arXiv research

The Johnson kernel is the subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface generated by Dehn twists along bounding simple closed curves, and has the second Johnson homomorphism as a free abelian quotient. In terms of the representation theory of the symplectic group, we give a complete description of cup products of tw…

We give a new proof of a celebrated theorem of Dennis Johnson that asserts that the kernel of the Johnson homomorphism on the Torelli subgroup of the mapping class group is generated by separating twists. In fact, we prove a more general result that also applies to "subsurface Torelli groups". Using this, we extend Joh…

Paper proves non-triviality of Johnson kernel torsion subgroup.

Johnson kernel generated by specific Dehn twists on surfaces.

This paper has two main goals. First, we give a complete, explicit, and computable solution to the problem of when two simple closed curves on a surface are equivalent under the Johnson kernel. Second, we show that the Johnson filtration and the Johnson homomorphism can be defined intrinsically on subsurfaces and prove…

The Johnson filtration of the mapping class group of a compact, oriented surface is the descending series consisting of the kernels of the actions on the nilpotent quotients of the fundamental group of the surface. Each term of the Johnson filtration admits a Johnson homomorphism, whose kernel is the next term in the f…

We consider two mod-p central series of the free group given by Stallings and Zassenhaus. Applying these series to definitions of Dennis Johnson's filtration of the mapping class group we obtain two mod-p Johnson filtrations. Further, we adapt the definition of the Johnson homomorphisms to obtain mod-p Johnson homomorp…

Proves a conjecture about matrix orders for pseudo-Anosov maps.

For all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces, we show that any superinjective map from the complex of separating curves into itself is induced by an element of the extended mapping class group. We apply this result to proving that any finite index subgroup of the Johnson kernel is co-Hopfian. Analogous propert…

We prove that the first complex homology of the Johnson subgroup of the Torelli group $T_g$ is a non-trivial unipotent $T_g$-module for all $g\ge 4$ and give an explicit presentation of it as a $\Sym H_1(T_g,\C)$-module when $g\ge 6$. We do this by proving that, for a finitely generated group $G$ satisfying an assumpti…

Study mapping class group actions on cohomology of configuration spaces.

The paper constructs finite generating sets for complex algebraic structures.

The action of the mapping class group $\mathrm{Mod}_g$ of an oriented surface $Σ_g$ on the lower central series of $π_1(Σ_g)$ defines the descending filtration in $\mathrm{Mod}_g$ called the Johnson filtration. The first two terms of it are the Torelli group $\mathcal{I}_g$ and the Johnson kernel $\mathcal{K}_g$. By a …

Study relates trisected 4-manifolds to cork twists via γ-curves.

The paper studies the structure of a specific homology group related to mapping class groups.

We examine groups whose resonance varieties, characteristic varieties and Sigma-invariants have a natural arithmetic group symmetry, and we explore implications on various finiteness properties of subgroups. We compute resonance varieties, characteristic varieties and Alexander polynomials of Torelli groups, and we sho…

Proves properties of Torelli Lie algebra for surfaces.

Study subgroup of mapping class group related to handlebody, answering a question about Johnson homomorphism.

Study on kernels of SO(3) WRT representations for surfaces of genus g≥3.

We construct a series of homomorphisms from the $Y$-filtration on the monoid of homology cylinders to torsion modules via the mod $\mathbb{Z}$ reduction of the LMO functor. The restriction of our homomorphism to the lower central series of the Torelli group does not factor through Morita's refinement of the Johnson hom…

In the late 1980's, it was shown that the Casson invariant appears in the difference between the two filtrations of the Torelli group: the lower central series and the Johnson filtration, and that its core part was identified with the secondary characteristic class $d_1$ associated with the fact that the first $\mathrm…

The study examines invariants of homology cylinders and their relations to free nilpotent groups.

Let $Σ_g \to E \to Σ_h$ be a surface bundle over a surface with monodromy representation $ρ: π_1 Σ_h \to \operatorname{Mod}(Σ_g)$ contained in the Torelli group $\mathcal{I}_g$. In this paper we express the cup product structure in $H^*(E, \mathbb{Z})$ in terms of the Johnson homomorphism $τ: \mathcal{I}_g \to \wedge^3…

Aggregates predictions from multiple regression models using random projections and kernel methods.

