Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

On The Linearity Of Certain Mapping Class Groups, Mustafa Korkmaz

Turkish Journal of Mathematics

S. Bigelow proved that the braid groups are linear. That is, there is a faithful representation of the braid group into the general linear group of some field. Using this, we deduce from previously known results that the mapping class group of a sphere with punctures and hyperelliptic mapping class groups are linear. In particular, the mapping class group of a closed orientable surface of genus $2$ is linear.