A cohomological interpretation of the Grothendieck-Teichmüller group. Appendix by C. Scheiderer (Q1359167)

The Grothendieck-Teichmüller group \(\widehat{GT}\) acts naturally on the profinite completion \(\widehat K(0,n)\) of the mapping class group of a sphere with \(n\) marked points. The elements of \(\widehat{GT}\) are, by definition, parameterized by the pairs \((\lambda,f)\in\widehat\mathbb{Z}^\times\times\widehat F_2\) subject to certain conditions. In this paper, it is shown that the principal parameter \(f\) evaluated in \(\widehat K(0,4)\) (resp. \(\widehat K(0,5)\)) admits certain decompositions like non-commutative 1-coboundaries under certain standard actions of finite cyclic groups of order 2, 3 (resp. 5). As a by-product of their method, it is also proven that the ``complex conjugation'' in \(\widehat{GT}\) is self-centralizing.