The well-known fact that any genus $g$ symplectic Lefschetz fibration $ X^{4}\to S^{2}$ is given by a word that is equal to the identity element in the mapping class group and each of whose elements is given by a positive Dehn twist, provides an intimate relationship between words in the mapping class group and 4-manifolds that are realized as symplectic Lefschetz fibrations. In this article we provide new words in the mapping class group, hence new symplectic Lefschetz fibrations. We also compute the signatures of those symplectic Lefschetz fibrations.
The positive Dehn twist expressions for the generalizations of the new involutions described in math.GT/0404310 are presented. The homeomorphism types of the Lefschetz fibrations that they define are determined for several examples.
Given a 3-holed sphere decomposition of an orientable closed surface, it is shown that each orientation preserving homeomorphism of the surface is isotopic to a composition AB where A is a product of positive Dehn twists and B is a product of negative Dehn twists on the decomposition curves.
We define a twisted version of Manolescu and Woodward's Symplectic Instanton homology, prove that this invariant fits into the framework of Wehrheim and Woodward's Floer Field theory, and describe its behaviour for connected sum and Dehn surgery.
We examine open books with powers of fibered Dehn twists as monodromy. The resulting contact manifolds can be thought of as Boothby-Wang orbibundles over symplectic orbifolds. Using the mean Euler characteristic of equivariant symplectic homology we can distinguish these contact manifolds and hence show that some fibered Dehn twists are not symplectically isotopic to the identity relative to the boundary. This complements results of Biran and Giroux.
Given two Lagrangian spheres in an exact symplectic manifold, we find conditions under which the Dehn twists about them generate a free non-abelian subgroup of the symplectic mapping class group. This extends a result of Ishida for Riemann surfaces. The proof generalises the categorical version of Seidel's long exact sequence to arbitrary powers of a fixed Dehn twist. We also show that the Milnor fibre of any isolated degenerate hypersurface singularity contains such pairs of spheres.
Consider cotangent bundles of exotic spheres, with their canonical symplectic structure. They admit automorphisms which preserve the part at infinity of one fibre, and which are analogous to the square of a Dehn twist. Pursuing that analogy, we show that they have infinite order up to isotopy (inside the group of all automorphisms with the same behaviour).
We introduce an essential open book foliation, a refinement of the open book foliation, and develop technical estimates of the fractional Dehn twist coefficient (FDTC) of monodromies and the FDTC for closed braids, which we introduce as well. As applications, we quantitatively study the `gap' of overtwisted contact structures and a non-right-veering monodromies. We give sufficient conditions for a 3-manifold to be irreducible and atoroidal. We also show that the geometries of a 3-manifold and the complement of a closed braid are determined by the Nielsen-Thurston types of the monodromies of th…
The periodic Floer homology of a surface symplectomorphism, defined by the first author and M. Thaddeus, is the homology of a chain complex which is generated by certain unions of periodic orbits, and whose differential counts certain embedded pseudoholomorphic curves in R cross the mapping torus. It is conjectured to recover the Seiberg-Witten Floer homology of the mapping torus for most spin-c structures, and is related to a variant of contact homology. In this paper we compute the periodic Floer homology of some Dehn twists.
We derive a new exact sequence in the hat-version of Heegaard Floer homology. As a consequence we see a functorial connection between the invariant of Legendrian knots and the contact element. As an application we derive two vanishing results of the contact element making it possible to easily read off its vanishing out of a surgery presentation in suitable situations.
For an open book decomposition $(S,ϕ)$, the fractional Dehn twist coefficients are rational numbers measuring the amount that the monodromy $ϕ$ twists the surface $S$ near each boundary component. In general, the twist coefficients do not behave nicely under the operation of capping off a boundary component. The goal of this paper is to use Heegaard Floer homology to constrain the behavior of the fractional Dehn twist coefficients after capping off. We also use our results about fractional Dehn twists to study the Floer homology of cyclic branched covers over fibered two-component links.
We classify groups generated by powers of 2 Dehn twists which are 1) free or 2) have no ``unexpected'' reducible elements. We give some sufficient conditions in the case of groups generated by powers of more than two twists.
