Involving symmetries of Riemann surfaces to a study of the mapping class group (Q1432094)

The main result of the paper is the perfectness of the mapping class group of a Riemann surface \(X\) of genus \(g\neq 2,3,5,7\). The authors start by showing that the mapping class group of \(X\) is generated by symmetries. More precisely, they prove that there is a pair of nonseparating symmetries, with \(k\) and \(k+1\) ovals, the product of which is a twist. Then, after recalling that a pair of symmetries is said to be perfect if their product belongs to the derived subgroup of the automorphisms of \(X\), the authors show that there is a perfect pair of non-separating symmetries, with \(1\) and \(2\) ovals for even \(g\geq 4\), and with \(2\) and \(3\) ovals for odd \(g\geq 9\). This fact allows to deduce the main result. The authors do not exclude that this result might hold also for \(g=3,5,7\).