Quantum \(SU(2)\) faithfully detects mapping class groups modulo center (Q1426820)

A Topological Quantum Field Theory contains projective representations of mapping class groups. This paper establishes an asymptotic faithfulness result for the representations arising from the \(SU(2)\) family of TQFTs. This family is indexed by an integer \(r\). The exact statement says that a non-central element of the mapping class group acts projectively nontrivially for \(r\) big enough. This paper is based on the Kauffman bracket construction of the \(SU(2)\) TQFTs, together with a (somewhat tricky) topological lemma. An asymptotic faithfulness result using geometric quantization has been obtained by \textit{J.~Andersen} [arXiv:math. QA/0204084].