BNS INVARIANTS AND ALGEBRAIC FIBRATIONS OF GROUP EXTENSIONS

Let G be a finitely generated group that can be written as an extension $$ \begin{align*} 1 \longrightarrow K \stackrel{i}{\longrightarrow} G \stackrel{f}{\longrightarrow} \Gamma \longrightarrow 1 \end{align*} $$ where K is a finitely generated group. By a study of the Bieri–Neumann–Strebel (BNS) invariants we prove that if $b_1(G)> b_1(\Gamma ) > 0$ , then G algebraically fibres; that is, admits an epimorphism to $\Bbb {Z}$ with finitely generated kernel. An interesting case of this occurrence is when G is the fundamental group of a surface bundle over a surface $F \hookrightarrow X \rightarrow B$ with Albanese dimension $a(X) = 2$ . As an application, we show that if X has virtual Albanese dimension $va(X) = 2$ and base and fibre have genus greater that $1$ , G is noncoherent. This answers for a broad class of bundles a question of J. Hillman ([9, Question 11(4)]). Finally, we show that there exist surface bundles over a surface whose BNS invariants have a structure that differs from that of Kodaira fibrations, determined by T. Delzant.

Surface bundles over surfaces: new inequalities between signature, simplicial volume and Euler characteristic

We present three new inequalities tying the signature, the simplicial volume and the Euler characteristic of surface bundles over surfaces. Two of them are true for any surface bundle, while the third holds on a specific family of surface bundles, namely the ones that arise through ramified coverings. These are among the main known examples of bundles with non-zero signature.

The universal n-pointed surface bundle only has n sections

The classifying space BDiff[Formula: see text] of the orientation-preserving diffeomorphism group of a surface [Formula: see text] of genus [Formula: see text] fixing [Formula: see text] points pointwise has a universal bundle [Formula: see text] The [Formula: see text] fixed points provide [Formula: see text] sections [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text]. In this paper we prove a conjecture of R. Hain that any section of [Formula: see text] is homotopic to some [Formula: see text]. Let [Formula: see text] be the space of ordered [Formula: see text]-tuple of distinct points on [Formula: see text]. As part of the proof of Hain’s conjecture, we prove a result of independent interest: any surjective homomorphism [Formula: see text] is equal to one of the forgetful homomorphisms [Formula: see text], possibly post-composed with an automorphism of [Formula: see text]. We also classify sections of the universal hyperelliptic surface bundle.

A topologically minimal canonical Heegaard splitting of a surface bundle is critical

Every surface bundle with genus [Formula: see text] fiber has a canonical Heegaard splitting of genus [Formula: see text]. In this paper, we discuss the topological indices of such Heegaard surfaces and prove the canonical Heegaard splitting of a surface bundle is topologically minimal if and only if it is critical, that is, its topological index is 2.

A REDUCIBILITY PROBLEM FOR MONODROMY OF SOME SURFACE BUNDLES

A surface bundle determines a monodromy representation recording the twisting of the fiber under transport around a closed path in the base space. The fascinating relation between these monodromy representations and the Thurston classification of surface automorphisms will be studied. In this note we deal with a simple and interesting case: the fibrations of Fadell and Neuwirth.