arXiv research

Proofs show finite subgroups of homeomorphism groups are almost nilpotent.

Finite p-group actions on manifolds have limited stabilizer subgroups.

We give general classification and structure theorems for actions of groups of homeomorphisms and diffeomorphisms on manifolds, reminiscent of classical results for actions of (locally) compact groups. This gives a negative answer to Ghys' "extension problem" for diffeomorphisms of manifolds with boundary, as well as a…

R. Zimmer proved that, on a compact manifold, a foliation with a dense leaf, a suitable leafwise Riemannian symmetric metric and a transverse Lie structure has arithmetic holonomy group. In this work we improve such result for totally geodesic foliations by showing that the manifold itself is arithmetic. This also give…

Injective construction proves bounded cohomology dimensions.

We discuss Ghys' theorem on 4 zeroes of the Schwarzian derivative and its relation with flattening points of Legendrian curves and Sturm theory.

We show that if $M$ is a compact smooth manifold diffeomorphic to the total space of an orientable $S^2$ bundle over the torus $T^2$, then its diffeomorphism group does not have the Jordan property, i.e., Diff$(M)$ contains a finite subgroup $G_n$ for any natural number $n$ such that every abelian subgroup of $G_n$ has…

Shows Anosov flows with genus one sections, supporting a conjecture.

We prove that if $X$ is a compact, oriented, connected $4$-dimensional smooth manifold, possibly with boundary, satisfying $χ(X)\neq 0$, then there exists an integer $C\geq 1$ such that any finite group $G$ acting smoothly and effectively on $X$ has an abelian subgroup $A$ satisfying $[G:A]\leq C$, $χ(X^A)=χ(X)$, and $…

This article is a survey on Lorenz knots. We describe the original construction, prove several classical properties, in particular the fact that the closure of a positive braid is a fibered knot, and describe Ghys'correspondance between modular knots and Lorenz knots. We also prove two new properties, namely that follo…

Riera proved at arXiv:1412.6964 that the diffeomorphism group of particular compact manifolds are not Jordan by exhibiting subgroups isomorphic to extra-special $p$-groups of exponent $p$ for primes $p$ satisfying some conditions. Generalising the methods of that paper, we construct a compact connected smooth real mani…

New quasimorphisms constructed for manifolds with negative curvature.

Alternative construction of quasi-Fuchsian flows using vortex equations.

We prove that either the images of the mapping class groups by quantum representations are not isomorphic to higher rank lattices or else the kernels have a large number of normal generators. Further we show that the images of the mapping class groups have nontrivial 2-cohomology, at least for small levels. For this pu…

The paper extends symplectomorphism quasi-morphisms to the entire disk group.

Let $X$ be a compact smooth manifold, possibly with boundary. Denote by $X_1,\dots,X_r$ the connected components of $X$. Assume that the integral cohomology of $X$ is torsion free and supported in even degrees. We prove that there exists a constant $C$ such that any finite group $G$ acting smoothly and effectively on $…

Let G be a closed transitive subgroup of Homeo(S^1) which contains a non-constant continuous path f: [0,1] --> G. We show that up to conjugation G is one of the following groups: SO(2,R), PSL(2,R), PSL_k(2,R), Homeo_k(S^1), Homeo(S^1). This verifies the classification suggested by Ghys [Enseign. Math. 47 (2001) 329-407…

Extends Euler class result to symplectic group.

É.Ghys proved that the linking numbers of modular knots and the "missing" trefoil $K_{2,3}$ in $S^3$ coincide with the values of a highly ubiquitous function called the Rademacher symbol for ${\rm SL}_2\mathbb{Z}$. In this paper, we replace ${\rm SL}_2\mathbb{Z}=Γ_{2,3}$ by the triangle group $Γ_{p,q}$ for any coprime …

The study of random positive 3-strand braids reveals patterns in the roots of their Alexander polynomials.

New results on geometry of area-preserving diffeomorphisms using braids.

A formula for Rademacher symbols in triangle groups is provided.

Extends a formula for the homomorphism defect of a signature map to coloured braids.

We define a notion of semi-conjugacy between orientation-preserving actions of a group on the circle, which for fixed point free actions coincides with a classical definition of Ghys. We then show that two circle actions are semi-conjugate if and only if they have the same bounded Euler class. This settles some existin…

A new method defines bounded cohomology classes from differential forms.

Study on complex tori foliations and flat geometries.

