Symmetric products of surfaces and the cycle index (Q1425641)

The authors are motivated by the following two questions: (1) To what extent is the topology of a surface \(M\) determined by the topology of its symmetric product \(SP^m(M)\) for a given \(m\)? and (2) Are there examples of non-homeomorphic (open) surfaces \(M\) and \(N\) such that the associated symmetric products \(SP^m(M)\) and \(SP^n(N)\) are homeomorphic? Question (2) remains open, but the authors prove the following theorem in response to question (1): Let \(M_{g,k}\) denote a closed oriented surface of genus \(g\) with \(k\geq 1\) punctures. Then it is true that the symmetric powers \(SP^m(M_{g,k})\) and \(SP^m(M_{g',k'})\) are not homeomorphic but have the same homotopy type if and only if \(2g+k=2g'+k'\) and \(g\neq g'\), with max\(\{g,g'\}\geq m/2\).