Geometry of the mapping class groups. I: Boundary amenability (Q1006877)

This beautifully written article contains a wealth of very interesting information about the mapping class group of a non-exceptional oriented surface \(S\) of genus \(g\) with \(k\) punctures. In this review I'd like to highlight the following two results from the article, one dealing with the Novikov conjecture [\textit{M. Kreck} and \textit{W. Lück}, The Novikov conjecture. Geometry and algebra. Oberwolfach Seminars 33. Basel: Birkhäuser (2005; Zbl 1058.19001)], the other with cocycle super-rigidity. Theorem: The Novikov higher order signature conjecture holds for any subgroup of the mapping class group of a non-exceptional surface of finite type. Theorem: Let \(n \geq 2\), let \(\Gamma < G_1 \times \cdots \times G_n\) be an irreducible lattice, let \(X\) be a mildly mixing \(\Gamma\)-space and let \(\alpha: \Gamma \times X \to \mathcal{MCG}\) be any cocycle. Then \(\alpha\) is cohomologous to a cocycle \(\alpha'\) with values in a subgroup \(H = H_0 \times H_1\) pf \(\mathcal{MCG}\) where \(H_0\) is virtually abelian and where \(H_1\) contains a finite normal subgroup \(K\) such that the projection of \(\alpha'\) into \(H_1/K\) defines a continuous homomorphism \(G \to H_1/K\).