The paper concerns discrete versions of the three well-known results of projective differential geometry: the four vertex theorem, the six affine vertex theorem and the Ghys theorem on four zeroes of the Schwarzian derivative. We study geometry of closed polygonal lines in $\bbRP^d$ and prove that polygons satisfying a…

We show that every topological surface lamination of a 3-manifold M is isotopic to one with smoothly immersed leaves. This carries out a project proposed by Gabai in [Problems in foliations and laminations, AMS/IP Stud. Adv. Math. 2.2 1--33]. Consequently any such lamination admits the structure of a Riemann surface la…

Taking the signature of the closure of a braid defines a map from the braid group to the integers. In 2005, Gambaudo and Ghys expressed the homomorphism defect of this map in terms of the Meyer cocycle and the Burau representation. In the present paper, we simultaneously extend this result in two directions, considerin…

Let Gamma be a finitely generated, amenable group. Using an idea of E Ghys, we prove that if Gamma has a nontrivial, orientation-preserving action on the real line, then Gamma has an infinite, cyclic quotient. (The converse is obvious.) This implies that if Gamma has a faithful action on the circle, then some finite-in…

We develop the theory of maximal representations of the fundamental group of a compact connected oriented surface with boundary, into a group of Hermitian type. For any such representation we define the Toledo invariant, for which we establish properties such as uniform boundedness on the representation variety, additi…

We study quasi-morphisms on the groups Pn of pure braids on n strings and on the group D of compactly supported area-preserving diffeomorphisms of an open two-dimensional disc. We show that it is possible to build quasi-morphisms on Pn by using knot invariants which satisfy some special properties. In particular, we st…

Holomorphic curves found in compact quotients of SL(2,C).

Computed linking number of modular knots and Lorenz links.

The fact that the modular template coincides with the Lorenz template, discovered by Ghys, implies modular knots have very peculiar properties. We obtain a generalization of these results to other Hecke triangle groups. In this context, the geodesic flow can never be seen as a flow on a subset of $S^3$, and one is led …

Let $S$ be a compact oriented surface. We construct homogeneous quasimorphisms on $Diff(S, area)$, on $Diff_0(S, area)$ and on $Ham(S)$ generalizing the constructions of Gambaudo-Ghys and Polterovich. We prove that there are infinitely many linearly independent homogeneous quasimorphisms on $Diff(S, area)$, on $Diff_0(…

Let G be a finitely generated group having the property that any action of any finite-index subgroup of G by homeomorphisms of the circle must have a finite orbit. (By a theorem of E.Ghys, lattices in simple Lie groups of real rank at least two have this property.) Suppose that such a G acts on a compact manifold M by …

Holomorphic curves found in compact quotients of SL(2,C).

The paper studies knots in modular flows using self-covers.

In this paper we discuss the relationship between groups of diffeomorphisms of spheres and balls. We survey results of a topological nature and then address the relationship as abstract (discrete) groups. We prove that the identity component Diff_0(S^{2n-1}) of the group of smooth diffeomorphisms of S^{2n+1} admits no …

Study shows exact forms in bounded cohomology are in radical of cup product.

For r at least 3, p at least 2, we classify all actions of the groups Diff^r_c(R) and Diff^r_+(S1) by C^p -diffeomorphisms on the line and on the circle. This is the same as describing all nontrivial group homomorphisms between groups of compactly supported diffeomorphisms on 1- manifolds. We show that all such actions…

For a Riemannian foliation F on a compact manifold M , J. A. Álvarez López proved that the geometrical tautness of F , that is, the existence of a Riemannian metric making all the leaves minimal submanifolds of M, can be characterized by the vanishing of a basic cohomology class (the Álvarez class). In this work we gen…

We are generalizing to higher dimensions the Bavard-Ghys construction of the hyperbolic metric on the space of polygons with fixed directions of edges. The space of convex d-dimensional polyhedra with fixed directions of facet normals has a decomposition into type cones that correspond to different combinatorial types …

The paper studies quasimorphisms and distortion in homeomorphism groups of manifolds.

The paper extends Euler class theory to measurable cocycles.

Study Alexander polynomials of modular knots, revealing finite and infinite coefficient properties.

Since the pioneering work of Ghys, Langevin and Walczak among others, it has been known that several methods of dynamical systems theory can be adopted to study of foliations. Our aim in this paper is to investigate complexity of foliations, by generalising existence problem of time averages in dynamical systems theory…