Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

One of the most beautiful aspects of math is the interplay between its different fields. We will discuss one such interaction by studying topology using tools from combinatorics and group theory. In particular, given a surface (two-dimensional manifold) S, we construct the curve complex of S, which is a graph that encodes topological data about the surface. We will then state a seminal result of Ivanov: the symmetries of a surface S are in a natural bijection with the symmetries of its curve complex. In the direction of the proof of Ivanov's result, we will touch on some tools we have when working with infinite graphs.