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Geometry and rigidity of mapping class groups
Geometry/Topology| Speaker: | Jason Behrstock, Columbia University |
| Location: | 2112 MSB |
| Start time: | Wed, Apr 9 2008, 4:10PM |
We will discuss the geometry of the mapping class group and applications to quasi-isometric rigidity. This will include the recent joint work with Kleiner, Minsky, and Mosher showing that any quasi-isometry of the mapping class group is a bounded distance away from an isometry induced by left multiplication. This has the consequence that any finitely generated group which is quasi-isometric to the mapping class groups is, up to finite groups, isomorphic to it. This talk will be accessible to a general geometry/topology audience and will include a survey of the background and history of these results.