scholarly journals Vanishing cycles, plane curve singularities and framed mapping class groups

2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 3179-3228
Author(s):  
Pablo Portilla Cuadrado ◽  
Nick Salter
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-218
Author(s):  
Stephen P. Humphries

Let F be an orientable surface with or without boundary and let M(F) be the mapping class group of F, i.e. the group of isotopy classes of orientation preserving diffeomorphisms of F. To each essential simple closed curve c on F we can associate an element C of M(F) called the Dehn twist about c. We refer the reader to [1] for definitions. It is well known (see [1]) that, at least in the case where F has no more than one boundary component, M(F) is generated by Dehn twists. Further, there are important subgroups of M(F) which are also generated by Dehn twists or simple products of Dehn twists; for example the Torelli group, the kernel of the homology action map M(F)→ Aut(H1(F;Z)) = Sp(H1(F;Z)), where Sp(H1(F;Z)) denotes the symplectic group, is known to be generated by Dehn twists about bounding curves and by “bounding pairs”. See [8] for proofs and definitions. Also Dehn twists crop up as geometric monodromy maps associated to Picard–Lefschetz vanishing cycles for plane curve singularities (see [5]).


Author(s):  
Benson Farb ◽  
Dan Margalit

This chapter explains and proves the Nielsen–Thurston classification of elements of Mod(S), one of the central theorems in the study of mapping class groups. It first considers the classification of elements for the torus of Mod(T² before discussing higher-genus analogues for each of the three types of elements of Mod(T². It then states the Nielsen–Thurston classification theorem in various forms, as well as a connection to 3-manifold theory, along with Thurston's geometric classification of mapping torus. The rest of the chapter is devoted to Bers' proof of the Nielsen–Thurston classification. The collar lemma is highlighted as a new ingredient, as it is also a fundamental result in the hyperbolic geometry of surfaces.


2000 ◽  
Vol 2000 (521) ◽  
pp. 1-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen Hatcher ◽  
Pierre Lochak ◽  
Leila Schneps

2021 ◽  
Vol 157 (8) ◽  
pp. 1807-1852
Author(s):  
Matt Clay ◽  
Johanna Mangahas ◽  
Dan Margalit

We construct the first examples of normal subgroups of mapping class groups that are isomorphic to non-free right-angled Artin groups. Our construction also gives normal, non-free right-angled Artin subgroups of other groups, such as braid groups and pure braid groups, as well as many subgroups of the mapping class group, such as the Torelli subgroup. Our work recovers and generalizes the seminal result of Dahmani–Guirardel–Osin, which gives free, purely pseudo-Anosov normal subgroups of mapping class groups. We give two applications of our methods: (1) we produce an explicit proper normal subgroup of the mapping class group that is not contained in any level $m$ congruence subgroup and (2) we produce an explicit example of a pseudo-Anosov mapping class with the property that all of its even powers have free normal closure and its odd powers normally generate the entire mapping class group. The technical theorem at the heart of our work is a new version of the windmill apparatus of Dahmani–Guirardel–Osin, which is tailored to the setting of group actions on the projection complexes of Bestvina–Bromberg–Fujiwara.


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