Injective simplicial maps of the complex of arcs on nonorientable surfaces (Q1035317)

Let \(N\) be a connected nonorientable surface of genus at least one with at least one boundary component. The mapping class group \(\text{Mod}_N\) of \(N\) is the group of isotopy classes of all self-homeomorphisms of \(N\). The arc complex \({\mathcal A}(N)\) is the abstract simplicial complex whose \(k\) simplices, for each \(k\geq 0\), are collections consisting of \(k+1\) isotopy classes of nontrivial (= not isotopic to a part of the boundary) properly embedded arcs. The mapping class group acts on this complex in a natural way, inducing a map \(\text{Mod}_N\to \text{Aut} ({\mathcal A}(N))\). The main result in this paper says that all injective simplicial maps \({\mathcal A}(N)\to {\mathcal A}(N)\) are induced by self-homeomorphisms of \(N\). From this it is deduced that the natural map \(\text{Mod}_N\to \text{Aut} ({\mathcal A}(N))\) is, as expected, an isomorphism, except for a few sporadic cases.