal categories proved in this paper.

Communicated by Jason P. Bell     

Isomorphisms,definable relations,and Scott families of class 2 nilpotent groups

The paper deals in questions on the complexity of isomorphisms and relations on universes of structures, on the number and properties of numberings in various hierarchies of sets, and on the existence of connections between semantic and syntactic properties of the structures and relations for the class of nilpotent groups of class two. Supported by the Council for Grants (under RF President) and State Aid of Fundamental Science Schools via project NSh-4413.2006.1. __________ Translated from Algebra i Logika, Vol. 46, No. 4, pp. 514–524, July–August, 2007.     

Orbit equivalence rigidity for ergodic actions of the mapping class group

We establish orbit equivalence rigidity for any ergodic, essentially free and measure-preserving action on a standard Borel space with a finite positive measure of the mapping class group for a compact orientable surface with higher complexity. We prove similar rigidity results for a finite direct product of mapping class groups as well.      

Generating relations for Grothendieck groups of trivial extension algebras

In this paper we describe explicitly the generating relations for the Grothendieck groups of trivial extension algebras of tame hereditary algebras.     

Ergodicity of mapping class group actions on representation varieties, I. Closed surfaces

We prove that the mapping class group of a closed surface acts ergodically on connected components of the representation variety corresponding to a connected compact Lie group. Received: March 21, 2001     

Presentation and central extensions of mapping class groups

We give a presentation of the mapping class group of a (possibly bounded) surface, considering either all twists or just non-separating twists as generators. We also study certain central extensions of . One of them plays a key role in studying TQFT functors, namely the mapping class group of a -structure surface. We give a presentation of this extension.

     

Bordism invariants of the mapping class group

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 filtration are the well-known Torelli group and Johnson subgroup, respectively. We introduce a new representation in terms of spin bordism, and we prove that this single representation contains all of the information given by the Johnson homomorphism, the Birman-Craggs homomorphism, and the Morita homomorphism.     

Ideal class groups and their subgroups of real quadratic fields

A necessary and sufficient condition is given for the ideal class group H(m) of a real quadratic field Q (√m) to contain a cyclic subgroup of ordern. Some criteria satisfying the condition are also obtained. And eight types of such fields are proved to have this property, e.g. fields withm=(z ⁿ +t−1)²+4t(witht|z ⁿ −1), which contains the well-known fields withm=4z ⁿ +1 andm=4z ²ⁿ +4 as special cases. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

Even dimensional higher class groups of orders

Let F be a number field, and let denote the ring of integers in F. Let A be a finite-dimensional central simple F-algebra, and let Λ be an -order in A. In this paper it is shown that the p-torsion of the even dimensional higher class group Cl _2n (Λ) can only occur for primes p, which lie under prime ideals , at which is not maximal, or which divide the dimension of A. Supported by NSFC 10401014, and partially funded by Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology Basic Research Grant SC/02/265.     

Picard and Lefschetz numbers of real algebraic surfaces

Two Picard numbers and two Lefschetz numbers are defined for a real algebraic surface. They are similar to the Picard number and the Lefschetz number of a complex algebraic surface. For these numbers, some estimates and relations in the form of inequalities are proved.Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 63, No. 6, pp. 847–852, June, 1998.