Characteristic quotients of surface groups and residual finiteness of mapping class groups

Time: 17:00 to  18:30 Ngày 10/08/2022

Venue/Location: C.101, VIASM

Speaker: Thomas Koberda

Content:

t is a classical result of Grossman that mapping class groups of finite type surfaces are residually finite. In recent years, residual finiteness growth functions of groups have attracted much interest; these are functions that roughly measure the complexity of the finite quotients needed to separate particular group elements from the identity. Residual finiteness growth functions detect many subtle properties of groups, including linearity. In this talk, I will discuss some recent joint work with Mark Pengitore on residual finiteness growth for mapping class groups, adapted to nilpotent and solvable quotients of the underlying surface group.

Bio:

Thomas Koberda completed his PhD at Harvard University in 2012, under the supervision of Curtis T. McMullen. He was an NSF postdoctoral fellow and Gibbs Assistant Professor at Yale, and was appointed by the University of Virginia in 2015. In 2017, he was awarded a Sloan Fellowship, and the same year he was awarded the Kamil Duszenko prize for research in geometric group theory.