Let $\text{Mod}(S_g)$ be the mapping class group of the closed orientable surface $S_g$ of genus $g \geq 1$. In this paper, we develop various methods for factoring periodic mapping classes into Dehn twists, up to conjugacy. As applications, we develop methods for factoring certain roots of Dehn twists as words in Dehn twists. We will also show the existence of conjugates of periodic maps of order $4g$ and $4g+2$, for $g\geq 2$, whose product is pseudo-Anosov.
We give a parity condition of a Heegaard diagram to show that it is unstabilized. This improves the result of [5]. As an application, we construct unstabilized Heegaard splittings by Dehn twists on any given Heegaard splitting.
Let $N_g^k$ be a nonorientable surface of genus \ $g\geq 5$ \ with \ $k$-punctures. In this note, we will give an algebraic characterization of a Dehn twist about a simple closed curve on $N_g^k$. Along the way, we will fill some little gaps in the proofs of some theorems in \cite{A} and \cite{I1} giving algebraic characterizations of Dehn twists about separating simple closed curves. Indeed, our results will give an algebraic characterization for the topological type of Dehn twists about separating simple closed curves.
A positive Dehn twist product for a $\mathbb{Z}_3$ action with $g+2$ fixed points on the 2-dimensional closed, compact, oriented surface $Σ_g$ is presented. The homeomorphism invariants of the resulting symplectic 4-manifolds are computed.
We establish a relationship between Heegaard Floer homology and the fractional Dehn twist coefficient of surface automorphisms. Specifically, we show that the rank of the Heegaard Floer homology of a 3-manifold bounds the absolute value of the fractional Dehn twist coefficient of the monodromy of any of its open book decompositions with connected binding. We prove this by showing that the rank of Floer homology gives bounds for the number of boundary parallel right or left Dehn twists necessary to add to a surface automorphism to guarantee that the associated contact manifold is tight or overt…
We give an explicit formula for the action of the Dehn twist along a simple closed curve in a compact connected oriented surface on the completion of the filtered skein modules. To do this, we introduce filtrations of the Kauffman bracket skein algebra and the Kauffman bracket skein modules on the surface.
We introduce a Lie algebra associated with a non-orientable surface, which is an analogue for the Goldman Lie algebra of an oriented surface. As an application, we deduce an explicit formula of the Dehn twist along an annulus simple closed curve on the surface as in Kawazumi-Kuno and Masseyeau-Turaev.
A \textit{multicurve} $\C$ on a closed orientable surface is defined to be a finite collection of disjoint non-isotopic essential simple closed curves. The Dehn twist $t_{\C}$ about $\C$ is the product of the Dehn twists about the individual curves. In this paper, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a root of such a Dehn twist, that is, a homeomorphism $h$ such that $h^n = t_{\C}$. We give combinatorial data that corresponds to such roots, and use it to determine upper bounds for $n$. Finally, we classify all such roots up to conjugacy for surfaces of genus 3 and 4…
In this note, we establish a relationship between fractional Dehn twist coefficients of Riemann surface automorphisms and modular invariants of holomorphic families of algebraic curves. Specially, we give a characterization of pseudo-periodic maps with nontrivial fractional Dehn twist coefficients. We also obtain some uniform lower bounds of non-zero fractional Dehn twist coefficients.
The generalized Dehn twist along a closed curve in an oriented surface is an algebraic construction which involves intersections of loops in the surface. It is defined as an automorphism of the Malcev completion of the fundamental group of the surface. As the name suggests, for the case where the curve has no self-intersection, it is induced from the usual Dehn twist along the curve. In this expository article, after explaining their definition, we review several results about generalized Dehn twists such as their realizability as diffeomorphisms of the surface, their diagrammatic description …
We give a small generating set for the twist subgroup of the mapping class group of a non-orientable surface by Dehn twists. The difference between the number of the generators and a lower bound of numbers of generators for the twist subgroup by Dehn twists is one. The lower bounds is obtained from an argument of Hirose [5].
Positive Dehn twist products for some elements of finite order in the mapping class group of a 2-dimensional closed, compact, oriented surface $Σ_g$, which are rotations of $Σ_g$ through $2π/p$, are presented. The homeomorphism invariants of the resulting simply connected symplectic 4- manifolds are computed.
Let f be a Z/2Z-spin structureon a closed surface S of genus g>3. We determine a generating set of the stabilizer of f in the mapping class group of S consisting of Dehn twists about an explicit collection of 2g+1 curves in S. If g=3 then we also determine a generating set of the stabilizer of an odd Z/2Z-spin structure consisting of Dehn twists about a collection of 6 curves.
