arXiv research

Surface groups are uniquely identified by their profinite completions.

Study shows shorter words for group elements in surface groups and RAAGs.

Algorithm solves word problem in mapping class group quickly.

Each free homotopy class of directed closed curves on a surface with boundary can be described by a cyclic reduced word in the generators of the fundamental group and their inverses. The word length is the number of letters of the cyclic word. If the surface has a hyperbolic metric with geodesic boundary, the geometric…

Groups satisfy linear surface isoperimetric functions.

A longstanding question of Gromov asks whether every one-ended word-hyperbolic group contains a subgroup isomorphic to the fundamental group of a closed hyperbolic surface. An infinite family of word-hyperbolic groups can be obtained by taking doubles of free groups amalgamated along words that are not proper powers. W…

New combinatorial approach to Goldman-Turaev Lie bialgebra using cyclic word partitions.

The study develops a word mechanism for knot and link diagrams.

We give a combinatorial description of closed curves on oriented surfaces in terms of certain permutations, called charts. We describe automorphisms of curves in terms of charts and compute the total number of curves counted with appropriate weights. We also discuss relations between curves, Grothendieck dessins d'enfa…

We prove that the word problem in the mapping class group of the once-punctured surface of genus g has complexity O(|w|^2 g for |w| > log(g) where |w| is the length of the word in a (standard) set of generators. The corresponding bound in the case of the closed surface is O(|w|^2 g^2). We also carry out the same method…

Let $Σ$ be a surface of negative Euler characteristic and $S$ a generating set for $π_1(Σ,p)$ consisting of simple loops that are pairwise disjoint (except at $p$). We show that the word length with respect to $S$ of an element of $π_1(Σ,p)$ is given by its intersection number with a well-chosen collection of curves an…

Given any generating set of any pseudo-Anosov-containing subgroup of the mapping class group of a surface, we construct a pseudo-Anosov with word length bounded by a constant depending only on the surface. More generally, in any subgroup G we find an element f with the property that the minimal subsurface supporting a …

This document is a practical guide to computations using an automatic structure for the mapping class group of a once-punctured, oriented surface $S$. We describe a quadratic time algorithm for the word problem in this group, which can be implemented efficiently with pencil and paper. The input of the algorithm is a wo…

In this paper we use theory of embedded graphs on oriented and compact $PL$-surfaces to construct minimal realizations of signed Gauss paragraphs. We prove that the genus of the ambient surface of these minimal realizations can be seen as a function of the maximum number of Carter's circles. For the case of signed Gaus…

Algorithm counts intersections of normal curves efficiently.

New algorithm verifies Anosov condition for surface groups efficiently.

We show that, for any (symmetric) finite generating set of the Torelli group of a closed surface, the probability that a random word is not pseudo-Anosov decays exponentially in terms of the length of the word.

Let S be a closed surface of genus at least 2. We show that a finitely generated group G which is an extension of the fundamental group H of S is word hyperbolic if and only the orbit map of the quotient group G/H on the complex of curves is a quasi-isometric embedding.This in turn is equivalent to G/H being convex coc…

The paper finds formulas for word lengths and conjugacy classes in surface groups.

In an orientable surface with boundary, free homotopy classes of curves on surfaces are in one to one correspondence with cyclic reduced words in a set of standard generators of the fundamental group. The combinatorial length of a class is the number of letters of the corresponding word. The self-intersection of a free…

A subset of a group is characteristic if it is invariant under every automorphism of the group. We study word length in fundamental groups of closed hyperbolic surfaces with respect to characteristic generating sets consisting of a finite union of orbits of the automorphism group, and show that the translation length o…

Proves restrictions on projective Anosov representations of hyperbolic groups.

Let $Σ$ be a compact, orientable surface of negative Euler characteristic, and let $h$ be a complete hyperbolic metric on $Σ$. A geodesic curve $γ$ in $Σ$ is filling, if it cuts the surface into topological disks and annuli. We propose an efficient algorithm for deciding whether a geodesic curve, represented as a word …

In this paper we give new presentations of the braid groups and the pure braid groups of a closed surface. We also give an algorithm to solve the word problem in these groups, using the given presentations.

The study shows that certain groups can be uniquely identified by their finite abelian summands.

For word-equations in groups, we find a logarithmic bound on non-solutions.

Study fixed point indices and words at infinity for graph selfmaps.

