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62 votes
9 answers
9k views

Fundamental groups of noncompact surfaces

I got fantastic answers to my previous question (about modern references for the fact that surfaces can be triangulated), so I thought I'd ask a related question. A basic fact about surface topology ...
Andy Putman's user avatar
  • 44.8k
29 votes
4 answers
3k views

Geometric interpretation of the lower central series for the fundamental group?

For any group $G$ we can form the lower central series of normal subgroups by taking $G_0 = G$, $G_1 = [G,G]$, $G_{i+1} = [G,G_i]$. We can check this gives a normal chain $$G_0 \ge G_1 \ge ... \ge G_i ...
Anthony Bak's user avatar
27 votes
1 answer
1k views

Nonabelian topological fundamental group of a conjugate variety

Let $X$ be a pointed algebraic variety over the field of complex numbers $\mathbb{C}$. Let $\pi_1^{\rm top}(X)$ and $\pi_1^{\mathrm{\acute{e}t}}(X)$ denote the topological and the étale fundamental ...
Mikhail Borovoi's user avatar
9 votes
1 answer
1k views

Fundamental group of an hyperbolic $4$-manifold

Good afternoon everyone, I have a very general question about hyperbolic manifolds and their fundamental groups in high dimension (at least $4$). If the theory of surfaces and $3$-manifolds provide ...
Selim G's user avatar
  • 2,696