Topology Seminar: Samuel Taylor

There are many analogies between the outer automorphism group of a free group Out(F) and the mapping class group of a surface Mod(S). I'll explain how each of these groups contains many right-angled Artin subgroups and how these subgroups can be used to understand the structure of both Mod(S) and Out(F). Interestingly, attempting to understand the properties of elements in right-angled Artin subgroups also reveals some major differences between Out(F) and Mod(S). I'll explain these differences and how they affect the study of Out(F).