Let $Γ$ be a word hyperbolic group with a cyclic JSJ decomposition that has only rigid vertex groups, which are all fundamental groups of closed surface groups. We show that any group $H$ quasi-isometric to $Γ$ is abstractly commensurable with $Γ$.

We construct the infinite sequence of invariants for curves in surfaces by using word theory that V. Turaev introduced. For plane closed curves, we add some extra terms, e.g. the rotation number. From these modified invariants, we get the Arnold's basic invariants and some other invariants. We also express how these in…

Braid combing is a procedure defined by Emil Artin to solve the word problem in braid groups for the first time. It is well-known to have exponential complexity. In this paper, we use the theory of straight line programs to give a polynomial algorithm which performs braid combing. This procedure can be applied to braid…

New findings on algebraic structure of hyperbolic graph braid groups.

Exponential proportion of pseudo-Anosovs in mapping class groups.

Let G be a word-hyperbolic group, obtained as a graph of free groups amalgamated along cyclic subgroups. If H_2(G;Q) is nonzero, then G contains a closed hyperbolic surface subgroup. Moreover, the unit ball of the Gromov-Thurston norm on H_2(G;R) is a finite-sided rational polyhedron.

Let M be a closed hyperbolic three manifold. We construct closed surfaces which map by immersions into M so that for each one the corresponding mapping on the universal covering spaces is an embedding, or, in other words, the corresponding induced mapping on fundamental groups is an injection.

We show that for complex analytic K3 surfaces any torsion class in H^2(X,O_X^*) comes from an Azumaya algebra. In other words, the Brauer group equals the cohomological Brauer group. For algebraic surfaces, such results go back to Grothendieck. In our situation, we use twistor spaces to deform a given analytic K3 surfa…

Characterizes quasiconformally homogeneous ladder surfaces.

We show that the Goldman flows preserve the holomorphic structure on the moduli space of homomorphisms of the fundamental group of a Riemann surface into U(1), in other words the Jacobian.

We define a new finite type invariant for stably homeomorphic class of curves on compact oriented surfaces without boundaries and extend to a regular homotopy invariant for spherical curves.

This study defines finite-type invariants for curves on surfaces and reveals the construction of these finite-type invariants for stable homeomorphism classes of curves on compact oriented surfaces without boundaries. These invariants are a higher-order generalisation of a part of Arnold's invariants that are first-ord…

Goldman and Turaev found a Lie bialgebra structure on the vector space generated by non-trivial free homotopy classes of curves on a surface. When the surface has non-empty boundary, this vector space has a basis of cyclic reduced words in the generators of the fundamental group and their inverses. We give a combinator…

We combine concepts from random matrix theory and free probability together with ideas from the theory of commutator length in groups and maps from surfaces, and establish new connections between the two. More particularly, we study measures induced by free words on the unitary groups $U(n)$. Every word $w$ in the free…

We consider the relations between different measures of complexity for free homotopy classes of curves on a surface $Σ$, including the minimum number of self-intersections, the minimum length of the words representing them in a geometric presentation of $π_1(Σ)$, and the minimum degree of the coverings of $Σ$ to which …

Confocal quadrics capture (encode) and geometrize spectral properties of symmetric operators. Certain metric-projective properties of confocal quadrics (most of them established in the first half of the XIX$^{\mathrm{th}}$ century) {\it carry out} (stick and transfer) by rolling to and influence surfaces {\it applicabl…

A virtual string is a scheme of self-intersections of a closed curve on a surface. We introduce virtual strings and study their geometric properties and homotopy invariants. We also discuss connections between virtual strings, Gauss words, and virtual knots.

Lehmer's question is equivalent to one about generalized growth rates of Lefschetz numbers of iterated pseudo-Anosov surface homeomorphisms. One need consider only homeomorphisms that arise as monodromies of fibered knots in lens spaces L(n,1), n>0. Lehmer's question for Perron polynomials is equivalent to one about ge…

Knots and links are interpreted as homotopy classes of nanowords and nanophrases in an alphabet consisting of 4 letters. Similar results hold for curves on surfaces. We also discuss versions of the Jones link polynomial and the link quandles for nanophrases.

String topology coproduct and Turaev cobracket computed for surfaces.

We consider the fundamental group $π$ of a surface of finite type equipped with the infinite generating set consisting of all simple closed curves. We show that every nilpotent quotient of $π$ has finite diameter with respect to the word metric given by this set. This is in contrast with a result of Danny Calegari that…