The level $2$ mapping class group of an orientable closed surface can be generated by squares of Dehn twists about non-separating curves. On the other hand, the level $2$ mapping class group $\mathcal{M}_2(N_g)$ of a non-orientable closed surface $N_g$ can not be generated by only Dehn twists, and so it can not be generated by squares of Dehn twists about non-separating curves. In this paper, we prove that the Dehn twist subgroup of $\mathcal{M}_2(N_g)$ can not be generated by squares of Dehn twists about non-separating curves either. As an application, we give a finite generating set for the …
Let $N_g$ be the non-orientable surface with genus $g$, $\text{MCG}(N_g)$ be the mapping class group of $N_g$, $\mathcal{T}(N_g)$ be the index 2 subgroup generated by all Dehn twists of $\text{MCG}(N_g)$. We prove that for odd genus, $\mathcal{T}(N_g)$ can be generated by three elements of finite orders.
We show that on a nonorientable surface of genus at least 7 any power of a Dehn twist is equal to a single commutator in the mapping class group and the same is true, under additional assumptions, for the twist subgroup, and also for the extended mapping class group of an orientable surface of genus at least 3.
In this note we give presentations of all finite subgroups of the mapping class group of a closed surface of genus 2 by the Humphries generators up to conjugacy.
We discuss how the fractional Dehn twist coefficient behaves under a fully ramified branched covering of an open book, and give applications to both topological and contact 3-manifolds. Among them, we show that non-right-veering closed braids represent virtually loose transverse links.
Margalit and Schleimer constructed nontrivial roots of the Dehn twist about a nonseparating curve. We prove that the conjugacy classes of roots of the Dehn twist about a nonseparating curve correspond to the conjugacy classes of periodic maps with certain conditions. Futhermore, we give data set which determine the conjugacy class of a root. As a consequence, we can find the minimum degree and the maximum degree, and show that the degree must be odd. Also, we give Dehn twist expression of the root of degree 3.
For a nonorientable surface, the twist subgroup is an index 2 subgroup of the mapping class group. It is generated by Dehn twists about two-sided simple closed curves. In this paper, we study involution generators of the twist subgroup. We give generating sets of involutions with the smallest number of elements our methods allow.
Let a and b be two simple closed curves on an orientable surface S such that their geometric intersection number is greater than 1. It is known that the group generated by corresponding Dehn twists t_a and t_b is isomorphic to the free group of rank 2. In this paper we extend this result to the case of a nonorientable surface.
The first aim of this paper is to give four types of examples of surface bundles over surfaces with non-zero signature. The first example is with base genus 2, a prescribed signature, a 0-section and the fiber genus greater than a certain number which depends on the signature. This provides a new upper bound on the minimal base genus for fixed signature and fiber genus. The second one gives a new asymptotic upper bound for this number in the case that fiber genus is odd. The third one has a small Euler characteristic. The last is a non-holomorphic example. The second aim is to improve upper bo…
It is proved that the stable commutator length of a Dehn twist in the mapping class group is positive and the tenth power of a Dehn twist about a nonseparating simple closed curve is a product of two commutators. As an application a new proof of the fact that the growth rate of a Dehn twist is linear is given.
We study subgroups of the mapping class group of the torus generated by powers generated by powers of Dehn twists. We give a criterion to show when a collection of powers Dehn twists generates a free group using the ping pong lemma. We show that the subgroup generated by three uniform powers of Dehn twists can be either the whole mapping class group, a direct product of a free group of rank two with the cyclic group of order two, or a free group of rank at most three. We characterize subgroups generated by a collection of (respectively squares of) Dehn twists, if there is a pair among so that …
We give new upper bounds on the stable commutator lengths of Dehn twists along separating curves in the mapping class group of a closed oriented surface. The estimates of these upper bounds are $O(1/g)$, where $g$ is the genus of the surface.
Athreya, Bufetov, Eskin and Mirzakhani have shown the number of mapping class group lattice points intersecting a closed ball of radius $R$ in Teichmüller space is asymptotic to $e^{hR}$, where $h$ is the dimension of the Teichmüller space. In contrast we show the number of Dehn twist lattice points intersecting a closed ball of radius $R$ is coarsely asymptotic to $e^{\frac{h}{2}R}$. Moreover, we show the number multi-twist lattice points intersecting a closed ball of radius $R$ grows coarsely at least at the rate of $R \cdot e^{\frac{h}{2}R}$.
