Pham and Teissier showed in the late 60's that any two plane curve germs with the same outer Lipschitz geometry have equivalent embeddings into $\mathbb{C}^2$. We consider to what extent the same holds in higher dimensions, giving examples of normal surface singularities which have the same topology and outer Lipschitz geometry but whose embeddings into $\mathbb{C}^3$ are topologically inequivalent. Joint work with Anne Pichon.

Keywords: bilipschitz - Lipschitz geometry - normal surface singularity - Zariski equisingularity - Lipschitz equisingularity[-]

An endomorphism of a finitely generated free group naturally descends to an injective endomorphism on the stable quotient. We establish a geometric incarnation of this fact : an expanding irreducible train track map inducing an endomorphism of the fundamental group determines an expanding irreducible train track representative of the injective endomorphism of the stable quotient. As an application, we prove that the property of having fully irreducible monodromy for a splitting of a hyperbolic free-by-cyclic group G depends only on the component of the BNS invariant $\sum \left ( G \right )$ containing the associated homomorphism to the integers. In particular, it follows that if G is the mapping torus of an atoroidal fully irreducible automorphism of a free group and if the union of $\sum \left ( G \right ) $ and $\sum \left ( G \right )$ is connected then for every splitting of $G$ as a (f.g. free)-by-(infinite cyclic) group the monodromy is fully irreducible.
This talk is based on joint work with Spencer Dowdall and Christopher Leininger.[-]

Part I - Theory : In the "theory" part of this mini-course, we will present recent objects and phenomena related to the study of big mapping class groups. In particular, we will define two faithful actions of some big mapping class groups. The first is an action by isometries on a Gromov-hyperbolic graph. The second is an action by homeomorphisms on a circle in which the vertices of the graph naturally embed. We will describe some properties of the objects involved, and give some fruitful relations between the dynamics of the two actions. For example, we will see that loxodromic elements (for the first action) necessarily have rational rotation number (for the second action). Using these relations, we will explain how to construct non trivial quasimorphisms on subgroups of big mapping class groups. This includes joint work with Alden Walker.
Part II - Examples : In this part we will discuss a number of natural examples in which big mapping class groups and their subgroups arise. These include the inverse limit constructions of de Carvalho-Hall, the theory of finite depth (taut) foliations of 3-manifolds, the theory of “Artinization” of Thompson-like groups, two dimensional smooth dynamics, one dimensional complex dynamics (topology of the shift locus, Schottky spaces) and several other contexts. We will try to indicate how viewing these examples from the perspective of (big) mapping class groups is a worthwhile approach.[-]

Part I - Theory : In the "theory" part of this mini-course, we will present recent objects and phenomena related to the study of big mapping class groups. In particular, we will define two faithful actions of some big mapping class groups. The first is an action by isometries on a Gromov-hyperbolic graph. The second is an action by homeomorphisms on a circle in which the vertices of the graph naturally embed. We will describe some properties of the objects involved, and give some fruitful relations between the dynamics of the two actions. For example, we will see that loxodromic elements (for the first action) necessarily have rational rotation number (for the second action). Using these relations, we will explain how to construct non trivial quasimorphisms on subgroups of big mapping class groups. This includes joint work with Alden Walker.
Part II - Examples : In this part we will discuss a number of natural examples in which big mapping class groups and their subgroups arise. These include the inverse limit constructions of de Carvalho-Hall, the theory of finite depth (taut) foliations of 3-manifolds, the theory of “Artinization” of Thompson-like groups, two dimensional smooth dynamics, one dimensional complex dynamics (topology of the shift locus, Schottky spaces) and several other contexts. We will try to indicate how viewing these examples from the perspective of (big) mapping class groups is a worthwhile approach.[-]

Part I - Theory : In the "theory" part of this mini-course, we will present recent objects and phenomena related to the study of big mapping class groups. In particular, we will define two faithful actions of some big mapping class groups. The first is an action by isometries on a Gromov-hyperbolic graph. The second is an action by homeomorphisms on a circle in which the vertices of the graph naturally embed. We will describe some properties of the objects involved, and give some fruitful relations between the dynamics of the two actions. For example, we will see that loxodromic elements (for the first action) necessarily have rational rotation number (for the second action). Using these relations, we will explain how to construct non trivial quasimorphisms on subgroups of big mapping class groups. This includes joint work with Alden Walker.
Part II - Examples : In this part we will discuss a number of natural examples in which big mapping class groups and their subgroups arise. These include the inverse limit constructions of de Carvalho-Hall, the theory of finite depth (taut) foliations of 3-manifolds, the theory of “Artinization” of Thompson-like groups, two dimensional smooth dynamics, one dimensional complex dynamics (topology of the shift locus, Schottky spaces) and several other contexts. We will try to indicate how viewing these examples from the perspective of (big) mapping class groups is a worthwhile approach.[-]

Part I - Theory : In the "theory" part of this mini-course, we will present recent objects and phenomena related to the study of big mapping class groups. In particular, we will define two faithful actions of some big mapping class groups. The first is an action by isometries on a Gromov-hyperbolic graph. The second is an action by homeomorphisms on a circle in which the vertices of the graph naturally embed. We will describe some properties of the objects involved, and give some fruitful relations between the dynamics of the two actions. For example, we will see that loxodromic elements (for the first action) necessarily have rational rotation number (for the second action). Using these relations, we will explain how to construct non trivial quasimorphisms on subgroups of big mapping class groups. This includes joint work with Alden Walker.
Part II - Examples : In this part we will discuss a number of natural examples in which big mapping class groups and their subgroups arise. These include the inverse limit constructions of de Carvalho-Hall, the theory of finite depth (taut) foliations of 3-manifolds, the theory of “Artinization” of Thompson-like groups, two dimensional smooth dynamics, one dimensional complex dynamics (topology of the shift locus, Schottky spaces) and several other contexts. We will try to indicate how viewing these examples from the perspective of (big) mapping class groups is a worthwhile approach.[-]

Part I - Theory : In the "theory" part of this mini-course, we will present recent objects and phenomena related to the study of big mapping class groups. In particular, we will define two faithful actions of some big mapping class groups. The first is an action by isometries on a Gromov-hyperbolic graph. The second is an action by homeomorphisms on a circle in which the vertices of the graph naturally embed. We will describe some properties of the objects involved, and give some fruitful relations between the dynamics of the two actions. For example, we will see that loxodromic elements (for the first action) necessarily have rational rotation number (for the second action). Using these relations, we will explain how to construct non trivial quasimorphisms on subgroups of big mapping class groups. This includes joint work with Alden Walker.
Part II - Examples : In this part we will discuss a number of natural examples in which big mapping class groups and their subgroups arise. These include the inverse limit constructions of de Carvalho-Hall, the theory of finite depth (taut) foliations of 3-manifolds, the theory of “Artinization” of Thompson-like groups, two dimensional smooth dynamics, one dimensional complex dynamics (topology of the shift locus, Schottky spaces) and several other contexts. We will try to indicate how viewing these examples from the perspective of (big) mapping class groups is a worthwhile approach.[-]