ETH Zurigo
The protagonists of the talk are (Gromov-)hyperbolicity and mapping class groups, both of which I will introduce during the talk.
Hyperbolicity is a central notion in geometric group theory which captures the large-scale geometry of negatively curved manifolds, while mapping class groups are ubiquitous in low-dimensional topology, appearing for example when one parametrises various constructions of 3-manifolds.
Mapping class groups are not hyperbolic, but there are ways to encode and understand their non-hyperbolicity. I will illustrate this, and then I will discuss constructions of quotients of mapping class groups that, among other things, connect various open questions about hyperbolic groups and mapping class groups.
http://www.dm.unipi.it/webnew/it/seminari/gromov-hyperbolicity-and-beyond