A homeomorphism of a 3-manifold M is said to be Dehn twists on the boundary when its restriction to the boundary of M is isotopic to the identity on the complement of a collection of disjoint simple closed curves in the boundary of M. In this paper, we give various results about such collections of curves and the associated homeomorphisms. In particular, if M is compact, orientable, irreducible and the boundary of M is a single torus, and M admits a homeomorphism which is a nontrivial Dehn twist on the boundary of M, then M must be a solid torus.
We classify up to conjugacy the group generated by a commuting pair of a periodic diffeomorphism and a hyperelliptic involution on an oriented closed surface. This result can be viewed as a refinement of Ishizaka's result on classification of the mapping classes of hyperelliptic periodic diffeomorphisms. As an application, we obtain the Dehn twist presentations of hyperelliptic periodic mapping classes, which are closely related to the ones obtained by Ishizaka.
D. Margalit and S. Schleimer found examples of roots of the Dehn twist about a nonseparating curve in a closed orientable surface, that is, homeomorphisms whose nth power is isotopic to the Dehn twist. Our main theorem gives elementary number-theoretic conditions that describe the values of n for which an nth root exists, given the genus of the surface. Among its applications, we show that n must be odd, that the Margalit-Schleimer roots achieve the maximum value of n among the roots for a given genus, and that for a given odd n, nth roots exist for all genera greater than (n-2)(n-1)/2. We als…
By using a notion of a geometric Dehn twist in $\sharp_k(S^2 \times S^1)$, we prove that when projections of two $\mathbb{Z}$-splittings to the free factor complex are far enough from each other in the free factor complex, Dehn twist automorphisms corresponding to the $\mathbb{Z}$-splittings generate a free group of rank $2$. Moreover, every element from this free group is either conjugate to a power of one of the Dehn twists or it is a fully irreducible outer automorphism of the free group. We also prove that, when projected to the intersection graph, the same group of Dehn twists produce ato…
We show that any homologically non-trivial Dehn twist of a compact surface F with boundary is the lifting of a half-twist in the braid group B_n, with respect to a suitable branched covering p : F -> B^2. In particular, we allow the surface to have disconnected boundary. As a consequence, any allowable Lefschetz fibration on B^2 is a branched covering of B^2 x B^2.
We introduce a notion of a Fox pairing in a group algebra and use Fox pairings to define automorphisms of the Malcev completions of groups. These automorphisms generalize to the algebraic setting the action of the Dehn twists in the group algebras of the fundamental groups of surfaces. This work is inspired by the Kawazumi-Kuno generalization of the Dehn twists to non-simple closed curves on surfaces.
In 2001, J. Hempel proved the existence of Heegaard splittings of arbitrarily high distance by using a high power of a pseudo-Anosov map as the gluing map between two handlebodies. We show that lower bounds on distance can also be obtained when using a high power of a suitably chosen Dehn twist. In certain cases, we can then determine the exact distance of the resulting splitting. These results can be seen as a natural extension of work by A. Casson and C. Gordon in 1987 regarding strongly irreducible Heegaard splittings.
In this short note we construct examples of open books for 3-manifolds that show that arbitrarily high twisting of the monodromy of the open book does not guarantee maximality of the Euler characteristic of the pages among the open books supporting the same contact manifold. We find our examples of open books as the double branched covers of families of closed braids studied by Malyutin and Netsvetaev.
We show that any exceptional non-trivial Dehn surgery on a twist knot, except the trefoil, yields a 3-manifold whose fundamental group is left-orderable. This is a generalization of a result of Clay, Lidman and Watson, and also gives a new supporting evidence for a conjecture of Boyer, Gordon and Watson.
For any hyperbolic twist knot in the 3-sphere, we show that the resulting manifold by $r$-surgery on the knot has left-orderable fundamental group if the slope $r$ satisfies the inequality $0\le r \le 4$.
Ruberman gave the first examples of self-diffeomorphisms of four-manifolds that are isotopic to the identity in the topological category but not smoothly so. We give another example of this phenomenon, using the Dehn twist along a 3-sphere in the connected sum of two K3 surfaces.