In this paper we prove a family of results connecting the problem of computing cup products in surface bundles to various other objects that appear in the theory of the cohomology of the mapping class group $\operatorname{Mod}_g$ and the Torelli group $\mathcal{I}_g$. We show that N. Kawazumi's twisted MMM class $m_{0,…

Researchers prove abelianizations of specific groups are finitely generated.

We apply mapping class group techniques and trisections to study intersection forms of smooth 4-manifolds. Johnson defined a well-known homomorphism from the Torelli group of a compact surface. Morita later showed that every homology 3-sphere can be obtained from the standard Heegaard decomposition of $S^3$ by regluing…

Let A denote either the automorphism group of the free group of rank n>=4 or the mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus n>=12 with at most 1 boundary component, and let G be either the subgroup of IA-automorphisms or the Torelli subgroup of A, respectively. For a natural number N denote by G_N the Nth te…

We compute the automorphism groups of the Torelli complex and the complex of separating curves for all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces. As an application, we show that the abstract commensurators of the Torelli group and the Johnson kernel for such surfaces are naturally isomorphic to the extended mapping…

Calculates Dehn twist actions on conformal blocks for modular categories.

New parametrization of 3-spheres using Johnson subgroups.

Consider the kernel Mag_g of the Magnus representation of the Torelli group and the kernel Bur_n of the Burau representation of the braid group. We prove that for g >= 2 and for n >= 6 the groups Mag_g and Bur_n have infinite rank first homology. As a consequence we conclude that neither group has any finite generating…

Study 2-loop part of Johnson cokernel using trace map.

Researchers determine the rational abelianization of a subgroup of mapping class groups.

We examine a class of embeddings based on structured random matrices with orthogonal rows which can be applied in many machine learning applications including dimensionality reduction and kernel approximation. For both the Johnson-Lindenstrauss transform and the angular kernel, we show that we can select matrices yield…

We propose an approach to study non-Abelian Iwasawa theory, using the idea of Johnson homomorphisms in low dimensional topology. We introduce arithmetic analogues of Johnson homomorphisms/maps, called the p-Johnson homomorphisms/maps, associated to the Zassenhaus filtration of a pro-p Galois group over a Z_p-extension …

We show that for all but finitely many compact orientable surfaces, any superinjective map from the complex of separating curves into the Torelli complex is induced by an element of the extended mapping class group. As an application, we prove that any injective homomorphism from a finite index subgroup of the Johnson …

The paper finds torsion in Johnson homomorphisms' cokernels for large genus surfaces.

We prove the existence of homeomorphisms of a closed, orientable surface of genus 3 or greater that do not extend to any handlebody bounded by the surface. We show that such homeomorphisms exist arbitrarily deep in the Johnson filtration of the mapping class group. The second and third terms of the Johnson filtration a…

Let $Σ$ be a compact connected oriented surface with one boundary component and let $\mathcal{M}$ denote the mapping class group of $Σ$. By considering the action of $\mathcal{M}$ on the fundamental group of $Σ$ it is possible to define different filtrations of $\mathcal{M}$ together with some homomorphisms on each ter…

The paper develops a new theory of double Johnson filtrations for mapping class groups.

The Birman exact sequence describes the effect on the mapping class group of a surface with boundary of gluing discs to the boundary components. We construct an analogous exact sequence for the automorphism group of a free group. For the mapping class group, the kernel of the Birman exact sequence is a surface braid gr…

Lagrangian traces help understand Johnson filtration in handlebody groups.

The Torelli group, I(S_g), is the subgroup of the mapping class group consisting of elements that act trivially on the homology of the surface. There are three types of elements that naturally arise in studying I(S_g): bounding pair maps, separating twists, and simply intersecting pair maps (SIP-maps). Historically the…

We survey a geometric approach to the Johnson homomorphisms using the Goldman-Turaev Lie bialgebra.

Extended logarithm for solvable elements in mapping class groups.

Study on cohomological dimension of surface terms, answering Farb's question.

Let K(S) be the subgroup of the extended mapping class group, Mod(S), generated by Dehn twists about separating curves. In our earlier paper, we showed that Comm(K(S)) and Aut(K(S)) are both isomorphic to Mod(S) when S is a closed, connected, orientable surface of genus g at least 4. By modifying our original proof, we…