Mapping class factorization via fatgraph Nielsen reduction

Publication date 17 February 2012

Published in Osaka Journal of Mathematics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.4067, https://projecteuclid.org/euclid.ojm/1326291217

groupoid mapping class group Whitehead moves

Graphs and abstract algebra (groups, rings, fields, etc.) (05C25) Generators, relations, and presentations of groups (20F05) Cancellation theory of groups; application of van Kampen diagrams (20F06) Fundamental groups and their automorphisms (group-theoretic aspects) (20F34) Other groups related to topology or analysis (20F38) Special aspects of infinite or finite groups (20F99) Moduli of Riemann surfaces, Teichmüller theory (complex-analytic aspects in several variables) (32G15) General low-dimensional topology (57M99)

Abstract: The mapping class group of a genus

g

surface

S i g m a_{g, 1}

with one boundary component is known to have a simple yet infinite presentation with generators given by elementary moves called Whitehead moves on so-called marked bordered fatgraphs. In this paper, we introduce an algorithm called "fatgraph Nielsen reduction" which, from the action of a mapping class

v a r p h i i n M C_{g, 1}

of

S i g m a_{g, 1}

on the fundamental group

p i_{1} (S i g m a_{g, 1})

of

S i g m a_{g, 1}

, determines a sequence of Whitehead moves representing

v a r p h i

beginning at any choice of marked bordered fatgraph. As a consequence, this leads to an algorithm which factors any mapping class given by its action on

p i (S i g m a_{g, 1})

in terms of a certain generating set for

M C_{g, 1}

.

Review text

Let \(\Sigma_{g,1}\) be a genus \(g\) orientable surface with one boundary component, and \(\pi = \pi_1(\Sigma_{g,1}, p)\), where \(p\) is a point on \(\partial \Sigma_{g,1}\). An ordered set of generators \(\mathcal{X}\) for \(\pi\) is a combinatorial generating set, or CG set, if \(\partial \Sigma_{g,1} \in \pi\) can be written as a reduced word using each letter of \(\mathcal{X}\) exactly once. Let \(\mathfrak{X}\) be the set of equivalence classes of CG sets. The chord slide groupoid is defined as the category whose objects are copies of \(\pi\), precisely one for every \(\mathcal{X} \in \mathfrak{X}\), and whose morphisms are the isomorphisms from \(\pi\) to itself which take one CG set to another CG set. A CG set \(\mathcal{X}\) naturally corresponds to a linear chord diagram \(G_{\mathcal{X}}\), which is a graph constructed from a core and \(2g\) chords. A sliding of a chord of \(G_{\mathcal{X}}\) obtaining \(G_{\mathcal{X}'}\) induces a morphism from \(\mathcal{X}\) to \(\mathcal{X}'\), which is called the chord slide. The author [Geom. Dedicata 144, 171--190 (2010; Zbl 1214.57019)] showed that the chord slide groupoid is generated by chord slides on CG sets, and all relations are compositions of the five explicit ones. The mapping class group \(MC_{g,1}\) of \(\Sigma_{g,1}\) naturally acts on \(\mathfrak{X}\). The above theorem shows that, for any element \(\varphi\), there is a sequence of chord slides from a CG set \(\mathcal{X}\) to \(\varphi(\mathcal{X})\). In the paper under review, the author introduces an algorithm which determines this sequence. To define this algorithm, an energy function \(\| \cdot \|\) on CG sets is introduced by extending the usual word length function. The sequence is a sequence of energy decreasing chord slides obtained by cancellation theory. In the last section of this paper, the above result is described in terms of Whitehead moves on fat graphs.

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Cites work

Cited in

(1)

A chord diagrammatic presentation of the mapping class group of a once bordered surface

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